SALINA – As soon as Holden Bass walked into the lockerroom at halftime of Saturday’s Class 2A state championship game, the Nemaha Central senior lineman knew his voice needed to be heard.
 
The Thunder coaches had yet to arrive, but Bass wasn’t about to wait. With Nemaha Central trailing at the half for the first time all season – Hoisington scoring just before halftime to take a 7-6 lead – the Thunder were in uncharted territory at the worst possible time.
 
Or so it seemed.
 
“It was definitely an eye-opener, but I think it was amazing for us,” Bass said. “When I came in, I kind of – not to sound self-righteous – I gave them my spiel and some heads popped up. We all kind of had our heads down, but they popped up. And when the coaches came in, everyone listened and it was great. We were all perfectly listening and ready to do whatever it was going to take for us to win.
 
“So I think it was great.”
 
Instead of letting Hoisington’s late-half momentum snowball on them, the Thunder came out after halftime with ice in their veins. Nemaha Central dominated the third quarter to take control and secured its second straight undefeated Class 2A state championship with a 28-14 victory.
 
Nemaha Central scored 22 straight points after halftime and shut out Hoisington in the second half until the final four minutes. The victory capped a second straight 13-0 season for the Thunder while Hoisington suffered its only loss of the season to finish 12-1 and as state runner-up for the second time in four years.
 

 
“We did a great job of holding each other accountable in that second half,” Nemaha Central coach Michael Glatczak said. “During halftime, Holden took things upon himself to fire the guys up and the coaching staff spoke for just a couple minutes. He just told them to relax and we were doing too much finger-pointing on their touchdown drive.
 
“Hoisington has a great football team and we knew it was going to be a dogfight. The second half, we just put our foot on the pedal and did what we needed to do.”
 
After scoring on its opening drive of the game, the rest of the first half was tough sledding for Nemaha Central. And when Hoisington’s Jason Robinson picked off Thunder quarterback Carter Hajek – Robinson’s 10^thinterception of the season – and returned it 22 yards into Nemaha Central territory, the Cardinals got the spark they desperately needed after having been stymied for the bulk of the half.
 
Hoisington cashed in on the turnover as Tony Moore scored on a 4-yard run with 2:02 left in the half, taking its 7-6 halftime lead. Getting the ball to start the second half and starting with a 15-yard run from Mason Alderdice, the Cardinals were in a position to make things very uncomfortable for the defending champs.
 
“We thought it was huge,” Hoisington coach Zach Baird said. “You go down and punch it in there and get up a score, the conditions were tough so it wasn’t a game you wanted to play from behind. I thought we were in great shape going into half up 7-6 and then to have the ball to start the half. But they just played better than we did in the second half.”
 

 
But after Alderdice’s big run to start the half, Hoisington never got its footing back until it was too late. The Cardinals turned it over on downs at the Nemaha Central 46 and the Thunder needed just six plays to go back on top.
 
Hajek busted a 33-yard run to set up his 7-yard touchdown run that put the Thunder up 12-6. It was his second TD of the game – he opened the game with a 6-yard scoring run – but he was only getting started.
 
The sophomore standout accounted for all but four of Nemaha Central’s 297 yards, finishing with 266 yards and 4 touchdowns on the ground. His 49-yard touchdown run three plays after Nemaha Central’s Abe Hilbert recovered a Hoisington fumble stretched the Thunder lead to 20-7.
 
His fourth touchdown -- 1-yard touchdown run with 6:01 left in the game -- completed the Thunder’s run of 22 straight points and put the game on ice.
 
“He’s something special,” Glatczak said of Hajek. “I tried to call a different play in the fourth quarter and he didn’t like it and said, ‘Coach, I got it.’ He’s a kid I trust, even only being a sophomore. Not many coaches would trust a sophomore, but I do. Obviously, we’ve got the big boys up front and we’ve got No. 6 in the backfield who’s really special.”
 

 
Baird agreed with Glatczak’s sentiments about Hajek.
 
“I thought (Hajek) was the difference in the game,” Baird said. “We didn’t tackle him very well, but give him credit. That’s what games like this come down to, guys stepping up and making plays and (Hajek) was tough today.”
 
With the field at Salina’s District Stadium covered by Saturday’s snowstorm that continued throughout the game, Nemaha Central essentially kept the ball in Hajek’s hands for the entirety of the game. He carried the ball on 49 of the Thunder’s 51 rushing attempts in the game with Cooper Kramer’s 4-yard gain in the first half the lone yards he didn’t gain for the Thunder. The other rush attempt was a kneel-down at the end of the game that goes as a team rush.
 
It was nearly a mirrored performance to the one his older brother, Cooper, produced in last year’s title game when he ran for 208 yards and 4 touchdowns to lead Nemaha Central past Kingman.
 
“Anything Cooper can do, I want to be able to do,” Hajek said. “I like having the offense on my shoulders.”
 
He also liked the new fullback that lined up in front of him for the bulk of the game. With injuries decimating the position late in the season, including losing sophomore Daniel Childress last week, Glatczak decided to employ Nemaha’s “Heavy Package” on the snowy surface.
 
That put Bass in the backfield with sophomore Hendryx Wahl stepping into his place on the line.
 
“We figured we’d put another lineman in and go with Holden in the backfield and it was our best formation today,” Glatczak said. “In Kansas, you never know what you’re going to get with the weather. So I always tell the kids, ‘If you can’t run the ball, you’re not going to be playing in November.’ Obviously these kids buy into the process and they block their butts off all day.”
 
The 6-foot-4, 290-pound Bass said he was initially surprised by the decision, but relished the opportunity.
 
“We hadn’t practice it at all this week really,” he said. “But it was fun. I loved it. I think those first couple drives we ran it, they weren’t expecting it.”
 
Hoisington answered Hajek’s final touchdown run with its only score of the second half as Moore finally got things going in the passing game to quickly move down the field, setting up his 3-yard touchdown run with 3:29 left.
 
But the Cardinals never got the ball back as Nemaha ran out the clock.
 
Moore finished with 129 yards and two touchdowns rushing and accounted for 176 of the Cardinals’ 211 total yards.
 

 
“Our defense stepped up,” Glatczak said. “The Moore kid is legit. We felt we could stop (fullback Teron Kraft) moving Holden at nose. Then we moved Holden around the second half and that helped out with the quarterback pull and read. Then the weather tamed down their passing, which on film was really good, and that helped us out.”
 
Glatczak is now halfway toward matching the number of state titles his father, Larry, won during his career at Centralia, with Michael playing on two of the four title teams. He’s also done something he didn’t do as a player or his father ever did, go back-to-back.
 
“As a player, I remember my high school days, it was always fun, but as a coach, it’s special,” he said. “You get to lead these kids and see their progression. And to top it off with winning state, it’s just amazing. The senior class really stepped up this year because there was a lot of doubt this year having to replace six, seven starters and losing Cooper and Brayden (Uphaus). But they stepped up with the help of our juniors and sophomores and we were able to get it done again.”
 

 
CLASS 2A CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
 
NEMAHA CENTRAL 28, HOISINGTON 14
 
Hoisington (12-1) … 0 … 7 … 0 … 7 … -- … 14
 
Nemaha Central (13-0) … 6 … 0 … 14 … 8 … -- … 28
 
Nemaha Central – Carter Hajek 6-yard run (run failed)
 
Hoisington – Tony Moore 4-yard run (Taylen Morales kick)
 
Nemaha Central – Hajek 7-yard run (run failed)
 
Nemaha Central – Hajek 49-yard run (Hajek run)
 
Nemaha Central – Hajek 1-yard run (Hajek run)
 
Hoisington – Moore 3-yard run (Morales kick)
 
TEAM STATISTICS
 
 … Hois … NC
 
First downs … 13 … 15
 
Rushes-yards … 35-164 … 51-266
 
Passing yards … 47 … 31
 
Passing (Comp-Att-Int) … 6-15-0 … 2-4-1
 
Total plays-yards … 50-211 … 55-297
 
Fumbles-lost … 3-2 … 1-0
 
Penalties-yards … 4-24 … 7-44
 
Punts-Avg … 2-33.5 … 2-36.5
 
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
 
RUSHING – Hoisington: Moore 16-129, Kraft 15-25, Alderdice 2-14, Team 2-minus 4. Nemaha Central: Hajek 49-66, Kramer 1-4, Team 1-minus 4.
 
PASSING – Hoisington: Moore 6-15-0, 47 yards. Nemaha Central: Hajek 2-4-1, 31 yards.
 
RECEIVING – Hoisington: Martin 2-17, Robinson 1-14, Alderdice 2-12, Kraft 1-4. Nemaha Central: Nordhus 1-19, Strathman 1-12.