From the Capital Journal:
HUTCHINSON — They aren’t exactly the forgotten ones.
After all, how does anyone overlook a group boasting the star talent found in Rossville’s 11-member senior class? But coming on the heels of two of the best senior classes arguably ever to step foot on the gridiron for the Bulldawgs, the Class of 2017 perhaps hasn’t been held in the same esteem.
That could all change Saturday.
Winners of two straight Class 3A state championships, Rossville (12-1) is back in Hutchinson for a three-peat. And a victory in Saturday’s 1 p.m. contest at Gowan Stadium over Hesston (9-3) would go a long way toward cementing the legacy for this year’s team, and in particular the senior class.
“This group has never really been given a chance,” Rossville coach Derick Hammes said following the Bulldawgs’ heart-stopping 27-22 win over Nemaha Central in last Friday’s semifinals. “We lost a lot of star power the past couple years. They just wanted to prove their place in the program. They’ve done a great job of doing that so far and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
As star power goes, it’s hard to knock the abilities of Rossville’s leading men.
Senior quarterback Jacob Bradshaw leads the state in total offense, amassing more than 4,000 yards and 51 touchdowns. Taking over for Tucker Horak, Bradshaw has done a pretty good impression of the two-time All-Stater, rushing for 2,453 yards and 29 touchdowns while throwing for 1,627 yards and 22 scores.
Receiver Cole Schumacher has defined the term go-to target for Bradshaw, catching 52 of his 108 completions for 1,024 yards and 18 touchdowns — two coming in the win over Nemaha, including a 52-yarder to start the scoring. Senior linebacker Dawson Hammes, meanwhile, has battled back from an early-season thumb injury to rack up 156 tackles in 10 games.
The supporting cast has been more than solid enough to carry Rossville through a difficult path back to the state championship game — one that included wins over a trio of Big Seven League teams in the playoffs.
“To go through all the challenges we had — replacing four offensive linemen and on the defensive side of the ball we had one of our front seven back,” Hammes said. “The sense of accomplishment, well, we’ll get into that after this weekend. But it’s definitely significant that this group was not only able to piece together what’s turned into a good lineup on both sides of the ball, but they also did it early in the season in the face of adversity.
“It’s come together nicely and the kids’ effort has been a big part of that. Every challenge along the way, we’ve been able to find the answer and we want to do that for another week.”
Hesston will be yet another challenge for the Bulldawgs, who have used fourth-quarter comebacks in each of the previous two title games to deliver the program’s first two state championships. The Swathers entered 2016 with high expectations and promptly got off to a 1-3 start.
It wasn’t a complete early-season collapse. All three of the losses were by nine points or less to playoff teams and in each, Hesston had its chances to win.
“That was the hardest thing to drill into our kids’ heads was we were OK because our kids aren’t used to starting that way,” Hesston coach Clint Rider said. “In the Garden Plain game (33-27 loss) we were inside the 20 four times and couldn’t punch it in. Against Halstead (26-24 loss) we were up 10 with seven minutes to go and have them at third-and-16. I don’t know if we felt like, ‘We’re Hesston. We’re up. We should win.’ It was really, really tough.”
Instead of letting the season get away, Hesston has bounced back in a big way. The Swathers haven’t lost since a 36-27 defeat to Nickerson in Week 4 and have taken things to another level in the playoffs.
In the past three weeks, Hesston has picked off Chaparral (35-20), Phillipsburg (38-26) and Hoisington (35-19). Both Phillipsburg and Hoisington were undefeated before losing to Hesston with Phillipsburg last year’s 2-1A state champion and Hoisington ranked No. 2 in The Capital-Journal’s final rankings.
“We are playing with a lot of confidence and you need that to compete at this time of year,” Rider said. “We’re not a team that’s so talented that we can’t be stopped. We have to rely on each other for every play. Playing the two-time defending champion, we need to be confident, but we have to keep ourselves humble and keep our preparation the same. But I don’t think you can get to this point without being confident.”
You don’t get there without talent, either, and like Rossville, Hesston has plenty of star power.
Senior quarterback Zach Esau has enjoyed nearly as big of a season as Bradshaw, accumulating more than 3,600 yards of total offense, throwing for 2,688 yards and 28 touchdowns and rushing for 962 yards and 19 scores. Senior receiver Zach Vogt has 50 catches for 903 yards and 10 touchdowns and sophomore back Parker Roth has added 1,135 yards and 19 touchdowns rushing.
“He’s good in every way and makes those throws that typical high school kids don’t make,” Hammes said of Esau. “The deep out, the throw under pressure and he’s athletic to find time and a threat in the running game. He’s the catalyst for what they do and they’ve got nice pieces to go with him. They’re regarded as a passing team, but they’re willing and able to run it and have a very active defense.
“It’s a good football team and I’m not surprised they’re there. In a lot of ways, they’re a lot like us in that they got everybody pointed in the right direction and have made a tough run. They have some of the intangibles we’re talking about on our side, or they wouldn’t be here.”
There is a bit of history between the two programs. Hesston is making its first state championship game appearance since 1992. That year, the Swathers won the Class 3A state title with a 3-0 victory in the title game over … Rossville.
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