ATCHISON — Rossville football coach Derick Hammes knew
full well there would come a point in Friday’s Class 2A playoff clash with Maur
Hill that his pass defense was going to have to come up with a big stop.
Sure enough, that situation presented itself with the
season on the line for both teams.
With Rossville clinging to a 21-14 lead with 1:16 left
in the game, Maur Hill lined up for a fourth-and-goal at the Bulldawg 7. A
Raven score likely would have forced overtime. A Rossville stop would seal the
victory.
“Our backs were against the wall,” Hammes said. “The
field shrinks down there, so that was to our advantage. (Jack) Caudle does such
a good job of buying time and that’s one of the most impressive things about
him. We had to pressure him because if we gave him too much time, you can see
what he did with the football.”
Having already thrown for 301 yards in the game,
Caudle couldn’t quite find his mark on the fourth-down play. His pass to a
heavily guarded Parker Mispagel fell incomplete and Rossville held on for the
21-14 victory.
With the win Rossville (8-2) advances to the 2A
quarterfinals where the Bulldawgs will take on undefeated and No. 4 Humboldt
(10-0), which beat Osage City 30-6. The game will be at Rossville.
Maur Hill finished the season 8-2.
“I knew my guys were going to come out and fight to
the very end,” Maur Hill coach Jermaine Monroe said. “It’s tough and this game
is a matter of inches. Being that far away from tying this thing up ... We
practice scenarios like this, game’s on the line, this is the play we’re going
to call. We just fell a little short.”
Maur Hill’s defense gave the Ravens a chance to get
back in the game after Rossville threatened to run away with things at the end
of the first half. The Bulldawgs scored twice in the second quarter on Garrett
Carver touchdown runs of 1 and 58 yards to take a 21-7 halftime lead.
But the Bulldawgs squandered a chance to put the
Ravens away as Maur Hill picked off Carver twice inside the Raven 30.
Maur Hill finally capitalized with a score when Tate
Vowels made a spectacular 40-yard catch to set up a 7-yard scoring run by
Caudle. After the Ravens forced a three-and-out, Vowels broke a tackle and
scampered 41 yards to the Rossville 5.
Three plays resulted in a loss of two yards, setting
up Maur Hill’s final chance. Rossville smothered Vowels, forcing Caudle to go
elsewhere, and Kaleb Badura blanketed Mispagel to force the incompletion.
The teams traded touchdowns on their first two drives
with Rossville needing just three plays to get on the board on a Trevor Johnson
28-yard run. Maur Hill answered with Mispagel making a diving catch in the end
zone for a 19-yard score on a fourth-down play.
After Carver put Rossville back up 14-7 on a 1-yard
run set up by a 51-yard burst, Maur Hill had a shot at tying it. But Vowels
dropped a touchdown pass in the end zone and Rossville came up with a
fourth-down sack.
Carver went 58 yards for a TD on the next play and it
looked like the Bulldawgs were in firm control. But after rushing for 150
first-half yards, Carver managed just 45 in the second half and Maur Hill
rallied.
“I felt like there were several times from being a
play away from being comfortable,” Hammes said. “But there’s never a comfort
level when you have a difference-maker at quarterback, which is what they’ve
got.”
Caudle finished 19 of 36 for 301 yards with Vowels
catching 10 passes for 170 yards. The eight wins were the most by Maur Hill in
several decades and the most during Monroe’s tenure.
“We thought this might be a rebuilding year for us,”
Monroe said. “It’s very satisfying, but also a little bittersweet because we
thought we could keep going.”
ROSSVILLE 21, MAUR HILL 14
Rossville 7 14 0 0 - 21
Maur Hill 7 0 0 7 - 14
Rossville — Johnson 28 run (Lovisi kick)
Maur Hill — Mispagel 19 pass from J. Caudle (Folsom
kick)
Rossville — Carver 1 run (Lovisi kick)
Rossville — Carver 58 run (Lovisi kick)
Maur Hill — J. Caudle 7 run (Folsom kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING —
Rossville: Carver 22-195, Sowers 4-27, Johnson 5-58, Reeves 2-6, Brown 2-7.
Maur Hill: Smith 7-7, J. Caudle 14-38, Taft 3-2, Schwinn 6-40, Vowels 1-minus 1, Mispagel 1-minus 3.
Rossville: Carver 22-195, Sowers 4-27, Johnson 5-58, Reeves 2-6, Brown 2-7.
Maur Hill: Smith 7-7, J. Caudle 14-38, Taft 3-2, Schwinn 6-40, Vowels 1-minus 1, Mispagel 1-minus 3.
PASSING —
Rossville: Carver 1-8-3, 21 yards
Maur Hill: J. Caudle 19-36-0, 301 yards.
Rossville: Carver 1-8-3, 21 yards
Maur Hill: J. Caudle 19-36-0, 301 yards.
RECEIVING —
Rossville: Horak 1-21.
Maur Hill: Vowels 10-170, Schwinn 1-7, Mispagel 4-80, Regan 2-40, Ligget 1-8, Taft 1-minus 4.
Rossville: Horak 1-21.
Maur Hill: Vowels 10-170, Schwinn 1-7, Mispagel 4-80, Regan 2-40, Ligget 1-8, Taft 1-minus 4.
