Rossville Defeats Colgan

From the Capital-Journal:

ROSSVILLE — As much of a lethal weapon as quarterback Tucker Horak is, defending Rossville is truly a “pick your poison” situation.

Colgan knew that going into Friday’s Class 3A playoff quarterfinal, but still concentrated its effort on containing the Bulldawgs’ All-State quarterback.

“You just can’t let Horak beat you,” Colgan coach Chuck Smith said. “Our game plan was to stop him and make the others beat you.”

And that’s just what happened. Christian Roduner and Dawson Hammes turned in big offensive nights and Horak delivered the knockout blow as Rossville fought past the Panthers 42-32 to earn a spot in the Class 3A semifinals. The defending champion Bulldawgs (12-0) won their 26th straight game and will play host to Wellsville (10-2), a 31-14 winner over Sabetha, next week.

Colgan finished the season 9-3, losing to Rossville in the playoffs for the second straight year.

In most offenses, Roduner and Hammes very well could be the headliners. But with Horak running the Bulldawg attack, the two are somewhat relegated to supporting roles, and that’s just fine with them.

At the same time, when they’re called upon, they’re ready.

“Every chance I get to have the ball, I want to make the most of it,” said Roduner, a senior receiver. “Same for Dawson. Early on when we get the ball, we just want to set the tempo. Whenever my number gets called, I get excited and I just do my job to the best of my ability whenever that happens.”

It was Roduner who got the Bulldawgs going in Friday’s game, busting a 46-yard touchdown run on a jet sweep five plays into the game. The Bulldawgs followed his lead, scoring on all three first-half possessions with Horak adding touchdown runs of 1 and 26 yards.

But just as was the case in last week’s playoff win over Nemaha Central, the Bulldawgs couldn’t shake Colgan. The Panthers answered Roduner’s opening touchdown with a field goal and then got a 2-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Cedeno to Connor O’Brien to cap their second drive.

Rossville led just 21-11 at halftime, thanks to Horak’s touchdown run with 1:20 left in the half.

“I thought they had a good game plan,” Rossville coach Derick Hammes said of Colgan. “We knew Cedeno was going to be tough to deal with. Fortunately, we built a little bit of a cushion at the beginning of the game. Our mistakes hurt us a bit and they made some plays.”

Rossville not only had a cushion but was on the verge of blowing out Colgan when Dawson Hammes finished off the Bulldawgs’ first drive of the second half with an 11-yard touchdown run to make it 28-11. Rossville’s defense opened the half with a three-and-out and then held on fourth down on Colgan’s next possession.

But the Panthers got a big break when a Horak pass to the flat was tipped up into the air by the Bulldawg receiver and O’Brien snagged it and returned it 55 yards to the Rossville 5. Two plays later, Cedeno hit O’Brien for a 4-yard score to get the Panthers back within 10.

Colgan couldn’t get any closer. After Horak hit Roduner for a 35-yard touchdown pass, Cedeno and O’Brien hooked up for a third score. Horak then delivered the back-breaker with another highlight-reel touchdown run, breaking one tackle after another on a 54-yard jaunt for a 42-25 lead.

Colgan scored in the final 20 seconds on a 2-yard pass from Cedeno to Garrett Normand, but it wasn’t enough.

Horak finished with 188 yards on the ground and three touchdowns, while throwing for 51 yards. But Hammes added 104 yards rushing and Roduner had a combined 123 yards rushing and receiving to offset a 215-yard passing night by Cedeno.

“I think our balance helped us tonight,” Hammes said. “They did a good job on a couple of our base plays of bottling Tucker up and we were going to need other guys. We’re certainly going to have to have that moving forward.”

Colgan (9-3) 3 8 7 14 — 32

Rossville (12-0) 14 7 7 14 — 42

Ross — Roduner 46 run (Nascimento kick)

Colgan — Steinmiller 22 field goal

Ross — Horak 1 run (Nascimento kick)

Colgan — O’Brien 2 pass from Cedeno (Esch pass from Cedeno)

Ross — Horak 26 run (Nascimento kick)

Ross — Hammes 11 run (Nascimento kick)

Colgan — O’Brien 4 pass from Cedeno (Steinmiller kick)

Ross — Roduner 35 pass from Horak (Nascimento kick)

Colgan — O’Brien 5 pass from Cedeno (Steinmiller kick)

Ross — Horak 54 run (Nascimento kick)

Colgan — Normand 2 pass from Cedeno (Steinmiller kick)

GAME IN FIGURES

                      Ross     Col

First downs        18      17

Rushes-yards  38-370 41-104

Passing             51      215

Comp-Att-Int 4-7-1 20-31-0

Punts            2-27.0  1-27.0

Fumbles-Lost   1-0     1-1

Penalties-Yards 5-40 6-58

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Colgan: Battitori 17-34, Cedeno 16-33, Stewart 1-minus 1, Beck 4-14, Hayes 2-40, Esch 1-minus 16. Rossville: Horak 21-188, Hammes 11-104, Roduner 5-75, Balch 1-3.

PASSING — Colgan: Cedeno 20-31-0, 215 yards. Rossville: Horak 4-7-1, 51 yards.

RECEIVING — Colgan: Hayes 2-12, Battitori 3-19, Normand 8-151, O’Brien 4-17, Stewart 1-7, Beck 2-9. Rossville: Roduner 3-48, Hammes 1-3.