Halloween Bowl

Kayson Link was the headline story for 12:35s in the Halloween Bowl. He threw nine touchdown passes that were recorded in the play log: four to Maddox Marsaglia, two to Braxton Iliff-Murphy, two to Wally Barickman and one to Carson Tabaka. Marsaglia's touchdown catches were a fun bunch, with one play noted as him completely mossing Xavier and others, and another, the one that closed out the game, noted as him completely mossing someone on the way to the end zone.

On the other side, KTCS leaned on Finn Hopkins and Charlie Waddell in the passing game. Hopkins threw touchdowns to Dom Chiodo and Giovani Pelaez, and Waddell threw touchdowns to Luther Nuesken, who caught three of them in total, and to Pelaez. Waddell also had a tough day behind center, getting sacked twice by Liam Bair and losing an interception to Kayson Link.

The 12:35s defense made plenty of noise. Liam Bair recorded two sacks of Charlie Waddell. Maddox Pedon broke up a pass from Waddell that was intended for Gio, and Carson Tabaka broke up another Waddell pass that was also intended for Gio. Braxton Iliff-Murphy came up with an interception of a pass thrown by Xavier Davenport, and Kayson Link picked off a pass from Waddell.

The KTCS secondary had its moments too. Xavier Davenport intercepted Kayson Link twice, and one of those picks was returned for a pick six. Giovani Pelaez also came up with an interception of a Link pass, so Link had three passes picked in the game, and KTCS's defenders made him work for his touchdowns.

Maddox Pedon had a busy day on both sides of the ball. He made a notable catch at the goal line on a pass from Kayson Link, a play that was disputed. The catch was called off as not a touchdown, and since it came on fourth down, the ball was turned over. Pedon also recorded a flag pull on Giovani Pelaez, making contact with Gio without looking at the ball.

Penalty-wise, Charlie Waddell was the one who got a flag pull of his own, grabbing Pedon's arm. KTCS's Luther Nuesken and Pelaez were busy in the end zone, with Nuesken's three scores and Pelaez's two giving the KTCS offense its main threats.

The 12:35s offense margin the ball around, with Marsaglia, Iliff-Murphy, Barickman and Tabaka all getting into the end zone behind Link's arm. The variety of targets made life tough for the KTCS defense, and the combination of Link's throws and the receivers' catches made a big difference in the final result.

With the 70-42 win, 12:35s advances in the Halloween Bowl playoff, and Link's nine touchdown passes and Bair's pressure on Waddell are the biggest reasons the team is still alive. KTCS will head back to the drawing board after a loss that featured a pick six and six touchdowns of its own.