Rossville Defeats Nemaha-Central

ROSSVILLE — State championship teams make state championship plays.

And while the two plays Rossville came up with in the fourth quarter against Nemaha Central didn’t deliver the Bulldawgs a third straight Class 3A state championship, they did give Rossville the chance to go after it.

Down 22-21 in the fourth quarter of Friday’s Class 3A state semifinal, Rossville answered the call. Jacob Bradshaw’s 64-yard touchdown run gave the Bulldawgs the lead and Wyatt Dyche’s diving interception in the end zone all but sealed the victory as Rossville pulled out a heart-stopping 27-22 win over the visiting Thunder in an epic clash.

Nemaha finished the season 12-1, while Rossville (12-1) advanced to its third straight 3A championship game in Hutchinson, where the Bulldawgs will get a shot at redemption. Awaiting Rossville in next Saturday’s title game is Hesston (10-3), a 35-19 winner over previously undefeated Hoisington and the program that beat Rossville 3-0 in the 1992 3A championship game.

“Players make plays and these kids are good football players,” Rossville coach Derick Hammes said. “It’s what this program is about. For years and years and years, we’ve had great players and great coaches who laid the groundwork for this kind of mentality. We know we’re going to come out on top in the end. You can’t put a price on that. That’s a rare find in a football program where the kids always believe they were going to win.”

That belief was pushed to the limit by a Nemaha Central team enjoying its best season in four decades. The Thunder used a bruising run game to pound away at the Rossville defense all night and orchestrated a 14-play, 67-yard scoring drive in the third quarter, capped by Mitchell Henry’s 7-yard touchdown run.

Ryan Hasenkamp’s ensuing two-point conversion run gave the Thunder a 22-21 lead, which held going into the fourth quarter.

Then Rossville showed its championship mettle. After being bottled up most of the night by Nemaha’s stout defense, Bradshaw finally found a gap. He popped to the outside and out-raced the Thunder defense to the end zone for a 64-yard scoring run — which more than doubled his yardage total to that point.

The two-point conversion failed, leaving Rossville clinging to a five-point lead. When a directional kick on the ensuing kickoff instead turned into a pooch kick to give the ball to Nemaha at its own 47, it was up to Rossville’s defense to preserve the victory.

The Thunder quickly drove to the Rossville 10, twice converting third-and-2 situations. Facing a third-and-8 from the Bulldawg 10, Hasenkamp scrambled out of the pocket and spotted Jacob Schmitz flashing open in the corner of the end zone.

But Dyche made a great break on the ball and made a sliding, diving interception with 1:51 left in the game for the biggest play of his career.

“We were just playing man-to-man and I saw him rolling out,” Dyche said. “I just came up with the ball. I was 100 percent sure (I could get there). It was very key for us to respond. We’ve got a lot of seniors on this defense and (Hammes) had a lot of trust in us and we wanted to come through.”

Rossville couldn’t quite run out the clock, and Nemaha got the ball back with 49.1 seconds left at its own 47. A 17-yard pass from Hasenkamp to Mitchell Heiman got it to the Rossville 37, but after a first-down spike, Hasenkamp misfired on his next three attempts, the final pass sailing high as Rossville held on.

“We had our chances,” Nemaha coach Warren Seitz said. “We turned the ball over a couple times, which we hadn’t done over the last couple weeks. … Our kids played really hard all year and we had a great year.”

Neither team wasted much time getting their offense going at the start of the game. Bradshaw hit Cole Schumacher for a 52-yard touchdown pass on the fifth play of the game for a quick 7-0 lead, but the Thunder came right back to make it 7-6 on Hasenkamp’s 21-yard run on their first possession.

A Sheldon Hulbert interception set up a 7-yard touchdown pass from Bradshaw to Schumacher early in the second quarter, but again Nemaha answered right away on a 10-yard run from Mitchell Henry to tie it. Rossville took a 21-14 halftime lead on Dawson Hammes’ 4-yard run with 34 seconds left, but the Bulldawg offense found the going tough from there until Bradshaw’s game-winning burst.

“I’ve got faith in my kids. They’re champions,” Hammes said. “They’ve done a great job all year, improving to get to this point. That’s what I’ve got faith in, our football players.”

Bradshaw finished with 128 yards rushing and 108 passing to lead Rossville, which is 52-2 during Hammes’ four years. Nemaha gouged the Bulldawg defense for 234 rushing yards despite getting only three carries from leading rusher Jacob Koelzer (high ankle sprain) with Henry rushing for 93 and Hasenkamp for 69.

Nemaha Central (12-1) 6 8 8 0 — 22

Rossville (12-1) 7 14 0 6 — 27

Ross — Schumacher 52 pass from Bradshaw (Andresen kick)

NC — Hasenkamp 21 run (run failed)

Ross — Schumacher 7 pass from Bradshaw (Andresen kick)

NC — M. Henry 10 run (M. Henry run)

Ross — Hammes 4 run (Andresen kick)

NC — M. Henry 7 run (Hasenkamp run)

Ross — Bradshaw 64 run (pass failed)

GAME IN FIGURES

NC Ross

First downs 19 11

Rushes-yards 50-234 31-174

Passing 57 108

Comp-Att-Int 6-18-2 8-11-0

Punts 4-32.2 5-28.8

Fumbles-Lost 2-0 1-0

Penalties-Yards 1-15 0-0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Nemaha Central: Hasenkamp 18-69, Koelzer 3-25, M. Henry 19-93, Heiman 8-32, Schmitz 1-11, Delaney 1-4. Rossville: Bradshaw 20-128, Hammes 4-14, Balch 4-21, Foster 3-11.

PASSING — Nemaha Central: Hasenkamp 6-18-2, 57. Rossville: Bradshaw 8-11-0, 108.

RECEIVING — Nemaha Central: Enneking 1-5, Haverkamp 1-9, T. Henry 1-11, Heiman 3-32. Rossville: Schumacher 5-77, Balch 2-28, Dyche 1-3.

Dawgs On To State Final

    The Dawgs received the ball at the start of the game and scored with about ten minutes remaining in the first quarter.  The teams then took turns scoring and the half ended at 21-14 in favor of the Dawgs.
    Nemaha-Central will receive the ball at the start of the second quarter.

    The final score was Rossville  27, Nemaha Central 22.  The Dawgs go to State for the third straight time.
    The Dawgs will likely play Hesston which was leading Hoisington in the 4th quarter.  That would be an upset.
 

FBLA Nat. conference

Several RHS students will be attending the  National Fall Leadership Conference in  Dallas, 
TX  Nov. 18 and 19.

Taylor Kirk (15) To Attend WU

      Taylor Kirk will be playing for the Washburn University softball team in 2017-18 after two years at the Johnson County Community College.

Article on Nemaha-Rossville Game

Rossville faces major hurdle in unbeaten Nemaha Central

By Brent Maycock

brent.maycock@cjonline.com

ROSSVILLE — Until meeting Wichita Collegiate in last year’s Class 3A state championship game, there really wasn’t a question in Rossville coach Derick Hammes’ mind which team was the toughest his Bulldawgs had seen on their way to a second straight state crown.

It was Nemaha Central. Yeah, the same Nemaha Central team Rossville blitzed 61-20 in the second round of the playoffs behind 538 yards of total offense from All-State quarterback.

“Hands down, they were a state caliber team last season,” Hammes said of Nemaha Central, which finished 10-1 after the loss to Rossville. “We got hot and I don’t really believe that the final score of that game was a true measure of the teams. It certainly doesn’t indicate how tough they were and how good they were.”

When the two meet again Friday night, the stage will be different but Hammes expects the challenge to be the same. A win away from playing in its third straight state championship game, Rossville (11-1) must once again get past Nemaha Central, which comes to town for Friday’s Class 3A semifinal showdown with a 12-0 mark.

“I’ve been telling the kids, we’re going to see a motivated football team,” Hammes said. “I think they’re a confident bunch right now and there’s a little extra on their part to want to show us that last year wasn’t as indicative of what the game really was a year ago. We’re going to have a great challenge in front of us.”

While the final score of last year’s meeting suggests Rossville was in control from start to finish, delving into the boxscore proves otherwise. Despite Horak’s monster performance, which included an 80-yard touchdown run on the Bulldawgs’ first offensive play of the game, Rossville led just 21-12 at halftime with Horak’s 64-yard touchdown run late in the half producing the nine-point cushion.

Rossville then scored the first 40 points of the second half to turn the tight game into a rout.

“Obviously we thought the game was going to be closer and felt like it really was closer than what the final score indicated,” Nemaha coach Warren Seitz said. “They’ve beaten us a couple times here lately, but that doesn’t play into it as much as the fact how well coached they are and the offensive and defensive players they have back are pretty good.

“This team, we’ve played in some big games this year and we’ve won those big games. We just consider this another one of those.”

In its biggest games this year, Nemaha Central has shown the ability to get the job done, particularly in the clutch with a trio of wins coming down to the Thunder having to make a play late in the fourth quarter for the victory.

Nemaha Central rallied from a 34-21 deficit to beat Holton 43-42 on a touchdown and two-point conversion run by quarterback Ryan Hasenkamp with 37 seconds left. In district play, the Thunder scored with 57.9 seconds left to beat arch rival Sabetha 20-14.

And in the second round of the playoffs, Nemaha made a defensive stand on fourth-and-inches in the final minute to preserve a 21-14 win over No. 1 Silver Lake, the only team to beat Rossville this season.

“That gives us a lot of confidence that we’ve had to overcome deficits and come through when we’ve faced adversity,” Seitz said. “You know the kids aren’t just going to chuck it, they’re going to keep playing and good things are going to happen.”

That experience will be beneficial as Nemaha Central ventures into uncharted territory this week. The Thunder haven’t advanced this far in the playoffs since 1975 when Nemaha Valley fall to Cherryvale in the 2A semifinals. Nemaha’s only appearance in a state championship game came in 1973 when it finished runner-up to Moundridge in 2A.

Rossville, meanwhile, is in the 3A semifinals for the fifth straight season and sixth time in the last seven years. Though hardly old hat, the stage is one the Bulldawgs are used to performing on.

“I think it helps,” Hammes said. “We’ve got a lot of kids who did play in the sub-state game last year and felt they were a part of these last two titles. They’ve gone through the preparation and that more than anything is meaningful. But we’re still going to have to go out there and execute and do some great things, so I don’t know how far it really carries you.”

Both Rossville and Nemaha Central have seen their quarterbacks carry them this season, at least offensively. Stepping for Horak, Jacob Bradshaw has been nothing short of spectacular. The senior has rushed for 2,324 yards and 28 touchdowns and thrown for 1,521 yards and 20 more scores, a huge season punctuated with last week’s performance when he ran for 349 yards on just 10 carries in the first half of a 67-31 rout of Caney Valley.

Nemaha counters with its own dual-threat quarterback Ryan Hasenkamp, who has thrown for 1,501 yards and 17 touchdowns and run for another 629 yards and 13 touchdowns.

The X-factors could be the complementary players to the standout signal callers. Nemaha tailback Jacob Koelzer scores a touchdown every fourth time he touches the ball, rushing for 973 yards and 23 touchdowns on just 84 carries, and four different receivers have at least 13 catches and three touchdowns led by Mitchell Henry’s 25 catches for 426 yards and three scores. Rossville, meanwhile, has gotten a combined 1,159 yards from backs Dawson Hammes and Perry Foster and receiver Cole Schumacher has 48 catches for 951 yards and 16 touchdowns.

“The thing that makes their offense really good is the things that keep you off balance,” Hammes said of Nemaha. “They have so many off balance things where you can’t focus on one thing or take one guy away. It’s a multiple offense and has a lot of possibilities that keep you from zeroing in on one thing.”

Computer Football Predictions.

    The Capital Journal has published their computer predictions for this Friday's 3A playoffs.

… 110.1 … Hoisington … 14.3 … HESSTON … 95.8

… 97.7 … ROSSVILLE … 0.2 … Nemaha Central … 97.5

NEKMEA Honor Group Selections

Rossville had nine students audition for the Northeast Kansas Music Educators Association (NEKMEA) District Honor groups.  Live auditions were held at Olathe East High School this past Saturday, November 12th and the following students were selected based on their auditions.  Well over 2,000 students auditioned for a place in one of the bands, orchestras, or the choir.

Gold Band (1-4A Schools)

Ella Terliesner - 2nd Chair Clarinet

Ava Stipp - 4th Chair Clarinet

Bryson Hase - 4th Chair Trombone

NEKMEA District Honor Choir (1-6A Schools)

Jaden Perry - Alto

These students will perform at the district convention on Saturday, December 3rd.  Bands perform at Blue Valley High School, choirs perform at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School.  Students will then have the opportunity to audition for the All-State honor groups in January.

This is our 5:55 AM pre-bus loading picture...

                                                                From Left to Right

Back Row: Dawson Schaefer, Bryson Hase, Jamie Brockamp, Abigail Escobar, Haley Miller

Front Row: Jaden Perry, Ella Terliesner, Ava Stipp, Paul Borcherding

Garrett Jones

Rossville Jr/Sr High School

Band & Choir Director

Head Cross Country Coach

Assistant HS Track Coach

Scholars Bowl At Hayden

    The Scholars Bowl team will be competing at Hayden on Thur., Nov. 17.

Announcements Video

This weeks Announcements Video for Nov. 14, with announcers Remington Wehner and Freddie Andressen,  can be viewed at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhqV2fHghnU

Honors Scholars For 2016

RHS Seniors Named Kansas Honors Scholars

       The Kansas Honors Program sponsored by KU Endowment and Alumni Associations recognizes and awards high school seniors for their academic achievements.  Each year, the alumni gather in more than 40 locations across the state for an awards ceremony and reception. All high school seniors in the top ten percent of their graduating class are recognized and presented a certificate and a special edition dictionary.  The Scholars are selected based on academic records through the end of their junior year.

      Rossville High School recognized five seniors at the Kansas Honors Program held on November 15, 2016, at the Ramada Inn Downtown in Topeka. The seniors recognized were Morgan Foster, daughter of Andy & Jennifer Foster; Mitchell Porter, son of Bruce & Kathy Porter; Ashley Rietcheck, daughter of Andy & Denise Rietcheck; Fred Schuler, son of Steve & Lucy Schuler; and Emily Woodcock, daughter of Tim & Amy Woodcock.

  

           

RHS Kansas Honors Scholars pictured with their dictionaries are from left: 

Emily Woodcock, Fred Schuler, Ashley Rietcheck, Mitchell Porter, and Morgan Foster.

Volleyball Team Leaders For 2016

    The leaders on the RHS Volleyball team for the year were:
Kills        Sara Shinn          266
Assists   Bergstresser       385
Blocks    Lora Shinn          163
Digs       Sierra Streit         493

Mid-East All-League Volleyball Team

First team

Marissa Bates, jr., Silver Lake; Torey Burkhardt, sr., Silver Lake; Lexi Cobb, fr., Silver Lake; Bethany Crudel, sr., Riley County; Alex Ferguson, sr., Silver Lake; Josie Harrison, so., St. Marys; Rayann Johnson, sr., Wabaunsee; Maddy Michaelis, sr., Wabaunsee; Jalyn Porter, jr., Rossville; Mariah Schindler, jr., St. Marys; Sara Shinn, sr., Rossville; Jayden Weers, sr., Rock Creek.

Honorable mention

Cassie Dewey, sr., Silver Lake; Morgan Feldkamp, sr., Rock Creek; Maigan Holle, sr., Riley County; Britt Michaelis, sr., Wabaunsee; Anna Moylan, sr., St. Marys; Maci Schoemann, jr., St. Marys; Lora Shinn, sr., Rossville; Sierra Streit, sr., Rossville.

Silver Saints Craft Festival

Silver Saints Craft Festival, featuring gifts, crafts, food and a soup luncheon, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sat. Nov. 19, St. Stanislaus Parish Hall, 701 Main St. in Rossville. (785) 584-6612.
Note: The Capital-Journal lists this event as being on Sat., Nov. 21, which it cannot be.

Video At RHS-Caney Valley Game

Video of the RHS Caney Valley football game can be seen at:
http://www.wibw.com/content/news/KPZ-Week-11-Caney-Valley-at-Rossville-400912421.html

Football Frenzy on KSNT has video coverage of the game beginning at 4:45.
http://ksnt.com/2016/11/11/football-frenzy-111116/