By RANDY GONZALES

rgonzales@dailynews.net

There was nothing fancy about the Indians' win Friday night.

It was just old-fashioned, hard-nosed football. Three yards and a cloud of artificial turf.

The Hays High School football team ended an eight-game losing streak against Western Athletic Conference rival Great Bend, beating the Panthers 20-14 in front of an estimated crowd of almost 5,000 fans at Lewis Field Stadium.

With the win in the Class 5A, District 6 opener, the magical season continues for the Indians, who improved to 7-0 and clinched the WAC crown outright.

"Feels awesome," said Hays High junior fullback Josh Balman. "Probably one of the best things in my life, so far."

While pleased with the rivalry win and WAC title, first-year HHS coach Ryan Cornelsen knows there's still work to do.

"Right now, we've got to keep going," he said. "It feels good; when the season is over, we'll look back and enjoy it."

Hays High next travels to Hutchinson, which has won five straight state titles. The Salthawks (7-0) handed McPherson (6-1) its first loss of the season in Friday's other district game, 55-20.

Next week will be another big test for a Hays High team that has been turning heads this season, winning week after week.

Before this year, HHS' last winning season was in 2005.

"As a coach and a program, we try not to focus on what people think about us," Cornelsen said. "We only focus on what we can control."

What the Indians did Friday night was control the line of scrimmage. Defensively, the Indians put pressure on Great Bend junior quarterback Greg Hildebrand in the Panthers' spread offense, sacking him four times and giving him little time to throw.

Offensively, the line gave the Indian backs a hole, and they ran hard, gaining extra yards after contact. The Indians threw just four times, including a fourth down halfback pass from sophomore Brad Desbien to senior quarterback Bryant Bombardier which gained 11 yards and kept a drive alive.

Other than that one bit of trickery, the Indians just ran right at the Panthers. Of Hays High's 62 plays from scrimmage, 58 were runs, and most of them were up the middle or off tackle.

"Against Great Bend, our big rivals, coaches said run hard, don't get tackled," said Balman, who rushed for 75 yards on 16 carries.

Junior running back Casey Sedbrook led Hays High with 80 yards rushing on 20 carries and scored all three Indian touchdowns, two on runs and one on an interception return while playing linebacker.

"One thing we wanted to do was keep pounding it," Sedbrook said.

Cornelsen said he had to change the game plan after the Indians started experiencing success running up the middle.

"I didn't think we could run it up the gut," Cornelsen said. "That was an adjustment we made."

Great Bend (4-3 overall, 0-1 district) threw three interceptions and lost two fumbles. All three HHS touchdowns came off turnovers.

"It was obviously huge," Cornelsen said.

Great Bend tried a trick play the first time it had the ball. Panther senior receiver Allan Holt, who was running a reverse, stopped to throw. His pass was intercepted by HHS senior defensive back Tyler Lacy.

Hays High couldn't move the ball, and sophomore Austin Unrein punted to Holt, who returned it 57 yards for an apparent touchdown, but Great Bend was called for a block in the back.

Hildebrand then fumbled the ball on a pitchout to give Hays High the ball at the Great Bend 33. The Indians scored six plays later, on Sedbrook's tackle-breaking run around left end from 11 yards out. Unrein's extra point gave HHS a 7-0 lead with 5:06 left in the first quarter.

Great Bend answered with a seven-play, 58-yard drive to score on its next possession, capped by senior Jordan Basye's TD from a yard out to make it 7-7 with 2:00 left in the first quarter.

Hays High started a long drive on the ensuing possession, but Bombardier had a pass over the middle intercepted near the goal line. But on the second play after the pick, Hildebrand was intercepted by Sedbrook, who jumped a route by a Great Bend receiver. He stepped in front of the Panther wideout near the Great Bend sideline and returned it 18 yards for a touchdown. Unrein's kick made it 14-7 with 1:49 left in the first half.

"We've been working all week on getting linebackers to drop," into coverage, Sedbrook said.

"We show a lot of blitzing with our outside linebackers," Cornelsen said. "We just dropped him into coverage.

"I told him all week if he played wide, he'd get one," Cornelsen added.

"That was real big," Balman said. "It gave us a lot of confidence."

Great Bend got the ball to start the second half and abandoned its spread offense, instead using its goal-line package to move the ball down the field.

The Panthers used 13 plays -- 11 runs -- to cover 65 yards to the HHS 10. From there, Hildebrand was stripped of the ball on a QB keeper and senior linebacker Travis Pfannenstiel recovered at the 8-yard line.

"Every week, we tell them don't focus on the score or where we're on the field, just concentrate on your assignment," Cornelsen said.

After the turnover, Hays High put together its best drive of the game, marching 92 yards on 17 plays -- all runs -- to score, capped by Sedbrook's TD from a yard out with 10:56 left in the game. Unrein's PAT was blocked.

The Indians took 7:55 off the clock on the drive.

"We wanted ball control, we wanted to sustain drives," Cornelsen said. "I told the kids we've got to run the ball to keep them off the field."

Hays High stopped Great Bend on downs at the HHS 18 on the Panthers' next possession, with Hildebrand's pass on fourth down falling incomplete in the end zone. Hildebrand was intercepted by Balman on the Panthers' next series.

Great Bend -- helped by a personal foul by the Indians on a punt return -- got the ball at the HHS 36 late in the game. Hildebrand hooked up with senior wide receiver Connor Williams for a 23-yard TD pass with 2:03 remaining to make it 20-14.

Great Bend rallied in the fourth quarter to win its last three games, but not on this night.

Hays High got the ball on the ensuing onside kick. And after a Balman run up the middle gave the Indians a first down, Hays High was able to run out the clock.

Let the celebration begin.

"Pretty big win," Sedbrook said. "All of us came out and played hard."

Bombardier added 58 yards rushing on 20 carries as Hays High ran for 217 yards. The HHS defense, best in the WAC in stopping the run, held Great Bend to 63 yards on the ground. Pfannenstiel led the Indians with 10 tackles.

"That's the kind of football I enjoy, that toughness -- smash-mouth," Cornelsen said.