Canhos mans up (41 carries!) in Rolla's win over Kickapoo | Entertainment Springfield, MO (Sports, Live Music, Food, Arts, More)

A fan proudly shows off her Jonny Canhos shirt

Jonny Canhos doesn’t really even remember what happened, except for the run that personified his night.

Canhos took one of his 41 carries up the middle, bounced off the pile when everyone thought he was down and burst up the field for 35 yards, extending the drive and adding fuel his burgeoning reputation.

“I know we needed yards and I know we needed to keep that clock running,” Canhos said. “I had to keep moving my dead legs and get what I could get.”

And it’s hard to blame Canhos for having anything short of a photographic memory Friday night in Rolla’s 22-20 Ozark Conference victory over Kickapoo. The Rolla senior tailback finished the game with 41 carries for 203 yards and a touchdown.

Work. Horse.

Actually, Canhos showed exactly why Rolla (2-0, 2-0 OC) might be the best team in the Ozarks. Not only did he carry the ball 41 times, he said he was “sick,” throwing up after every one of the Bulldogs’ series. With toughness and resiliency like that, it’s going to be tough for the other teams in the Ozarks not to take notice.

“I came off after ever series puking,” Canhos said with a smile on his face. “I don’t know what happened.”

And to think, Kickapoo (1-1, 1-1 OC) nearly gave Canhos and the Bulldogs something they could never forget.

Rolla took a 22-13 lead with 26.9 second left in the third quarter on a 2-yard run from quarterback Jake Morris. But Kickapoo answered on the arm of senior quarterback Brett Diers. The righthanded dual-threat QB who also had a 23-yard TD run on the night, was 9-of-16 passing for 130 yards while also rushing six times for 52 yards . He orchestrated a drive, which included a 33-yard pass to Cody Anderson on a third-and-26 deep in Chief territory. When Coleton Cloud punched in a TD from two yards out with 4:19 left in the game, a Chief comeback still looked bleak.

But the Chiefs forced Rolla to its only three-and-out of the night and it looked like the scrappy Chiefs might pull off the comeback. Kickapoo had a third-and-inches on their own 49, when they were called for a false start. After Diers scrambled for a yard on third-and-6, his next pass fell incomplete and Rolla ran out the clock.

In all, the Bulldogs used a little luck and created the rest. After Kickapoo took the lead early in the first quarter on Diers’ TD run, Rolla answered on Canhos’ 1-yard TD plunge. The two-point conversion pass failed.

With 1:19 left in the first half and trailing 7-6, Morris dropped back to pass. His throw down the field was into double coverage, but somehow Michael Pickrell came up with the ball after it was tipped by both Kickapoo defenders. After gaining control, he ended up with a 43-yard gain. After a Rolla false start, Morris found a leaping Clayton Parker, who actually tipped the too-tall pass to himself and landed on the 1-yard line. Morris scored on a QB sneak with 22.9 seconds left.

Lessons learned

Rolla is a physical football team. In all, the Bulldogs (2-0) ran the ball 58 times for 281 yards. Morris looked good enough as a passer to take him seriously in the pocket, but it’s clearly not what the Bulldogs want to do. Defensively, the Bulldogs didn’t look comfortable defending the pass, but did a reasonable job on the Chiefs’ running game. Still, it’s hard not to gush about their power running game.

Kickapoo seems to always find a way to play a close ballgame — which is both good and bad. Once Diers was given the reins of the offense when the Chiefs fell behind, he looked like a guy who could win some games. He proved he can run and pass, but has an inconsistent group of receivers. Defensively, it’s hard to not feel good, despite giving up three TDs. Remember, one of them wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for the double-tip pass near the end of the first half. Kickapoo will find a way to make things tough on opposing Ozark Conference teams.