On Friday night, in front of an estimated crowd of 5,000 people at Lewis Field Stadium, Hays High School defeated Great Bend,  20-14. The Indians moved to 7-0 under first-year head coach Ryan Cornelsen, beat rival Great Bend for the first time since 2000, ended a 9-game losing streak in district games and continued to be the state’s surprise among Kansas 11-man teams.Hays High forced five Great Bend turnovers in the win and were +4 in turnover margin. That margin has been crucial in the Indians’ strong scoring defense that has allowed just 97 points, one of the top 5 marks in Class 5A, according to preppowerindex.com.The Indians overall are +8 in turnover margin with 12 turnovers and 20 turnovers forced.Hays High has won the turnover margin in every game except for the Week 4 victory against Garden City, a 17-16 win marked by a last second field goal. The Indians, which picked off 10 passes all last season, already have 13 INTs this season, including three Friday night against Great Bend from Tyler Lacy, Josh Balman and Casey Sedbrook.Lacy, all-Western Athletic Conference last season, paces the Indians with 4 INTs. He had two picks last season. Without the turnovers, the Indians may have anywhere from 3-6 victories.Turnovers are often considered one or two of the most important statistics in the game (ESPN had a study a few years ago on NFL games that showed the stats that most directly related to winning were yards per play and turnover margin). On ESPN.com, SEC football writer Chris Low writes this passage on Friday about No. 2 Alabama and head coach Nick Saban:I do ask him about some of the defensive numbers the Alabama staff charts and which ones he thinks are the most revealing. Saban’s answer is a long and detailed one. No coach I deal with explains the game better than Saban, and somewhere along the way after reminding everybody that the only role he plays on the defense is serving as defensive coordinator Kirby Smart’s graduate assistant, he says that explosive plays and points allowed are what matter most. The Alabama staff also does a detailed analysis on the impact turnovers have in a game, and Saban says the Tide’s analysis has shown that each turnover is worth 3.5 to 4 points in a game.  Take out 4 points every game for HHS and the season changes dramatically: they beat Ulysses 13-9, Liberal 21-17 and Garden City 17-16. Turnovers were crucial when Cornelsen finished 53-13 at La Crosse, including a 32-3 record from 2006-08. Turnover numbers are unavailable for Cornelsen’s first four years, but stats are at MaxPreps.com for the last two years, seasons where the Leopards went 10-1 and 11-1 and finished No. 2 in Class 2-1A in the state wide media poll last fall.In 2008, LaCrosse was +11 with 28 turnovers forced (18 INTs and 10 fumbles) versus 17 turnovers (8 fumbles lost,  9 INTs).In 2007, LaCrosse was +20 with five INTs and five fumbles lost versus 17 INTs and 13 fumbles picked up.