Rossville Defeats Nemaha-Central

ROSSVILLE — State championship teams make state championship plays.

And while the two plays Rossville came up with in the fourth quarter against Nemaha Central didn’t deliver the Bulldawgs a third straight Class 3A state championship, they did give Rossville the chance to go after it.

Down 22-21 in the fourth quarter of Friday’s Class 3A state semifinal, Rossville answered the call. Jacob Bradshaw’s 64-yard touchdown run gave the Bulldawgs the lead and Wyatt Dyche’s diving interception in the end zone all but sealed the victory as Rossville pulled out a heart-stopping 27-22 win over the visiting Thunder in an epic clash.

Nemaha finished the season 12-1, while Rossville (12-1) advanced to its third straight 3A championship game in Hutchinson, where the Bulldawgs will get a shot at redemption. Awaiting Rossville in next Saturday’s title game is Hesston (10-3), a 35-19 winner over previously undefeated Hoisington and the program that beat Rossville 3-0 in the 1992 3A championship game.

“Players make plays and these kids are good football players,” Rossville coach Derick Hammes said. “It’s what this program is about. For years and years and years, we’ve had great players and great coaches who laid the groundwork for this kind of mentality. We know we’re going to come out on top in the end. You can’t put a price on that. That’s a rare find in a football program where the kids always believe they were going to win.”

That belief was pushed to the limit by a Nemaha Central team enjoying its best season in four decades. The Thunder used a bruising run game to pound away at the Rossville defense all night and orchestrated a 14-play, 67-yard scoring drive in the third quarter, capped by Mitchell Henry’s 7-yard touchdown run.

Ryan Hasenkamp’s ensuing two-point conversion run gave the Thunder a 22-21 lead, which held going into the fourth quarter.

Then Rossville showed its championship mettle. After being bottled up most of the night by Nemaha’s stout defense, Bradshaw finally found a gap. He popped to the outside and out-raced the Thunder defense to the end zone for a 64-yard scoring run — which more than doubled his yardage total to that point.

The two-point conversion failed, leaving Rossville clinging to a five-point lead. When a directional kick on the ensuing kickoff instead turned into a pooch kick to give the ball to Nemaha at its own 47, it was up to Rossville’s defense to preserve the victory.

The Thunder quickly drove to the Rossville 10, twice converting third-and-2 situations. Facing a third-and-8 from the Bulldawg 10, Hasenkamp scrambled out of the pocket and spotted Jacob Schmitz flashing open in the corner of the end zone.

But Dyche made a great break on the ball and made a sliding, diving interception with 1:51 left in the game for the biggest play of his career.

“We were just playing man-to-man and I saw him rolling out,” Dyche said. “I just came up with the ball. I was 100 percent sure (I could get there). It was very key for us to respond. We’ve got a lot of seniors on this defense and (Hammes) had a lot of trust in us and we wanted to come through.”

Rossville couldn’t quite run out the clock, and Nemaha got the ball back with 49.1 seconds left at its own 47. A 17-yard pass from Hasenkamp to Mitchell Heiman got it to the Rossville 37, but after a first-down spike, Hasenkamp misfired on his next three attempts, the final pass sailing high as Rossville held on.

“We had our chances,” Nemaha coach Warren Seitz said. “We turned the ball over a couple times, which we hadn’t done over the last couple weeks. … Our kids played really hard all year and we had a great year.”

Neither team wasted much time getting their offense going at the start of the game. Bradshaw hit Cole Schumacher for a 52-yard touchdown pass on the fifth play of the game for a quick 7-0 lead, but the Thunder came right back to make it 7-6 on Hasenkamp’s 21-yard run on their first possession.

A Sheldon Hulbert interception set up a 7-yard touchdown pass from Bradshaw to Schumacher early in the second quarter, but again Nemaha answered right away on a 10-yard run from Mitchell Henry to tie it. Rossville took a 21-14 halftime lead on Dawson Hammes’ 4-yard run with 34 seconds left, but the Bulldawg offense found the going tough from there until Bradshaw’s game-winning burst.

“I’ve got faith in my kids. They’re champions,” Hammes said. “They’ve done a great job all year, improving to get to this point. That’s what I’ve got faith in, our football players.”

Bradshaw finished with 128 yards rushing and 108 passing to lead Rossville, which is 52-2 during Hammes’ four years. Nemaha gouged the Bulldawg defense for 234 rushing yards despite getting only three carries from leading rusher Jacob Koelzer (high ankle sprain) with Henry rushing for 93 and Hasenkamp for 69.

Nemaha Central (12-1) 6 8 8 0 — 22

Rossville (12-1) 7 14 0 6 — 27

Ross — Schumacher 52 pass from Bradshaw (Andresen kick)

NC — Hasenkamp 21 run (run failed)

Ross — Schumacher 7 pass from Bradshaw (Andresen kick)

NC — M. Henry 10 run (M. Henry run)

Ross — Hammes 4 run (Andresen kick)

NC — M. Henry 7 run (Hasenkamp run)

Ross — Bradshaw 64 run (pass failed)

GAME IN FIGURES

NC Ross

First downs 19 11

Rushes-yards 50-234 31-174

Passing 57 108

Comp-Att-Int 6-18-2 8-11-0

Punts 4-32.2 5-28.8

Fumbles-Lost 2-0 1-0

Penalties-Yards 1-15 0-0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Nemaha Central: Hasenkamp 18-69, Koelzer 3-25, M. Henry 19-93, Heiman 8-32, Schmitz 1-11, Delaney 1-4. Rossville: Bradshaw 20-128, Hammes 4-14, Balch 4-21, Foster 3-11.

PASSING — Nemaha Central: Hasenkamp 6-18-2, 57. Rossville: Bradshaw 8-11-0, 108.

RECEIVING — Nemaha Central: Enneking 1-5, Haverkamp 1-9, T. Henry 1-11, Heiman 3-32. Rossville: Schumacher 5-77, Balch 2-28, Dyche 1-3.