Silver Lake Loses To Nemaha Central

    Silver Lake came up a few inches short with the game on the line with 1:02 left in the game allowing Nemaha Central to advance with a 21-14 win
http://cjonline.com/sports/2016-11-05/silver-lake-comes-short-inches-short-playoff-loss-nemaha-central

Bradshaw Leads Dawgs to Win At Sabetha

From the Capital Journal:

Jacob Bradshaw carries Rossville to 34-28 win at Sabetha

Bulldawg quarterback rushes for 270 yards, throws for 204 as Rossville continues quest for third straight 3A state title

SABETHA — On a night where Jacob Bradshaw accounted for 474 yards of total offense, any number of plays could have gone down as his biggest in Saturday’s Class 3A playoff clash with Sabetha.

But one stuck out for the Rossville quarterback, and it was hard to argue it might have been the biggest play in the Bulldawgs’ 34-28 win.

With Rossville holding the slim six-point lead, the Bulldawgs faced third-and-5 at their own 32 with four-plus minutes left. Needing to get the first down to avoid giving the ball right back to Sabetha after the Bluejays had scored, Bradshaw kept on a rollout read-option run-pass.

He was hit well short of the first down but broke free from the Bluejays’ tackle and finished with a 9-yard run that all but finished off the victory for Rossville.

“It was really my choice and I had a lot of faith in myself to go pick up the first down,” Bradshaw said. “Once we got that first down, we knew we could run out the clock.”

That Rossville did and the Bulldawgs’ drive for a third straight Class 3A state title cleared a major hurdle. The victory moves Rossville (10-1) into next week’s quarterfinals where it will play host to Caney Valley (9-2), which raced past Osage City 43-16.

Getting there took everything Rossville had as Sabetha went toe-to-toe with the Bulldawgs from start to finish. The Bluejays scored first on a 60-yard touchdown run by Blake Plattner and had the game’s final score on a 27-yard touchdown pass from Christian Meyer to Trae Snyder.

And in between, the Bluejays did enough to hold a 14-13 halftime lead and keep the pressure on Rossville the entire way. But the Bulldawgs, tested and strengthened by their state-title runs, had an answer for everything Sabetha came up with, namely in the form of the playmaking Bradshaw.

“They’re an old-school football team who’s going to come out and hit you,” Bradshaw said. “We knew we had to come out and be physical. They came out and put some points on the board, but we are one of the most experienced playoff teams and that’s a benefit for us. We’ve been in this position before and we know what it takes in tough games like this.”

Bradshaw racked up 135 yards rushing and 87 passing in the first half alone, but Rossville trailed 14-13 with a missed PAT the difference. A second-half team much of this season, Rossville looked like it might bury Sabetha when Bradshaw busted runs of 19 and 14 to set up a 14-yard touchdown run by Dawson Hammes and then found Wyatt Dyche all alone for a 15-yard scoring pass on the Bulldawgs’ next possession, capping a 95-yard march to make it 28-14.

Sabetha wouldn’t go away and put together a 16-play scoring drive with Snyder scoring on a 1-yard run. Rossville quickly grabbed back the momentum when Bradshaw hit Cole Schumacher for a 72-yard touchdown bomb two plays after Snyder’s score, but the Bluejays again came up with an answer when their little-used passing game delivered.

Meyer hit Noah Garber for a 37-yard connection and three plays later found Snyder for the score to cut the deficit to six. All Sabetha needed was a defensive stop, but it couldn’t corral Bradshaw on the key play and Rossville iced the game with runs of 22 by Perry Foster and 13 by Bradshaw.

“It was just one big play and one big drive where we couldn’t stick it in the end zone and that’s huge in a game like this,” Sabetha coach Garrett Michael said. “He’s the best running back we’ve seen all year and he just happens to be a quarterback threat and it’s hard when he can throw it and run it like he does. We just tried to contain him and didn’t do that on a couple plays.”

Bradshaw finished with a career-best 270 yards rushing and also threw for 204 yards. Schumacher caught 10 passes for 156 yards.

Sabetha, which finished the year 9-2, got 107 rushing yards from Snyder, while Meyer threw for a career-best 106 yards.

“They’re so difficult to stop because they’re really good at what they do,” Rossville coach Derick Hammes said of Sabetha. “But we had the kind of stops we needed throughout the course of the game, and from that aspect our defense did a nice job. And offensively we were able to respond and ice the game.”

Rossville (10-1) 7 6 15 6 — 34

Sabetha (9-2) 7 7 0 14 — 28

Sab — Plattner 60 run (Cox kick)

Ross — Hammes 1 run (Andresen kick)

Ross — Bradshaw 1 run (kick failed)

Sab — Snyder 2 run (Cox kick)

Ross — Hammes 14 run (Andresen kick)

Ross — Dyche 15 pass from Bradshaw (Schumacher pass from Bradshaw)

Sab — Snyder 1 run (Cox kick)

Ross — Schumacher 72 pass from Bradshaw (kick failed)

Sab — Snyder 27 pass from Meyer (Cox kick)

GAME IN FIGURES

Ross Sab

First downs 26 16

Rushes-yards 47-340 51-214

Passing 204 106

Comp-Att-Int 12-19-0 5-7-0

Punts 1-46.0 4-35.0

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-0

Penalties-Yards 2-20 3-20

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Rossville: Bradshaw 33-270,, Hammes 10-44, Dyche 1-6, Foster 1-22, Team 2-minus 2. Sabetha: Snyder 30-107, Plattner 11-87, Meyer 6-2, Edelman 3-16, Gruber 1-2.

PASSING — Rossville: Bradshaw 12-19-0, 204. Sabetha: Meyer 5-7-0, 106.

RECEIVING — Rossville: Schumacher 10-153, Dyche 2-48. Sabetha: Edelman 1-6, Renyer 1-15, Plattner 1-21, Garber 1-37, Snyder 1-27.

Dawgs At Sabetha Football

At the end of the first quarter,  the score is Sabetha 7, Rossville 7.

At the half,  Sabetha leads 14-13.  The Dawgs had 14 first dowqns and 163 yards rushing.  Saetha had 8 first downs and 141 rushing yards.  Jacob Bradshaw had 222 yards total offense.

Having a monster 3rd quarter,  Jacob made several nice runs and a passing TD for a 28-14 lead at the end of the quarter.

Midway through the fourth qtr,  the Blye Jays added a TD to make the score 28-21, but the Dawgs scored  another very quick TD with a Bradshaw to Schumacher pass to make the score 34-21.  But a quick Sabetha pass for another TD made the score 34-28.  The Dawgs then ran the clock out to end the game at 34-28.

Rossville next plays Caney Valley next Friday on the home field.


During the second quarter,  Silver Lake is behind Nemaha Central 15-7. In the third quarter,  Nemaha leads Silver Lake 21-7.   Silver Lake came up short at the end, losing 21-14.

C-J Article About Sat. Playoff Games

From the Capital-Journal:

The matchups just scream something other than “Class 3A regional.”

Something bigger seems more fitting for showdowns between the best of the Mid-East and Big Seven Leagues on Saturday. The heavyweight feel seems more like a title bout or at worst a state semifinal.

No. 1 and 10-0 Silver Lake vs. No. 5 and 10-0 Nemaha Central. No. 4 and 9-1 Rossville vs. 9-1 Sabetha.

As Class 3A battles go, especially so early in the playoffs, it doesn’t get any better.

“That’s just the cards we’re dealt in 3A,” said Silver Lake coach C.J. Hamilton, fresh off notching career win No. 400 on Tuesday night. “That’s the way it rolls. That’s two pretty good matchups right next to each other.”

Rather than lament their luck (unluck) of the draw, all four programs have attacked Saturday’s monumental clashes head-on.

Or as Rossville coach Derick Hammes put it, “You’ve got to play it at some point. The east side of the bracket is pretty deep and the deeper the bracket, the earlier you run into these types of games. It should be two pretty good matchups.”

For Rossville the feeling for Saturday’s 6 p.m. showdown at Sabetha isn’t all that different from the one the Bulldawgs had in the regional round each of the last two seasons on their way to two straight Class 3A state championships. In 2014, Rossville fought off Centralia after beating the Panthers previously during the regular season for their only two losses.

Last year, it was a 61-20 win over a previously undefeated Nemaha Central team in a game where the Bulldawgs led just 21-12 at halftime.

“These regional games for us the past two seasons have been pretty big football games,” Hammes said. “I hope we can count on being experienced in these situations. But it’s really going to boil down to the matchup itself and how both teams perform, execute and eliminate mistakes.”

Both Rossville and Sabetha have executed at a high level offensively all season with the Bulldawgs averaging 446.6 yards and 42.5 points per game and Sabetha coming in at 384.9 yards and 46.4 points per game. How they generate that offense, however is vastly different.

Sabetha almost exclusively gets all its yards on the ground, powered by a backfield duo of senior backs Blake Plattner and Trae Snyder, who have each topped 1,000 yards this year. Plattner leads the Bluejays with 1,105 yards and 22 touchdowns while Snyder is right behind with 1,072 yards and 12 scores.

“All 10 games, we’ve talked about needing ball control and we can’t turn it over,” Sabetha coach Garrett Michael said. “We get three and a half yards per carry and that’s what we’re OK with. We’re not after the big play, that isn’t our philosophy. Our philosophy is keep the chains moving, keep the clock on our side and keep their offense off the field.”

The Bluejays’ ball control style could be even more key on Saturday, keeping Rossville’s explosive playmakers on defense. Senior quarterback Jacob Bradshaw has had a breakout year replacing departed All-Stater Tucker Horak, rushing for 1,706 yards and 24 touchdowns and throwing for 1,260 yards and 17 scores. Cole Schumacher has been his top target with 35 catches for 738 yards and 14 scores while Perry Foster, Dawson Hammes and Trevor Balch have combined for 1,126 yards and 15 touchdowns as a backfield complement to Bradshaw with Hammes missing three games with injury after being a 1,000-yard rusher last year.

But Bradshaw is the focal point and Michael compared the Bulldawg senior to what they saw from Nemaha Central and its quarterback, Ryan Hasenkamp.

“He makes their engine go and he’s a phenomenal back,” Michael said of Bradshaw, who has completed 72 percent of his passes and averaged 8.5 yards per carry. “Up to this point, he’s the best running back we’ve seen this year and he can throw the ball and when he does, it’s on the money. It’s not just him, they’ve got athletes around him much like Nemaha does, and they’re a very good football team.”

Hasenkamp leads Nemaha into its showdown with a No. 1 team for the second straight year. While the Sabetha-Rossville clash is somewhat a contrast in styles, the Nemaha-Silver Lake showdown at 6 p.m. in Silver Lake pits teams whose strengths are almost identical.

Just as Hasenkamp is the focal point of Nemaha Central’s offense, throwing for 1,184 yards and 13 touchdowns and rushing for 500 yards and 11 scores, so is Dalton Dultmeier for Silver Lake. The Eagles’ senior quarterback has thrown for 1,888 yards and 18 touchdowns and also leads the team in rushing with 580 yards and 10 scores.

“They do a good job of mixing it up and making you defend the whole field and that’s what we try to do as well,” Hamilton said.

“We both rely on our quarterbacks an awful lot and defensively we both play with a little bit of an open style,” Nemaha coach Warren Seitz said. “We both have kids with speed who like to get to the ball. It should be a great matchup.”

Perhaps the difference could come down to which quarterback gets more help. Mason Jones and Garrett Huske have combined for 1,024 yards and 13 touchdowns in the Silver Lake backfield, while Nemaha Central senior tailback Jacob Koelzer has run for 967 yards and 23 touchdowns and averages 12.1 yards per carry and a touchdown once every four times he carries it.

“Jacob could be a difference-maker and he has been in every game except for the Sabetha game where we couldn’t get him loose,” Seitz said. “We have to find a way to get him open because once he is, nobody’s going to catch him. He’s been a big playmaker for us.”

Nemaha Central is seeking a breakthrough playoff victory, having not advanced past the second round in more than two decades. Silver Lake, meanwhile, saw its run of five straight trips to the state semifinals end last year with a second-round loss to Sabetha.

That game has served as both a motivator for the Eagles and confidence builder for Sabetha.

“It really helps when you beat a team like Silver Lake, it just boosts your confidence,” Michael said of last year’s 34-28 win over the Eagles. “We talked about not starting over, but starting off where we ended last year and I think that’s where these seniors have taken us. It does give you confidence in games like this where these guys have done it before and were a big part of it. Confidence is a big thing in a game like this.”

Dawgs Play At Sabetha On Sat.

    The Capital Journal computer has picked Rossville as the favorite in this Sat., 6:00 PM  match-up with foe Sabetha, though only by a 4.7 point margin.   In the remaining 3A games,  all shown below,  the favored team is on the left and the home team is in all capitals. 

… 97.2 … Rossville … 4.7 … SABETHA … 92.5

    The remaining 3A teams are as below.    The winner of the above game will play the winner of the Caney Valley-Osage City game.

… 64.2 ….. Caney Valley … 8.4 … OSAGE CITY … 55.8
… 80.2 ….. GALENA … 1.1 … Wellsville … 79.1
… 95.5 … ..Halstead … 11.5 … GARDEN PLAIN… 84
… 92.4 ….. HESSTON … 5.9 … Chaparral … 86.5
… 107.6 … Hoisington … 18.7 … NORTON … 88.9
… 106 …... Phillipsburg … 34.9 … LARNED … 71.1
… 98 …..... SILVER LAKE … 1.7 … Nemaha Central … 96.3

    The complete 3A bracket can be read at:  http://kshsaa.org/Public/ScoreCenter/Brackets/Football/3A.cfm?Activity=1

Announcements Video For 10/31

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjcaTo-cL5M&feature=em-subs_digest

Rossville Wins Over Perry-Lecompton

From the Capital Journal:
It was an outcome the Bulldawgs will gladly take as they begin their quest for a three-peat. Thanks to a couple big defensive stands in the first half, Rossville grabbed control of a tight game and blew out the visiting Kaws 41-14.

Rossville (9-1) will now travel to Sabetha (9-1) for Saturday’s second-round playoff contest,  "They’re a good ballclub and Coach (Garrett) Michael does a great job with them,” Rossville coach Derick Hammes said. “We’ll be on the road and that will be another obstacle for us. We hear good things form the north about them and we’re going to have to prepare and do just as well with this turnaround as we did coming into this game.”

Tuesday’s game with Perry turned thanks to the Bulldawg defense. With the game tied 6-6 late in the first quarter, the Bulldawgs twice came up with fourth-down stops of less than three yards, stuffing Cole Kellum for a one-yard loss at the Rossville 47 and three possessions later dropping Kellum for a two-yard loss at the Kaws’ 37.

“Those were huge,” Reeves said. “They had a lot of momentum coming into the game and those two stops were two of the biggest things that put them down a little bit and gave us momentum going in at halftime.”

Rossville followed the first stand with touchdown drives on its next four possessions, none of the marches lasting more than five plays. Bradshaw busted scoring runs of 33, 6 and 2 yards and Dawson Hammes added a 1-yard touchdown plunge as Rossville scored 28 unanswered points for a 34-6 halftime lead.

The Bulldawgs then scored on their first possession of the second half after Wyatt Dyche picked off Perry quarterback Jordan Spreer, Bradshaw hitting Cole Schumacher for a 24-yard touchdown on fourth-and-8.

Perry got a late touchdown on a 1-yard run by Tyler Erickson, but struggled to move that ball for much of the game after Kellum’s 1-yard touchdown run in the first quarter matched Rossville’s opening 46-yard touchdown run from Trevor Balch.

“We felt good coming in, but in the playoffs situations change and everything elevates,” Perry coach Mike Paramore said. “I think the experience factor showed up for (Rossville) tonight, but I love what our seniors have done for our program and how they’ve left it.”

Bradshaw finished with 175 of Rossville’s 394 rushing yards while Hammes added 91 and Balch 81. Bradshaw also threw for 156 yards.

Perry-Lecompton (4-6) 6   0  0  8 — 14

Rossville (9-1)             13 21 7  0 — 41

Ross — Balch 46 run (kick failed)PL — C. Kellum 1 run (run failed)Ross — Bradshaw 33 run (Andresen kick)Ross — Bradshaw 6 run (Andresen kick)Ross — Hammes 1 run (Andresen kick)Ross — Bradshaw 2 run (Andresen kick)Ross — Schumacher 24 pass from Bradshaw (Andresen kick)PL — Erickson 1 run (Spreer run)

GAME IN FIGURES

PL Ross

First downs 14 25
Rushes-yards 46-201 49-394
Passing 22 156Comp-Att-Int 1-8-1 10-12-1
Punts 4-43.5 1-32.0
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-1
Penalties-Yards 0-0 5-55

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Perry-Lecompton: C. Kellum 15-29, Quinlan 1-1, Spreer 11-88, M. Kellum 9
43, D. Kellum 4-14, Erickson 6-26. Rossville: Bradshaw 17-175, Hammes 10-91, Balch 8-81, Foster 7-26, Hulbert 2-minus 1, Martinek 3-11, Johnson 2-11.

PASSING — Perry-Lecompton: Spreer 1-8-1, 22. Rossville: Bradshaw 10-12-1, 156.RECEIVING — Perry-Lecompton: Christman 1-22. Rossville: Schumacher 3-39, Dyc

Dawgs Advance In FB Playoffs

Rossville had an easy time eliminating Perry-Lecompton from the 3A football playoffs with a 41-14 victory.  The Dawgs will play Sabetha on Saturday night.

Other scores of interest include:

Sabetha  62, Maur Hill 28

Silver Lake 50, Mission Valley 0

Phillipsburg 49, Riley Co. 20

Nemaha Central 61, Pleasant Ridge 6

Scholars Bowl

    The RHS Scholars Bowl team will be competing at Silver Lake on Dec. 3 and at Mission Valley on Dec. 8.

3A FB Playoff Outlook

CLASS 3A Football Playoff Outlook according to Brent Maycock of the Capital-Journal

Championship game — Silver Lake (9-0) vs. Hoisington (9-0).

Champion — This is truly a class where any of eight or nine teams could win and I wouldn’t bat an eye and call it an upset. Silver Lake survived its first showdown with two-time defending champion Rossville and has the pedigree to get back to the title game for the first time since winning in 2013. Hoisington has posted glossy records in the past, but has a pair of big wins on its ledger this year (Wichita Collegiate, Pratt) that make the Cardinals my pick.

Contenders — Boy, the list is long. If Rossville (8-1) is back to full strength, the Dawgs are capable of making it a three-peat. However, they’ve got a major challenge in the second round in Sabetha (8-1), as does Silver Lake with Big Seven champ Nemaha Central (9-0). Both are coin flips and the winner of the latter still may have to contend with 2015 semifinalist Wellsville (8-1). The west is always loaded with land mines and last year’s 2-1A champ Phillipsburg (9-0) is the biggest. Garden Plain (8-1) and Chaparral (8-1) advanced from the toughest district and ended Conway Springs’ run of playoff appearances. Norton (6-3) was a popular preseason pick and has a big one right away in Marysville (7-2).

CJ Computer FB Predictions

The Dawgs are expected to win their Tue night game at home against Perry-Lecompton by 3 TDs according to the Capital-Journal computer.

95.3 ROSSVILLE 22.3 Perry-Lecompton 73

Other playoff games of interest include:

95 SILVER LAKE 25.9 Mission Valley 69.1
106.4 HOISINGTON 42.1 Lakin 64.3
97.1 NEMAHA CENTRAL 54.4 Pleasant Ridge 42.7
105.1 PHILLIPSBURG 19.2 Riley County 85.9
94.2 Sabetha 41.9 MAUR HILL-MT. ACADEMY 52.3

Recent Willard Bridge Photos

Photos by George Brown

Blood Drive Today

     A Community Wide Blood Drive will be held at Rossville High on Monday, Oct. 31 at 2:30-5:45 PM. 

     

Final Football Rankings Before Playoffs

 CLASS 3A Football Ranking per the Capital-Journal

       Team      record

1. Silver Lake (1) 9-0

2. Hoisington (2) 9-0

3. Phillipsburg (3) 9-0

4. Rossville (4) 8-1

5. Nemaha Central (5) 9-0

Others — Caney Valley 7-2, Chaparral 8-1, Conway Springs 7-2, Fredonia 7-2, Galena 7-2, Garden Plain 8-1, Halstead 8-1, Hesston 6-3, Jayhawk-Linn 9-0, Marion 7-2, Marysville 7-2, Maur Hill 7-2, Norton 6-3, Sabetha 8-1, SE-Saline 7-2, Wellsville 8-1.

Notes — Going into district play, the District 10 grouping of Chaparral, Cheney, Conway Springs and Garden Plain just had the look of one where the playoff berths would be decided by points. Sure enough, that’s how things played out. After suffering its first loss last week, Chaparral bounced back to beat Conway Springs 33-8 and the decisive win gave the Roadrunners the district title on points over Garden Plain with Conway Springs left out of the playoffs despite its 7-2 record.

3A Football Ratings by Wichita Eagle

1. Hoisington 9-0 (1)

2. Silver Lake 9-0 (2)

3. Phillipsburg 9-0 (3)

4. Rossville 8-1 (4)

5. Nemaha Central 9-0 (5)

Others: Caney Valley 7-2 (NR), Chaparral 8-1 (NR), Conway Springs 7-2 (NR), Galena 7-2 (NR), Garden Plain 8-1 (NR), Halstead 8-1 (NR), Hesston 6-3 (NR), Jayhawk Linn 9-0 (NR), Marysville 7-2 (NR), Norton 6-3 (NR), Sabetha 8-1 (NR), SE-Saline 7-2 (NR), Wellsville 8-1 (NR).

3A football rankings by KPREPS

#1 HOISINGTON (9-0)

Last: Won 62-3 vs. Lyons

Hoisington won District 15 and Hunter Hanzlick became the all-time leading rusher in Cardinal history as the Cardinals rolled over Lyons, 62-3. The Cardinals have won 26 straight regular season contests. Hoisington led 42-0 with 2 minutes, 44 seconds in the first. Lyons fumbled the first two kickoffs.

Next: Tues. vs. Lakin (5-4)

#2 SILVER LAKE (9-0)

Last: Won 50-0 @ Royal Valley

Silver Lake, District 3 winners, won 50-0 at Royal Valley behind a big second half. The Eagles led the Panthers 14-0 at halftime before scoring 36 points in the second half. Silver Lake will play host to Mission Valley in a high-profile matchup in the first round of the playoffs. Silver Lake had three shutouts in the regular season.

Next: Tues. vs. Mission Valley (6-3)

#3 PHILLIPSBURG (9-0)

Last: Won 56-6 vs. Russell

Phillipsburg defeated Russell, 56-6. The Panthers had the first perfect regular season in school annals since 1962. The Panthers led 29-0 after the first quarter and 48-0 at halftime. Phillipsburg will play host to Riley County in the first round of the playoffs on Tuesday.

Next: Tues. vs. Riley County (5-4)

#4 ROSSVILLE (8-1)

Last: Won 42-8 @ Council Grove

Rossville defeated Council Grove, 48-6. The Bulldogs led 8-0 after the first quarter had a 29-point lead at halftime. Council Grove’s only score came on a fumble recovery for a score late in the contest. Rossville won District 4, while Mission Valley earned the runner-up spot.

Next: Tues. vs. Perry-Lecompton (4-5)

#5 NEMAHA CENTRAL (9-0)

Last: Won 54-8 @ Hiawatha

Nemaha Central captured a District 1 title with a 54-8 win against Hiawatha. David Delaney had scoring runs of eight and nine yards. Senior Jacob Koelzer collected rushing TDs of 53 and 23 yards. Senior Jacob Schmitz returned a punt 50 yards for a score and had 12-yard run. Senior Ryan Hasenkamp threw a 20-yard scoring pass and rushed for a 50-yard TD.

Next: Tues. vs. Pleasant Ridge (3-6)

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/sports/high-school/article111404637.html#storylink=cpy