EIGHT-PLAYER DIVISION II FOOTBALL STATE QUARTERFINALS PREVIEW
EAST
FRANKFORT (6-4) AT AXTELL (9-1)
Perhaps no player and team has more momentum in the playoffs than Wes Anderson and Frankfort. For the second straight week, the Wildcats found a way to come from behind in the fourth quarter to pull out a victory.
It took a gargantuan effort from Anderson in last week’s 84-74 shootout win over Marmaton Valley as opposing quarterback Tyler Lord threw for 392 yards and 7 TDs and ran for 215 yards and 4 scores. Anderson was up to the task, however, throwing for 286 yards and 6 touchdowns and rushing for 189 yards and 4 TDs, including a 30-yarder in the fourth quarter to clinch the win that saw the Wildcats rally from down 16 on several occasions.
Frankfort will need that momentum, however, as it faces Twin Valley League rival and playoff nemesis Axtell. The Eagles, four-time defending state champions, saw their state-record 58-game winning streak snapped earlier this year by Hanover, but has been dominant in every other game, including a 60-14 win over Frankfort in the regular-season finale.
Axtell blanked one-loss Rural Vista 46-0 last week as Wyatt Detweiler threw for 230 yards and 5 touchdowns with Joe Lybarger and Collin Shaughnessy catching two each. On the season, Detweiler has thrown for 1,187 yards and 21 touchdowns and also run for 547 yards and 16 scores.
Anderson has thrown for 1,753 yards and 26 touchdowns and run for a career-high 714 yards and 17 scores.
Axtell has ended Frankfort’s season in the state semifinals each of the past two seasons.
LINN (7-3) AT HANOVER (10-0)
Another Twin Valley League showdown that’s a rematch of a regular-season contest that saw Hanover down Linn 52-12 in the regular-season finale. The 12 points Linn scored in the game are the second-most a team has put up against Hanover this year with Axtell scoring 18 a week earlier.
Regardless of that loss, or its others to Axtell and Clifton-Clyde, it’s been a historic season for Linn. Not only is the winning season the first for the program since 2005, the Bulldogs’ 68-18 win over Wakefield in Week 9 was its first postseason win in nearly 30 years.
Linn’s seven wins are the most since the 1998 team went 8-4.
Hanover, meanwhile, has recaptured the groove it was in before Axtell went on its record-setting run, a streak where the Wildcats set the eight-player state record for consecutive wins and captured four state titles in a five-year span from 2016-20, including three straight to start that stretch.
The Wildcats won’t blow anyone away with their stats as no player has more than Kadrick Cohorst’s 444 yards rushing. But he’s run for 16 touchdowns and also thrown for 1,029 yards and 23 touchdowns, completing 76.8% of his passes as the Wildcats have been efficient on offense and suffocating on defense, allowing just 64 points (6.4 per game).
WEST
VICTORIA (10-0) AT HUTCHINSON CENTRAL CHRISTIAN (10-0)
Victoria and Central Christian meet in the state quarterfinals for the second straight season, this time in Hutchinson. And for the host Cougars to reverse the outcome from last year’s 70-28 loss, they’ll need this year’s dominant defense to deliver.
Central Christian posted its seventh shutout in its last eight games last week, defeating Logan-Palco 56-0. Junior Luke Eigsti intercepted two passes, giving him 11 for the season, and raised the Cougars’ season takeaway total to 29.
Eigsti has also accounted for 19 offensive touchdowns this season – 10 through the air and nine on the ground. That’s been a good complement to seniors Piercen Huff and Konnor Sullivan, who have combined for 2,091 rushing yards and 44 scores.
Victoria, which has reached the semifinals four times in the last five years, has five shutouts this season and is coming off a 64-14 victory over Dighton. Weston Scherrer ran for 281 yards and six touchdowns last week, and was a one-man wrecking crew in last year’s victory over Central Christian.
In that game, Scherrer scored five touchdowns, scooping up his punt block and taking it in for a touchdown just before half to put the Knights up 40-22. Scherrer also returned a fumble for a touchdown.
HODGEMAN COUNTY (9-1) AT WALLACE COUNTY (10-0)
Both the Wildcats and Longhorns have dominated defensively.
Unbeaten Wallace County has surrendered 54 points on the season while Hodgeman County has allowed 46.
Wallace County was tested in Weeks 3 and 4, securing wins over Oberlin-Decatur (32-28) and Dighton (24-12). Since then, they have outscored opponents 250-14. They have have been led by the trio of Kemper Benisch, Gage Cox and Braylon Rains. Wallace County went 5-4 last season.
Hodgeman County’s lone loss was a 28-14 setback to undefeated Victoria in Week 8. The Longhorns have posted six shutouts while holding opponents to 6 points in each of their three other wins.
Hodgeman County advanced with a 51-6 win over Minneola last week. Ian Reece ran for four two touchdowns and also caught two TDs. Gavin Reece threw for 200 yards and three touchdowns.
On the season, Gavin Reece, a freshman, has thrown for 1,305 yards and 17 touchdowns with just one interception. Tyson Younger has caught 26 passes for 513 yards and 10 touchdowns for the Longhorns. Brody Schroeder and Talon Shank have combined for 13 interceptions on defense, with Schroeder picking off seven passes and Shank six.