Rossville Wins State!!!!

From CJOnline:
HUTCHINSON — The situation seemingly was anything but a comfortable one for Rossville.
For the first time all season, the top-ranked Bulldawgs were behind in the fourth quarter of a game. Not just any game, mind you, but Saturday’s Class 3A state championship game, trailing undefeated and No. 2 Scott City by a touchdown with eight minutes to play.
    One key starter was out with an injury. Another was limited by injury as well.
    And the offense that had put up the most points in 3A all season was finding yards almost as tough to get as points.
    Tough spot, right? Well, not exactly.
    “It was kind of a good feeling,” Rossville quarterback Tucker Horak said. “We got to show what we were all about and that we were made of something.”
    Given the opportunity, Rossville proved it had the makeup of a champion. The Bulldawgs scored the game’s final 14 points, rallying past Scott City for a 21-14 victory on Horak’s 5-yard touchdown run with 28 seconds to play at Hutchinson’s Gowans Stadium. The win capped a 14-0 season for Rossville and delivered the program’s first state football championship.
    “The thing I’ve loved about Rossville from the get-go was the simple fact that they have a passion for football,” Rossville coach Derick Hammes said. “Gosh dang it, that’s what a coach wants. He wants to go somewhere where they love football and don’t run away from challenges and hard work. This just means so much to me and them.”
    Rossville had to face a challenge square on almost immediately from the start of Saturday's title contest. In the span of a few plays, the Bulldawgs lost starting lineman Isaac Luellen to an elbow injury that required him to be carted off the field, and then Thatcher Horak — the Bulldawgs’ second-most productive offensive player and standout defensive back — to a hip bruise.
Luellen didn't return and Horak was available only on a limited basis and their absence was noticeable, particularly when Scott City used a pair of second-half touchdown passes to erase Rossville’s 7-0 halftime lead.
    Trey O’Neil hit Chantz Yager behind the Rossville secondary for a 30-yard score to tie the game late in the third quarter. After Rossville fumbled it away at the Scott City 17 on its next possession, the Beavers marched down the field and O’Neil hit Sloan Baker all alone for a 34-yard strike with 8:45 left in the game that gave Scott City a 14-7 lead.
Trailing for the first time in the fourth quarter all year, Rossville had met its ultimate challenge.
    “What I saw in the kids in a couple timeouts was I saw them get determined,” Hammes said. “When I saw that, I knew we were going to be OK. It was kind of calming for everybody that, ‘Hey, we’re going to be OK. We’re still in this.’ We weren’t playing our best, but we were still in position and they believed in each other. Ultimately, that got it done for us.”
    The Bulldawgs answered Scott City’s go-ahead score almost immediately. Tucker Horak hit Christian Roduner for a 25-yard gain and then busted runs of 14 and 16 yards to set up Nick Reesor’s 2-yard touchdown plunge, capping a drive that took just 1 minute, 25 seconds. After holding on defense, Rossville got the ball back with 4:24 left and 78 yards from paydirt and a state title. Horak covered 23 on Rossville’s second play and the Bulldawg march was on.
    Methodically, the Bulldawgs moved closer and closer and time ticked off the clock. Runs of 16, 10, 3 and 4 by Horak got the ball to the Scott City 14 and a 1-yard gain by Steckel set up a fourth-and-2 at the Scott City 13.
    Instead of putting the game immediately on the foot of kicker Paul Steinke, the state’s most accurate kicker this year, the Bulldawgs lined up to go for it and Scott City jumped offsides. After a 3-yard run by Reesor, Horak scored up the middle on a 5-yard run and Steinke booted the PAT to cap a year where he went 101 of 101 on kicks.
    “Our line has been dominating all year and I just trusted them,” said Horak, who finished with 212 yards rushing and two touchdowns. “We stuck to our system and pulled it out in the end. ... I knew they had a good defense, but there was really no doubt in my mind we were going to go down and score.”
    There was still the matter of stopping Scott City in the final 28 seconds. O’Neil had thrown for 179 yards, but hurt his right arm on a defensive play on Rossville’s first scoring drive of the quarter.
The Beavers completed a reverse pass from Brett Meyer to Yager for 21 yards on first down, but O’Neil’s next pass was picked off by Lake Schultz-Pruner, sealing the victory.
    “I knew it was the last 20 seconds I was ever going to play football so I was going to give it my all, and it might have been the best feeling I’ve ever felt,” said Schultz-Pruner, who also had a fumble recovery and 15 tackles in the game. “It’s about as big of a defensive performance as it gets. State championship game, and we held them to 14, that’s pretty good. I’m proud of our effort.”
    Both Rossville and Scott City entered the game with high-powered offenses, but defense ruled the opening half. The only score of the half came after Schultz-Pruner recovered a fumble at the Bulldawg 18 and Rossville went 82 yards in 14 plays with Horak scoring from three yards out.
Even though the Bulldawgs had struggled the rest of the half to move the ball, Hammes felt at ease.
    “I felt like we weren’t doing things as well as we could have and didn’t execute like we could, but we’re still up 7-0,” Hammes said. “I told the guys at that point, we were in a good spot. And then again at the quarter. It just seemed like toward the end when we needed the focus the most and make some plays when we needed to, we did it.”
    Scott City lost for the first time after a tough playoff run. O’Neil was 16 of 21 passing for 179 yards and also ran for a team-high 41. But Rossville bottled up the Beavers’ tandem of 1,000-yard rushers as Wyatt Kropp and Cooper Griffith managed just a combined 63 yards as Reesor finished with 17 tackles, Ethan Woodcock added 12 and Roduner and Dawson Hammes each had 10.
    “It was two very good teams,” Scott City coach Glenn O’Neil said. “We knew Rossville was very good and we went through some good teams to get here. I’m proud of our effort, but we were just a little short.”

Rossville (14-0)    0 7  0 14 — 21
Scott City (13-1)   0 0  7   7 — 14

Ross — Tu. Horak 3 run (Steinke kick)
SC — Yager 30 pass from O’Neil (Portes kick)
SC — Baker 34 pass from O’Neil (Portes kick)
Ross — Reesor 2 run (Steinke kick)
Ross — Tu. Horak 5 run (Steinke kick)

GAME IN FIGURES
                               Ross          SC
First downs              17            20
Rushes-yards        49-283     42-120
Passing                    54             211
Comp-Att-Int       4-14-0      18-26-1
Punts                    4-38.8       5-36.4
Fumbles-Lost         1-1            3-1
Penalties-Yards      0-0           3-15

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Rossville: Tu. Horak 27-212, Reesor 10-43, Steckel 6-13, Th. Horak 2-11, Hammes 2-6. Scott City: O’Neil 11-41, Kropp 16-38, Griffith 9-25, Yager 6-16.
PASSING — Rossville: Horak 4-14-0, 54. Scott City: O’Neil 16-21-1, 179, Meyer 2-3-0 32.
RECEIVING — Rossville: Roduner 2-33, Th. Horak 1-11, Reesor 1-10. Scott City: Baker 7-99, Meyer 5-35, Yager 4-64, Kropp 2-13.