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By the Salina Journal

BROOKVILLE -- The start wasn't what Ell-Saline expected.

Fortunately, the end result was.

When Remington scored an early touchdown Friday night, Ell-Saline trailed for the first time this season. It aroused the Cardinals, who woke up and rolled off the next 46 points to remain perfect on the season.

The 46-7 throttling of the Broncos also gave Ell-Saline a share of the Heart of America League championship.

A win over league foe Inman next week in the first round of District action would give the Cardinals an outright league title.

Maybe it was the State Power rankings that showed Ell-Saline ranked No. 7 in Class 2-1A that led to the lethargic start.

"I don't know what it was," Ell-Saline coach Terry King said, "but I think our kids found out they just can't show up and win," he said.

"We started out slow, real slow," said Rodolfo Arias, who plays linebacker and running back for the Cardinals. "(The first touchdown) woke us all up. I think it shocked us and we needed to get our heads into the game."

King also noted his team had prepared for a Bronco aerial assault. Instead, Remington gave the ball to Jake Coleman, a workhorse running back who generated 139 yards on 31 carries.

With Coleman gaining 34 yards on five carries, Remington reached the Ell-Saline 19 and on third-and-six, Zack Glover found Adrian Nethercot in the end zone at 5:06 of the first quarter. Jake Green booted the PAT.

"We geared up for their pass game," King said. "I didn't know if they would be good enough to beat us if we played pass all the time, but I found out they were good enough so we had to adjust a little bit by bringing another man into the box."

Tate Omli's 50-yard kickoff return put the Cards in business at the Bronco 30 and three plays later, the now fully awakened Arias ran over a couple of defenders to score from 17 yards out. Omli ran the 2-point conversion for an 8-7 lead.

The Remington lead lasted 1:11.

Ell-Saline put three more touchdowns on the board in the second quarter to go up 26-7 at intermission.

Omli scored from five yards out, Arias again from 3 yards and Michael Haverfield took a short pass and turned it into a 34-yard score.

Tyler Schulz scored twice in the third quarter, first taking a 10-yard TD pass from Omli and then returning an interception 33 yards for another.

Omli turned a broken play in the fourth quarter into another score as he scrambled after fumbling the snap and hit Payte Johnson for 37 yards.

Arias wound up bulldozing the Broncos for 132 yards on 17 carries, while Haverfield cracked the century mark again with 101 on nine tries.

Omli was 6 of 8 in the air for 122 yards.

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