Title Game Preview

From the (Newton) Kansan:

HESSTON — In 1992, John Gotti was sentenced to life in prison for Mob activities, the Soviet backed government in Afghanistan is overthrown, the Summer Olympics are held in Barcelona, and at Cessna Stadium in Wichita, Ryan Achilles hit a 39-yard field goal in the first quarter to lead the Hesston Swather football team to a 3-0 win over Rossville in the Class 3A state finals.

Fast forward 24 years later and the two teams will meet again in the state finals — only instead of a sloppy grass field on a cold and rainy day — they will play on the turf at 1 p.m. Saturday at Gowans Stadium in Hutchinson.

Hesston enters the game 10-3, stopping Hoisington 35-19 in the semifinals. Rossville is entering the game 12-1, downing Nemaha Central 27-22 in the semifinals.

Hesston coach Clint Rider said he doesn’t expect such a low-scoring game this time, but said if the game is on the line this year, junior kicker Matt Whitsitt is ready to go.

“There’s no doubt, this is a big moment for us,” Rider said. “It’s a chance for us to win a state title. There are a lot of nerves, but we just have to stay focused on whatever the situation may be. Matt’s ready to go. I don’t think it will be a 3-0 game, but if the game is on the line, he’s made a field goal or two for us. Both teams are too good on offense for the game to be low scoring.”

Rossville is led by senior quarterback Jacob Bradshaw, who has 1,627 yards passing and 2,453 yards rushing. Rider expects a lot of four- and five-wide receiver sets from the Bulldogs on offense.

“They are a lot like us,” Rider said. “They may be a bit smaller, but they are a very quick team. They have some size, but they are pretty quick. Bradshaw is a quality quarterback. Our defense is going to have to play a great game to contain him. We will have to keep moving our feet. He makes cuts you just don’t see at this level.”

Hesston comes into the game with strong second half play in all four playoff games to date.

“We’ve managed to keep our turnovers down the last two games,” Rider said. “We’ve played outstanding defense. We’ve given up some yards, but we’ve gotten a lot of stops near the goal line and in the red zone. We’ve forced some turnovers and gotten good field position in the second half. I thought our first couple playoff games, we didn’t play as well as we could have in the the first half, but came back with strong second halves. We held Hoisington to 19 points, and that was a very good team. We’re going to have to get off to a good start in this game.”

This will be the Swather’s first game of the season on artificial turf, which Rider said shouldn’t be a problem. He said the team played both Hillsboro and Smoky Valley on turf last season.

“We practiced at Bethel today to get ready for it,” Rider said.

Hesston enters the game on a nine-game winning streak after a 1-3 start.

“We’ve tried to take the season on a one-game-at-a-time approach,” Rider said. “We’ve tried to keep our focus on where we are. Our three losses all came on the road against good teams. Our confidence wasn’t very high at that point. Then we got wins against Smoky Valley and Nickerson. That got us over .500 and got our confidence up. When we beat Southeast of Saline in the eighth week of the season, that’s when we really started to turn around. That was an undefeated team on the road. That really lifted our confidence.”