Unchallenged so far, Hodgeman County had a pretty good idea all season long that the Week 8 matchup against Victoria would be its stiffest test. 

“Early in the year, we were competing to see if we could be as good as Victoria,” Hodgeman County coach Matt Housman said. “I challenged them to try and dominate teams that they should and try to take care of business, much like a Victoria team would. 

“I asked them to raise the bar. Now we get to see how we level up with them.”

Friday night’s battle of unbeatens in Victoria will serve as the District 6 championship game in Eight-Player Division II. Both teams enter 7-0 overall and 3-0 in district play. 

“I tell our guys, ‘If this game doesn’t get you fired up, you’re in the wrong profession right now,’ ” Victoria coach Doug Oberle said. “You put in all that work last summer and last spring to get to this point of the season – playing for the district championship, both teams undefeated, both teams ranked in the top five. If it doesn’t get you fired up, there’s something wrong. 

“It’s what high school football is all about. We’re super excited for it.”

Hodgeman County has dominated through the first seven weeks, outscoring opponents by a staggering 350-12 margin. The Longhorns went 8-3 last season with a young squad. 

“Last year we had a lot of sophomores playing and could see the maturity of trying to get to the next level,” Housman said. “We had a lot of games last year that we should have put away that ended up being close games. That challenge this year was to play well the whole way and not just in spurts.”

The Longhorns have notched shutouts against South Gray, Spearville, Stafford, Macksville and Dighton, while Meade and St. John mustered 6 points each. 

Housman said the Longhorns’ four-man defensive front has been effective.

“Ian Reece and Tyson Younger, they’re long-armed, physical kids, and I think they’re setting the edge well, and they're athletic enough to chase you down,” Housman said. “And the guys on the inside – Kendall Burns and Desmond Thomas – have played well.”

The Longhorns are breaking in a new quarterback this season – freshman Gavin Reece. His older brother Owen was a star athlete for the Longhorns a couple years ago. 

“I see a lot of the same qualities in him,” Housman said. “We’ve kind of brought him along slow. Ian, his cousin, played quarterback for us last year. We’ve started bringing Gavin along and finding some success. He’s doing well.”

Hodgeman County has a balanced offensive attack. Gavin Reece has thrown for 715 yards and nine touchdowns with no interceptions. Ian Reece is also a passing threat with seven touchdowns through the air. 

Ian Reece leads the Longhorns in rushing with 259 yards and 13 touchdowns. Younger has 20 receptions for 381 yards and eight touchdowns. 

“Offensively, Matt’s always been a guy that gives you different looks. I know he’s got some stuff we haven’t seen in his back pocket,” Oberle said. “They seem like they found something defensively they really like and I think it fits their personnel really well.”

The Knights, who pulled out a 22-20 thriller against Central Plains in Week 2, posted three straight shutouts against Pretty Prairie, St. John and Stafford then beat Macksville 64-6 last week. 

“Defensively, I’m really happy with where we are, especially our second level,” Oberle said. “Our two linebackers have really improved over the last two weeks, which has made us look more complete.

“We’ve tried to get more younger guys in and get some cohesiveness.”

Victoria again relies on a smash mouth offense. The Knights have arguably the top lineman in the eight-man ranks in Kyle Huser. Weston Scherrer and Matthew Pfeifer are standouts in the backfield. Wyatt Schmidberger is in his first year at starting quarterback and Oberle said the passing game is coming around. 

“I feel like we’re throwing the ball a little bit better and running better routes,” Oberle said. “I’ve been happy with running backs as well. I feel like we’re improving but Friday is going to be a good test for us for sure.”

Housman said the current Knights have all the trademarks that have made Victoria a perennial powerhouse. 

“They just line up and run right at you,’ ” Housman said. “They don’t make it too hard, and that’s the beauty of it. I really appreciate what they do. They’re so sound on the fundamentals. Just a tough, hard-nosed football team.

“Their strength is the offensive line and that’s maybe an advantage for them, but we’re going to have to win some battles in there. Then we’ll just have to fight hard and take care of the football.”