Another Article About Title Game

From the Capital-Journal:

HUTCHINSON — In the week leading up to Saturday’s Class 3A state championship game, Rossville coach Derick Hammes heard from plenty of Bulldawg alumni, wishing him and his team the best as it went after a title three-peat.

But one group of Dawg supporters had even more invested in their desires for another Rossville celebration on the field at Hutchinson’s Gowans Stadium. For the members of the 1992 Rossville team, Saturday was a bit about payback.

You see, standing in Rossville’s way for the three-peat was the same team that denied the 1992 Bulldawg team from becoming the program’s first state championship squad. That year, Hesston nipped Rossville 3-0 for the Class 3A state title at Wichita’s Cessna Stadium.

Hesston did its best to play the spoiler again Saturday, but Rossville mounted a furious comeback and pulled out the 48-42 overtime win to complete the three-peat and give the past Dawgs a bit of redemption.

“I’m in a group text that gets kind of wild sometimes, but I definitely heard from them,” Hammes said. “But this is true, there is a genuine interest and care in the program from the community to the alumni. And that’s a pretty neat deal.”

The manner in which Rossville got redemption almost came in the most fitting ways, even if the means of getting there was drastically different. The 1992 title game was decided on a 39-yard field goal by Hesston’s Ryan Achilles in the first quarter in a defensive slugfest where the teams combined for just 304 total yards.

After an offensive shootout that produced 1,070 yards of total offense, Saturday’s title game nearly came down to a field goal as well with Rossville’s Freddie Andresen lining up for a 43-yard attempt on the final play of regulation with a chance to break a 42-42 tie. With the wind at his back, Andresen got plenty of leg on the kick, but it sailed just wide right, forcing Rossville to win it in overtime.

“That would have been ironic and he gave it a run,” Hammes said. “It was on line and if that’s a high school goal post, maybe we would have got it.”

Instead, Rossville made the plays in overtime to deliver the crown. Sheldon Hulbert and Cole Schumacher combined on a tackle of Hesston quarterback Zach Esau at the 1 to force a fumble recovered by Bulldawg senior Jordan Johnston in the end zone. One play later, Jacob Bradshaw capped a monstrous performance with a 10-yard scamper to the same northwest corner of the end zone where a year ago he had come up with the title-clinching interception in a 20-19 win over Wichita Collegiate.

“That fumble was huge for us,” Hulbert said. “Our defense had kind of been lagging most of the game, but we stepped up when we needed to.”

A junior, Hulbert will be part of the cast of Bulldawgs who next year will be asked to step up and try to carry on the streak Rossville is riding. After graduating stellar senior classes the previous two seasons off title teams, Rossville will once again have some major holes to fill.

For starters, there’s Bradshaw, who in his first year at quarterback taking over for two-time All-State selection Tucker Horak did a pretty good impression of his former teammate. Bradshaw ran for 281 yards and two touchdowns and threw for 147 yards and three touchdowns in Saturday’s title game, capping a season that saw him amass more than 4,500 yards of total offense.

That job will fall to Hulbert, who took only a handful of snaps at quarterback this year, completing 1 of 3 passes for four yards and rushing for 44 yards and a touchdown.

“I’m going to have to step up a lot next year and put in a lot of work and try to get as good as I can,” said Hulbert, who started at linebacker all season on this year’s title team. “This year’s senior class had a good class to replace and next year’s will be the same way. It’s going to be a big push for us to try to keep this going. We’re going to work hard and try to get it again.”

There’s also the likes of Schumacher, linebacker Dawson Hammes, linemen Jackson Reeves and Malcom Gillum and receiver/backs Trevor Balch, Wyatt Dyche and Bryce Gfeller from a class of 11 seniors who did their part to keep Rossville atop Class 3A.

“The players at the school, when we get up here we expect to win,” Bradshaw said. “That’s huge for us. We knew we were capable enough to be in this position, but to win it three years in a row, that just continues our dynasty. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the guys perform next year.”

“The bar’s been set pretty high, but our expectations are always high,” Hammes said. “That’s how you build these things. We will do the same things it takes in the offseason and prepare for the games the same way next year.”