Rossville Rallies For Win At Marysville

From Capital Journal  Online:

MARYSVILLE — Both Rossville and Marysville went into Friday night’s season opener knowing the game would tell each of them a thing or two about themselves.

Namely, was Marysville ready to show it can compete with Class 3A’s best programs? And did Rossville, coming off two straight undefeated 3A title seasons, still have the stuff it takes to win it all again?

Rossville’s 27-20 victory certainly would suggest a “Yes” answer to both questions.

Host Marysville had the Bulldawgs and their 28-game winning streak a bit on the ropes, taking a 20-14 lead in the third quarter. But Rossville showed a championship-caliber response, scoring the go-ahead touchdown midway through the fourth quarter and denying Marysville on three attempts into the end zone in the game’s final 14 seconds to preserve the win.

“They’re probably a little better than I thought and that’s not taking anything away from what I thought about them,” Rossville coach Derick Hammes said of Marysville, which entered last year on a 32-game losing streak but rebounded to make the playoffs. “I thought they were better than us up front tonight and I thought they played confidently, which we knew they would. They had some momentum coming from last year and they did a heck of a job tonight. They made us earn that one.”

Indeed, Rossville had to call on its experience from playing in big game after big game over the past few seasons, and do so in crunch time.

Tied entering the fourth quarter after Marysville had taken a 20-14 lead on the opening possession of the second half, Rossville put together a drive one could simply call a man-up possession. Eschewing its quick passing game, the Bulldawgs simply lined up and ran it straight at a Marysville defense that had largely bottled up their ground game and done a good job of owning the line of scrimmage.

Senior Jacob Bradshaw, taking over at quarterback for departed All-Stater Tucker Horak, ran for 36 of the 46 yards on the scoring drive, capping it with a 3-yard run that made it 27-20.

“Week one everyone’s ready to go and excited about the game,” Bradshaw said. “There couldn’t have been a crazier finish for the first game of the season, but we were able to duke it out and come away with the victory, which will be huge for us going forward.”

There was still a matter of stopping Marysville, and Rossville forced one three-and-out but couldn’t ice the game offensively and had to do it again. This time, the Bulldogs nearly got it done.

A 30-yard pass from Jack Blumer to Gabe Pieschl set Marysville up at the Rossville 17, and with 14 seconds left the Bulldogs got three cracks at the end zone. But each pass fell incomplete and Rossville was able to hang on.

Though the defeat stung, Marysville coach Dustin Heuer admitted being in a position to pull the upset of Class 3A’s No. 1 team was a big step for his program.

“We joked about it all week, ‘Hey guys, we’re going to be in a situation where we have to go for two to win the game,’” Heuer said. “We had a couple plays we practiced all week to get the kids excited to be in that situation. Everything looked like it might fall in place there at the end, but we just didn’t make a couple plays and it’s tough for our kids. ... We made some mistakes, but I can’t question anybody’s effort. They left it all on the field.”

Marysville struck first on an 11-yard run by Jayton Haggard in the first quarter. Rossville quickly answered, however, putting together a 70-yard scoring drive capped by a 9-yard touchdown run from Dawson Hammes.

After Marysville fumbled the ensuing kickoff, Bradshaw hit Cole Schumacher on a 42-yard pass to the 3 and scored on the next play to make it 14-6. Marysville got a 10-yard touchdown with 2:09 left in the first half by Derek Roever and then opened the scoring in the second half on a 28-yard run by Haggard.

But Rossville wasn’t rattled and a 7-yard touchdown pass from Bradshaw to Schumacher tied it, setting up the finish.

Bradshaw did a pretty good impression of his mentor, rushing for 151 yards and two touchdowns and throwing for 185 yards and a score. Schumacher caught nine passes for 113 yards. Marysville got 118 yards rushing from Hunter Warnick and 106 passing from Blumer.

Rossville (1-0) 14 0 6 7 — 27

Marysville (0-1) 6 6 8 0 — 20

Mary — Haggard 11 run (kick failed)

Ross — Hammes 9 run (Andersen kick)

Ross — Bradshaw 3 run (Andersen kick)

Mary — Roever 10 run (pass failed)

Mary — Haggard 28 run (Warnick run)

Ross — Schumacher 7 pass from Bradshaw (kick failed)

Ross — Bradshaw 3 run (Andersen kick)

GAME IN FIGURES

Ross Mary

First downs 18 16

Rushes-yards 34-206 39-208

Passing 185 106

Comp-Att-Int 21-25-0 12-23-0

Punts 4-30.3 5-33.2

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-1

Penalties-Yards 6-44 6-35

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Rossville: Bradshaw 24-151, Hammes 9-52, Balch 1-3. Marysville: Warnick 29-118, Haggard 2-39, Roever 6-39, Blumer 1-12, Pieschl 1-0.

PASSING — Rossville: Bradshaw 21-25-0, 185. Marysville: Blumer 12-23-0, 106.

RECEIVING — Rossville: Hammes 6-33, Schumacher 9-113, Gfeller 5-32. Marysville: Stryker 1-6, Haggard 1-12, Rader 2-14, Lindhorst 5-25, Pieschl 3-50.

Brent Maycock can be reached at (785) 295-5662 or brent.maycock@cjonline.com.

Rossville Opens Season With 27-20 Win.

  The Dawgs pulled out a narrow 27-20 victory over the Marysville Bulldogs.

  In other Mid-East action,  Silver Lake dominated 5A KC Washington 58-8 and Wamego defeated Rock Creek 18-6.  Riley Co. easily defeated Wabausnee 38-14.  St. Marys narrowly got past an upset minded Olpe with a 20-14 win.

CatchItKansas Football Rankings

Preseason Class 3A Football Rankings

1. Rossville
2. Norton
3. Hoisington
4. Beloit
5. Silver Lake
6. Phillipsburg
7. Hesston
8. Cimarron
9. Conway Springs
10. Southeast of Saline

Marysville Hosts The Bulldawgs

From the Capital Journal

MARYSVILLE — Winning last year’s season opener was huge for Marysville.

Not only did it get the 2015 season off to a positive start, it ended a 32-game losing streak for the Bulldogs.

Perhaps more important for the program, however, was what the Bulldogs did to back it up. Instead of letting the victory be a lone bright spot, Marysville built on it and won three more games and in the process earned a berth in the Class 3A playoffs.

“It was huge for our kids and our confidence,” Marysville coach Dustin Heuer said. “Winning a couple more and finishing the season strong, especially because we had to fight through some injuries and adversity, was a big deal for us.

“It was a building block and what I like about these guys the most is they’re not content with what they’ve done. They have bigger goals than what we’ve accomplished up to this point.”

The momentum gained during last year’s 4-6 season has led to loftier expectations for the 2016 season. Heuer and the Bulldogs will get a pretty strong indicator as to just how far the program has come in Friday’s season and home opener when Marysville faces two-time reigning 3A state champion Rossville in The Capital-Journal’s area game of the week.

“It’s a great test for where we’re at and will do a great job of preparing us for our NCKL season,” Heuer said of facing the Bulldawgs, who enter 2016 on a 28-game winning streak — the longest current streak in the state. “I think our kids are excited about the potential we have and this will be a great way to rate ourselves in the first week.”

In a sense, Rossville coach Derick Hammes shares Heuer’s sentiments. Though Rossville is coming off two straight undefeated state championship seasons, the Bulldawgs enter 2016 with almost an entirely different personality.

Rossville was able to successfully fill some big holes in 2015 for its title run, but the voids this year are even bigger. For starters, there’s the matter of replacing two-time All-State quarterback Tucker Horak, who turned in arguably the greatest statistical season in state history last year.

Beyond that, the Bulldawgs graduated all but one starter off a dominating offensive line that was a major key to the team’s success. Only four starters return on offense, while six are back defensively.

“We’re expecting a good football game and for us, we do have some question marks,” Hammes said. “We think we know what we have, but until you line up and play good people, you never know. Playing a team like (Marysville) right off the get-go lets us know if we’re for real or do we have some things to work on and a long way to go.

“(Marysville) is going to be ready to go and not be intimidated by us because they play good teams year-in, year-out. They’ll have great confidence coming off what was a good season for them.”

Experience is a major plus for Marysville, which returns eight starters on offense and seven on defense, many of whom are in their third year as starters. Senior Hunter Warnick ran for 785 yards last year and was the third-leading tackler in the North Central Kansas League with 95.

Teammate Adam Lindhorst added 85 tackles and senior 300-pounder Greg Martin is one of four returning starters up front.

Coming off a breakout season a year ago, Marysville is hungry to continue its upward rise, post a winning season and make a playoff run.

“As much as you try to avoid the situation, last year I think our kids were just happy to make the playoffs — and they had every right to be,” Heuer said. “Now having that experience, they’re able to look at it with a desire to take another step forward.”

With Horak gone, the Rossville offense will be led by senior Jacob Bradshaw who served as the backup last year while starting at receiver and racking up 932 combined rushing, passing and receiving yards. The Bulldawgs return 1,000-yard rusher Dawson Hammes, who also was an All-3A pick at linebacker after making 159 tackles, and leading receiver Cole Schumacher.

“Our playmakers, they’ll have different names but we’ve got some kids in our offense that are doing some really nice things for us,” Hammes said. “I think our line is coming together a little faster than what we thought it would, so we’re in a good place offensively. Defensively, it seems like the last two years we’ve had to put a lot of effort into getting up to speed on that side of the ball and in that aspect, we’re kind of in the same spot we’ve been in.”

Shirley Jones Passes Away

Shirley Jones passed away Aug. 31.
Condolences can be left at:  http://piperfuneralhome.com/obituaries/shirley-jones/

WIBW Video Of Willard Bridge

 (WIBW)- Rising waters along the Kansas River could have delayed construction of the Willard Bridge, but contractors got some good luck this spring.

Shawnee County Public Works and Solid Waste Director Tom Vlach updated the Shawnee County commission on the progress of contraction of the new bridge.

“Things are going very well in my opinion,” he said.

Construction began Jan. 25. The first thing crews did was to add additional support to the existing bridge that has been deemed fracture critical.

As of Monday, Vlach says the project is 38 percent complete, that’s eight percent ahead of schedule. The new bridge is expected to be complete on Dec. 22, 2017.

That may not have been the case of rising waters in the river this May had washed away the causeways into the middle of the river.

“If that had all been gone they would not have been able to get back out to the river until I think this Wednesday, Aug. 31,” Vlach said.

The next step is for crews to complete the decking on the north section and the delivery and installation of the steel beams.

You can view video of the Willard Bridge construction at:   http://www.wibw.com/content/news/Willard-Bridge-construction-ahead-of-schedule--391639391.html

Mid-East League Football Predictions

      The Capital Journal computerized football rankings have picked Rossville (106.7) as a 49.5 point favorite over Marysville (57.2).
      Other Mid-East rankings include Wamego (79.4) as a 14.8 favorite over Rock Creek (64.6), and Olpe (63.4) as a 12.1 point favorite over St. Marys (51.3)

Sports In Kansas Top 25 Linebackers

SPORTS IN KANSAS listed the Top 25 Linebackers To Watch in 2016.   Rossville's Dawson Hammes was among the 25.

Dawson Hammes, Rossville Sr. (6’1” 195-pounds)

Hammes had 159 tackles to lead the Rossville defense to their second consecutive 3A state title last fall. He also rushed for over 1,000 yards on offense. Expect a bigger role of him on offense with the graduation of all-state QB Tucker Horak. Hammes, the son of head coach Derick Hammes, was a first team All Non-Senior from Sports in Kansas in 2015

Sports In Kansas Top 25 Receivers

SPORTS IN KANSAS listed the top 25 Receivers To Watch in 2016.  Rossville's Cole Schumacher was among the 25.  

Cole Schumacher, Rossville Sr. (6’3” 190-pounds)

Schumacher was one of the top targets for Tucker Horak a year ago with 682 yards and 11 touchdowns for the back-to-back 3A state champions.

Sports In Kansas Top 25 RBs

SPORTS IN KANSAS listed the Top 25 Running Backs to watch in 2016.  Bulldawg Dawson Hammes was one of the 25.

Dawson Hammes, Rossville Sr. (6’0” 200-pounds)

Hammes was the other ball carrier in Rossvilles offense a year ago. All the hype was on Tucker Horak for so long but now he is gone and it’s time for Hammes to shine on the Dawgs offense. In addition to being an all-state linebacker, Hammes had over 1,100 yards rushing last year with 10 touchdowns and also had 283 more yards receiving with five more scores. A lot of pieces are gone from last year but we expect Hammes to have a huge year in 2016.

KSNT Football Team Video

KSNT has some nice video of the Bulldawgs at:
http://ksnt.com/2016/08/17/h-s-previews-rossville-football/

WIBW Football Team Video

WIBW has two good videos of Rossville Players at:
http://www.wibwnewsnow.com/shawnee-county-football-tour-rossville-bulldawgs-audio-video/

Another video of a team preview is at:
http://www.wibw.com/content/sports/KPZ-Preview-Rossville-391808381.html

KPREPS 3A Football Outlook For 2016

Class 3A

      Plenty of questions surround the landscape of Class 3A football, but maybe none loom as large as how Rossville will replace Tucker Horak.  Horak’s career has been well-documented and rightfully so, but the Bulldawgs must move on in order to try and win a third consecutive 3A title.  Dawson Hammes rushed for more than 1,000 yards last fall and is Rossville’s leading tackler.
      Norton begins the season ranked second in the 3A poll.  The Bluejays are extremely talented with quarterback Jace Ruder and lineman/linebacker Jacob Green.  Even better, Norton returns an experienced offensive line that helped the Bluejays average more than 34 points per game. Tradition-rich
      Silver Lake starts the 2016 season ranked No. 3 after a second-round playoff loss to Sabetha.  The Eagles return 12 total starters including quarterback Dalton Dultmeier who is poised for another big season.  Hoisington checks in at No. 4 in the rankings.  The Cardinals return all-state running back Hunter Hanzlick after his 1,949-yard junior season among 12 other starters. Rounding out the 3A top five is the defending 2-1A state champion Phillipsburg Panthers.  The Panthers move back up to their typical classification and return 13 starters from last year’s title run, including backfield brothers Kirk and Mark Coomes.

Bradshaw and Hammes In Top 25

The Capital-Journal featured the top 25 players in   3A, 2A and 8 man football.  Two Rossville players were in that top 25.

DAWSON HAMMES, ROSSVILLE
6-1, 197 SENIOR LB/RB
Son of Rossville coach Derick Hammes, Dawson has more than made a name for himself as a starter for both of the Bulldawg championship squads. Hammes led the Rossville defense with 159 tackles last year and established himself in the offensive backfield as well, rushing for 1,111 yards and 10 touchdowns.

JACOB BRADSHAW, ROSSVILLE
6-0, 169 SENIOR QB/DB
Bradshaw did a little bit of everything for the Bulldawgs last year, finishing with a combined 932 rushing, receiving and passing yards and 11 touchdowns, while also picking off five passes for the defense. All eyes will be on Bradshaw as a senior as he has the huge task of taking over at QB for departed two-time All-Stater Tucker Horak.