For the bulk of Shane Sieben’s seven-year tenure as head coach at Rock Creek, his Mustang teams have been known for their high-powered offenses that could light up a scoreboard with video-game type numbers.
 
And to some extent, that’s still the case this season. Tailback Zion Bell has been a workhorse, rushing for 1,544 yards and 21 touchdowns. Meanwhile, sophomore quarterback Tate Smith has thrown for 1,757 yards and 24 touchdowns since taking over as the full-time starter in Week 5.
 
But starting last year, there was a bit of a shift for the Mustang program as the defense emerged as just a big of a key to the team’s success as the offense. Instead of merely having to bank on its offense to win shootout battles, Rock Creek showed it could win a rock fight as well.
 
And this season, there’s no question the defense has been the rock for the Mustangs’ run to the state semifinals.
 
“It’s everything,” Sieben said of Rock Creek’s defensive performance this season, especially in the postseason. “We said when we got here that defense wins championships. It’s taken us a while to build that. But our kids are so resilient and they played so hard tonight.”
 
Friday night’s Class 3A quarterfinal may have been the Mustangs’ masterpiece in a season where the defense has shined throughout. After giving up a touchdown to visiting power Cheney on its first drive of the game, Rock Creek put the clamps on the Cardinals the rest of the way.
 
Holding Cheney scoreless over the final three quarters and coming up with five interceptions, Rock Creek pulled out a 14-7 victory to advance to the state semifinals. The Mustangs (11-0) now will face their biggest test of the season, traveling to defending state champion Andale (11-0), which rolled past Pratt 57-7 in its quarterfinal.
 

 
The 11 wins are the most for the program since Rock Creek went 11-1 in 2000, falling to Frontenac in the Class 3A semifinals – one of only two other semifinal appearances for the Mustangs with the other coming in 2011.
 
Rock Creek’s defense began to emerge a year ago as the Mustangs had seven games in which they allowed a touchdown or less, allowing just 82 points in an 8-2 season.
 
Returning its entire front seven this year, Sieben expected the defense to be a strength that carried the team as the offense transitioned with Bell and Smith taking on major roles after the graduation of Mack Lee, who led the team in rushing and passing.
 
“That D-Line coming back was going to be good and our linebacking corps with those guys – just tough, hard-nosed kids that are high football-IQ guys,” Sieben said. “It’s the biggest things this year. I’ve never had better questions as a coach in my life. Our kids are just so understanding of the game and of formations and tendencies. They’ve been locked in all year.”
 
This season, Rock Creek hasn’t allowed more than 14 points in any game this year and had allowed just 73 points going into Friday’s contest against Cheney. More than a third of that total came late in blowout wins against Marysville and Chapman.
 
And when an offense that had averaged 47.6 points per game through nine games has found the going tough the past two games, the defense was there to ensure the Mustangs continue to move on.
 
Last week, Rock Creek fell down 13-7 to Hesston in the quarterfinals before the defense pitched a second-half shutout to allow the Mustangs to rally for a 17-13 win.
 
“We knew that was going to be a dog fight and to be tested last week and respond was a big thing,” Sieben said. “To win a tough game like that, we didn’t panic then and we didn’t panic tonight when we got down 7-0.”
 

 
After Rock Creek had missed a field goal on its opening possession of the game, Cheney struck quickly. Reece Tolar hit Quaid Thomas 48-yard strike down the sideline and then connected with Detric McDaniel for a 17-yard gain to set up a 1-yard sneak by Tolar for the 7-0 lead.
 
“We knew they were going to come out hot,” Mustang senior linebacker Ezra Spiller said. “We didn’t take it too personally. We knew our offense would come back and score and that we weren’t going to allow them to score the rest of the game. We’re bend don’t break.”
 
Actually, there wasn’t a whole lot of bending by the defense after Cheney’s initial score. The Cardinals gained nearly half of their yards in the game on that scoring drive of 80 yards as they finished with just 176 yards of total offense.
 
In particular, the Mustangs completely shut down Cheney’s run game, holding the Cardinals to just 51 yards on the ground. That allowed them to pin their ears back and go hard after Tolar when he dropped back to pass and the pressure applied by Rock Creek got to the Cheney standout QB.
 
“We adjusted to our mistakes from that first drive,” said Spiller, who had one of Rock Creek’s three sacks to go with multiple hurries from the Mustang defensive front. “It’s big. When we put pressure on him, he kind of panicked a little bit and threw it up.”
 

 
And when he did, Rock Creek was there to take it away. Tolar was picked off three times while punter/receiver Sam Johnson threw a pair of interceptions – one on what essentially was a punt attempt in the first half and the other on a reverse pass in the second half.
 
Both of those picks came from Noah Valburg, who also picked off Tolar to finish the night with three interceptions. Luke Skinner and Jaxon Pendall each added one as well and the Mustangs had a sixth interception wiped out by a penalty.
 
“We just got back to what we’d been practicing what we had all week,” Valburg said. “Those guys up front make it so easy for us. The biggest thing was making sure we stayed back and in position to make plays and we did.”
 
The secondary had to make one last stand to preserve the win as Cheney got into scoring position with 10 seconds to play. But two passes to the end zone were knocked down by the Mustang secondary, punctuating another big night from the defense.
 
“We were confident the whole second half,” Valburg said. “We trusted our offense but we knew we could make the stop when we needed to.”
 

 
After tying the game with just over three minutes left in the second quarter on a 13-yard pass from Smith to Skinner, Rock Creek got the game winner on a quick-strike drive in the final minute of the half. Smith found Skinner for a 38-yard connection to move the Mustangs into Cheney territory and Bell capped the drive with a 9-yard TD for the game-winner with 31.3 seconds left in the half.
 
“That was huge and our offensive coaches did a great job and called a great game,” Sieben said. “We made some big plays before half and gave us some confidence before half that we’ve got this.”
 
Thanks to three second-half interceptions and the final stand, Rock Creek got that program-record tying 11th win. Tolar finished just 9 of 26 for the game for 125 yards.
 
“He’s a good quarterback and the two throws he made on that opening drive, it was like, ‘Holy cow! If he’s going to make those throws it’s going to be a long night. We knew we needed to hit him and get on him early. We started to bring some pressure and give him some different looks and our DBs did a great job of understanding where they needed to be in coverages and made plays.”
 

 
NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS QUARTERFINAL STANDOUTS
 
CLASS 6A
 
MANHATTAN 55, MAIZE 31 – The No. 1 team in Class before a rash of injuries led to a pair of losses, Manhattan is now healthy and on Friday took down the team that replaced it atop the 6A rankings with a convincing win over Maize.
 
After the teams traded first-quarter touchdowns, Manhattan took the lead for good on a 6-yard touchdown run by Joseph Mortensen early in the second quarter. After a Maize field goal, Mortensen found the end zone again on a 10-yard run.
 
Maize pulled within 21-17 on a Shannon Jones TD run of 32 yards, but the Indians finished the half with a 17-yard TD pass from Finn Watson to JJ Dunnigan. Manhattan then erupted for 21 third-quarter points while shutting out the Eagles in the period to take a commanding 49-17 lead into the fourth. Ja’Marcus Vornes started the outburst with a 60-yard run, while Mortensen added his third TD run of the game in the stretch.
 
Manhattan ran for 332 yards as a team with four different Indians scoring rushing touchdowns. Watson threw for 161 yards. The Indians held Maize standout quarterback Brayden Myovela to just 90 yards passing on 6-of-16 accuracy while picking him off twice and also held the Eagles to just 128 rushing yards.
 
CLASS 4A
 
WAMEGO 21, AUGUSTA 14 – Wamego recovered from a 7-0 deficit at the end of the first quarter, scoring 21 unanswered points to return to the state semifinals for the third time in the past four years.
 
Augusta scored the only points in the first quarter on a 16-yard pass from Trace Haskell to Roman Bridwell. But Wamego dominated the next two quarters, shutting out the Orioles while get a TD in each period – TD passes of 17 and 6 yards to Reed McDiffett.
 
The Red Raiders extended the lead to 21-7 in the fourth on a 7-yard TD run by Fulton, who finished the game with 170 yards passing and 100 yards rushing. Augusta got a TD with just over a minute left, but Wamego recovered the onside kick to seal the win.
 
 
CLASS 3A
 
HAYDEN 43, JEFFERSON WEST 29 – After trouncing Jefferson West 42-0 in the regular-season finale, Hayden appeared on its way to a similar rout in their quarterfinal rematch as a 71-yard strike from Connor Hanika to Mason Becker on the second play of the game sparked the Wildcats to a 22-0 lead midway through the second quarter.
 
But West finally found some offense against the Wildcats in the second quarter and a little went a long way. Touchdown passes by Brixton Schwinn to Crayton Holman and Brody Schwinn and a TD run by Brixton pulled the Tigers within 29-22 with just less than 10 minutes left in the game.
 
But Hayden responded. Jude Krentz picked up his second rushing TD of the night and after an Wildcat interception, Jackson McGivern scored from 3 yards out to put Hayden back up 43-22 and sent the Wildcats (11-0) back to the semifinals for the third straight year where they will play host to Santa Fe Trail (11-0).
 
Hanika threw for 200 yards and 2 touchdowns. Schwinn accounted for four touchdowns for West, which finished 8-3 – its best season since going 8-2 in 2019.
 
SANTA FE TRAIL 28, HOLTON 26 – Santa Fe Trail hasn’t had much success in its meetings with Holton throughout both program’s history, going just 1-17 since 1969 with the lone win coming in 1975. The Chargers had lost 11 straight since that win, including the last four in the playoffs.
 
But this year’s Charger team has been different, posting its first undefeated regular season since 1994 and its most wins since 1996. After holding off Holton to end its losing streak to the Wildcats, Trail now has 11 wins for the first time since 1994.
 
Holton got out quickly in Friday’s contest, taking a 14-7 lead at the end of the first quarter on TD runs by Andrew Shupe (3 yards) and Alex Frazier (26 yards), sandwiched around a 6-yard scoring run from Charger quarterback Rigley Sleichter.
 
But the Charger defense settled in and held Holton scoreless in the second quarter with Sleichter’s 2-yard TD run tying the game 14-14 at halftime. Sleichter hit Kain Tantaros on an 18-yard scoring pass in the third to give Trail its first lead and though Holton answered with a 62-yard TD run from Shupe, the Chargers blocked the extra point.
 
Sleichter put Trail up 28-20 in the fourth with a 4-yard TD pass to Xavier Davis, but Holton again responded with a TD, a 22-yard run by Cael Frazier. The Wildcats’ game-tying two-point conversion was stopped by the Chargers, sealing the Trail victory.
 
Sleichter ran for 127 yards and the two touchdowns and also threw for 160 yards and two scores.
 
 
CLASS 2A
 
NEMAHA CENTRAL 21, SABETHA 20 -- For the second time this season, Nemaha Central got everything it wanted and more from arch rival Sabetha. And for the second time this season, the Thunder were just able to survive.
 
In the first meeting, Nemaha Central jumped out to a 14-0 lead and were up 20-8 late in the first half before Sabetha shut the Thunder out the rest of the way and gave itself a chance late. The Bluejays pulled within 20-18 but missed two fourth-quarter field goals and Nemaha held on for the two-point win.
 
In Friday’s rematch, the Thunder again struck quickly with Carter Hajek rushing for TDs of 1 and 23 yards to once again give Nemaha a 14-0 lead on its rival. This time, however, Sabetha stormed back to take a 20-14 lead on a pair of short Micah Lang TD runs and a 9-yard score from Will Voos in the third quarter, the latter coming after a botched punt snap by the Thunder.
 
But on the extra-point following Voos’ score, a penalty set the Bluejays back five yards and the Thunder then blocked the kick – a game-winning block as it turned out. Hajek finished off Nemaha’s ensuing drive with his third TD of the night and the PAT kick put the Thunder up one.
 
Sabetha had two possessions to win it but turned it over on downs on the first one after facing a fourth-and-27 and then was picked off by Caleb Strathman on the later after getting the ball back with 30 seconds left. 
 
It marked the fourth straight season Sabetha’s season has ended in the playoffs against the Thunder.
 
OSAGE CITY 46, CANEY VALLEY 14 – Osage City advanced to the state semifinals for the first time in program history, scoring 21 straight points in the first half after Caney Valley had taken an early 8-0 lead. The Indians (10-1) will now face Nemaha Central (11-0) for the third straight year in the playoffs, losing to the Thunder in the quarterfinals each of the past two seasons.
 
After the Bullpups went up 8-0 on a 1-yard run by Jace Buckley, Osage City came to life. Reed Silver had a TD run in the first quarter and then hit Quenten Stark and Dylan Theel for TD strikes of 12 and 26 yards, respectively, in the second quarter for a 21-8 halftime lead.
 
Caney got a 13-yard TD run from Traxcyn Garton midway through the second to make it 21-14, but Osage City answered just over a minute later with a 62-yard strike from Silver to Stark. The two connected for a 60-yard score in the final minute of the quarter and added two fourth quarter TDs.
 
Silver threw for 254 yards and 4 touchdowns and also ran for 124 yards and a score. Osage City held Caney Valley to just 191 yards of total offense.
 
SOUTHEAST OF SALINE 48, PHILLIPSBURG 6 – Tied 6-6 with Phillipsburg midway through the first quarter, the Trojans dominated the rest of the way to advance to the semifinals for the fourth time in the last five years and run their winning streak to 24 straight games, tied with Andale for the longest currently in the state.
 
As he’s done all year, Grady Gebhardt took over. The senior back broke the tie with an 8-yard TD run – the first of four touchdown runs in the game. Gebhardt finished with 172 yards rushing. Tiernan Ptacek hit Bryson Lippold for a pair of first-half touchdowns of 21 and 44 yards and threw for 158 yards.
 
Amarion Holub capped the Trojans’ scoring with 67-yard punt return in the fourth quarter.
 
Southeast’s 11-0 season will meet its toughest test in the semifinals with Hoisington 10-0 after cruising past Garden Plain 36-7.
 
 
CLASS 1A
 
JACKSON HEIGHTS 21, RIVERSIDE 14 – A 21-0 win over Riverside in the season opener was a challenging start for Jackson Heights. Friday’s rematch in the quarterfinals was considerably tougher.
 
After getting shutout in the first meeting, Riverside led 7-6 at the end of the first quarter and 14-6 at halftime behind a pair of 1-yard scoring runs from Elijah Moore. After Drake Mellies tied the game with a 1-yard TD of his own and the ensuing two-point conversion, Heights got the game-winner on a 2-yard TD run from Brody Browning in the fourth quarter.
 
Browning also had Heights’ first touchdown, a 4-yard score that put the Cobras up 6-0 early.
 
Mellies threw for 217 yards and ran for 108 yards.
 
The Cobras will get a chance to avenge last year’s stunning playoff quarterfinal loss to Rossville where they saw a 17-point lead with five minutes left in the game disappear as the Bulldawgs rallied for a 42-38 victory.
 
ROSSVILLE 27, ST. MARY’S COLGAN 20 – The long trip south was more than worth it as Rossville handed Colgan its first loss of the season and returned to the 1A semifinals for the second straight year. The Bulldawgs (10-1) will get another undefeated team this week in Jackson Heights (11-0) – a team they stunned last year in the quarterfinals when the Bulldawgs scored 21 points in a span of under two minutes to rally from down 38-21 with five minutes left in the game to win 42-38.
 
To get there, Rossville had to find a way past a Colgan team that had outscored its opponents 525-52 going into Friday’s contest. But the Bulldawgs’ tough schedule proved beneficial and they got out to a 14-0 lead on TD runs from Andre Johnson and Canann Mitchell.
 
After Colgan got a 53-yard TD run from Klayton Adamson to make it 14-14-6 at halftime, Rossville got an 11-yard TD run from Cael Horgan and a 71-yard scoring run from Mitchell to lead 27-13 at the end of the third. Colgan cut it two seven, but the Rossville defense held.
 
Mitchell finished with 163 yards passing and 100 yards rushing.
 
 
EIGHT-PLAYER DIVISION II
 
HANOVER 50, LINN 0 – After beating Twin Valley League rival Linn 52-12 in the regular-season finale, Hanover shut out the Bulldogs in the quarterfinal rematch, leading 44-0 at halftime before ending the game in the third quarter on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Kadrick Cohorst to Brody Sedlacek.
 
The touchdown was the fifth of the game for Cohorst, who ran for three touchdowns and threw for two, finishing the game with 224 yards of total offense, including 156 through the air. Cohorst opened the scoring with TD runs of 13 and 6 yards and then added a 46-yard TD run and 46-yard TD pass to Hunter Kickhaefer in the second quarter.
 
Alec Jueneman and Cooper Bruna each added touchdown runs as Hanover out-gained Linn 319-80 in the game.
 
The Wildcats will now look to end Axtell’s four-year reign in Eight-Player Division II after earlier this season ending the Eagles’ state-record 58-game winning streak with a 26-18 victory in Week 7.
 
 
AXTELL 60, FRANKFORT 14 – Axtell set up its shot at revenge against Hanover with a second victory over TVL rival Frankfort this year. The Wildcats had won a pair of come-from-behind victories to reach the quarterfinals, but couldn’t do it again against the Eagles.
 
Axtell jumped out to a 22-0 first-quarter lead as Wyatt Detweiler sandwiched TD runs of 8 and 60 yards around a 38-yard TD run from Landon Schmitz. After Frankfort’s Wes Anderson scored on a 67-yard run early in the second, Axtell got a 23-yard TD run from Detweiler and 56-yard fumble return touchdown from Lucas Talbot to build a 38-8 lead.
 
Detweiler finished with 203 yards and 5 TDs on the ground and also threw for 168 yards. In the loss, Anderson threw for 173 yards and ran for 141 yards and both Frankfort touchdowns.