HUTCHINSON – When 43 years have passed since a team’s last state football championship, what’s another 6½ minutes?
 
Turns out, it was everything to the Sterling Black Bears.
 
Faced with a six-point deficit – and only six because of a blocked extra point by senior Kevin Ploutz – and 6:31 remaining, Sterling’s drive to destiny in Friday’s Class 1A championship game demanded 70 yards of Gowans Stadium turf.
 
The safest bet was Sterling would try to cover most if not all the distance on the ground. The unbeaten Black Bears ran the ball on 451 of 471 offensive plays this season, and they weren’t about to change.
 
Until they did.
 
After keeping its title hopes alive with a trio of fourth-down running plays, Sterling went to the air on first-and-10 from the Rossville 24. Senior quarterback Logan Isaac took the snap under center and floated a pass toward the goal line for sophomore Jacob Lewis. Lewis, who ran a skinny post route, pulled the ball down between Rossville defenders Jack Donovan and Conner Bush at the 2 and fell into the end zone for a tying touchdown with 52 seconds remaining.
 

Lewis’ classmate, Lane Weigel, followed with a clutch extra point that provided the numerical difference in a 35-34 victory that gave Sterling its first football championship since 1982.
 
“We knew with six minutes left we could put a drive together,” said Isaac, whose lone completion in the title game was just his ninth this season. “It just so happened that we needed to throw the ball instead of running it. Great players make great plays, and we just made a play.”
 
An energized Sterling defense allowed Rossville into its territory in the closing seconds, but eventually turned the Bulldawgs over on downs to fuel a euphoric celebration among Black Bear players, coaches and fans. Sterling finished 13-0 for its first unbeaten season since the 1982 team completed a 12-0 season with the Class 2A title just days before Michael Jackson released his pop music blockbuster album “Thriller”.
 
And man, was Friday’s duel between Sterling and Rossville a thriller.
 
For all the late-game heroics by Ploutz, Isaac, Lewis and Weigel, Sterling’s ace in the hole was senior halfback Zane Farney. Farney, who entered the game with 6,433 career rushing yards, burned Rossville (11-2) for 279 yards on 27 carries with three touchdowns.
 
Farney helped the wind-aided Black Bears build a 14-0 first-quarter lead with a 6-yard run less than eight minutes into the game. He added a 66-yard touchdown dash in the second quarter on a broken play after Isaac mishandled the snap and dropped the ball on the turf.
 
And while Farney’s third touchdown run – a gritty, grinding 18-yard run that tied the score in the opening minute of the fourth quarter – may have been his best, it arguably wasn’t as important as his two 3-yard runs on fourth downs that kept Sterling’s game-winning drive alive.
 

“It’s just our mentality and how we’re built,” Farney said. “We’re all ready to play all four quarters.
 
“I said at halftime it’s going to be a tough game. Obviously, it was a state championship game. They were going to come out and fight. They weren’t going to give up. Something our coach said was just, ‘Believe, believe, believe.’”
 
Rossville put Sterling’s faith to the test with a masterclass in timely execution. Led by senior quarterback Canann Mitchell, who accounted for 342 total yards and four touchdowns, the Bulldawgs pulled with 21-14 on Mitchell’s 26-yard pass to Bush on a wheel route with 14 seconds remaining before halftime.
 
The touchdown gave Rossville, which deferred its choice to the second half, a chance to double dip on offense around the break. The Bulldawgs capitalized with a 10-play, 60-yard drive that senior Andre Johnson sealed with a 1-yard touchdown run that tied the score at 21 with 7:58 to play in the third.
 
“Offensively, we were moving the ball,” said Mitchell, who completed 14 of 20 passes for 193 yards, and ran 28 times for 149 yards. “There was maybe one drive where we didn’t score and we just had to buckle up.
 
“In the end, No. 1 (Farney) was a good player and our defense had a tough time stopping him. It probably would have been a different ballgame if we could have stopped him better.”
 
Still, Rossville, which outgained Sterling 420-371, used the friendly wind to take its first lead on the final play of the third quarter. The Bulldawgs covered 60 yards in nine plays, converting on third-and-19 with a pair of Mitchell pass completions. That set up Mitchell’s 2-yard touchdown keeper as the third-quarter clock struck zero, giving Rossville a 28-21 advantage.
 

But with the wind at their backs for the first time since the opening quarter, Sterling didn’t trail for long.
 
The Black Bears got runs of 39 and 18 yards by Farney, the latter capping a three-play drive that tied the score at 28. After being held to 56 and 65 yards in playoff victories over Hutchinson Trinity and Smith Center, Farney’s first carry of the fourth quarter pushed him over 200 yards for the fifth time this season.
 
“I think he was a ticking time bomb being held under 100 yards the last couple games,” Sterling coach Brent Schneider said. “We were just trying to feed the beast there and let him go.”
 
But after recovering a short kickoff near midfield, Rossville wasn’t done. The Bulldawgs reclaimed the lead with an 11-play, 51-yard march, converting on three third-down plays. Sophomore Landen Lewis’ 10-yard run on a third-and-6 play fueled momentum for Rossville, which cashed in five plays later as Mitchell stretched across the goal line near the sideline for a 4-yard touchdown with 6:36 remaining.
 
On sophomore Austin Dohrman’s ensuing extra-point attempt, Ploutz reached up with his left hand and deflected the ball into the hands of Jacob Lewis, keeping Rossville’s lead at 34-28.
 
“It was so big,” Farney said. “It was huge. We knew we had a chance no matter what, but blocking that PAT really helped us. We knew we had a better chance.”
 
With plenty of time to grind out a drive, Sterling – which averaged 45.2 points this season – did just that. As Rossville’s crowd noise intensified, the Black Bears quickly faced a game-saving challenge with fourth-and-5 from their own 35. Junior Jace Darnauer took an option pitch around the right side for 18 yards.
 

Farney added the second fourth-down conversion of the drive, gaining three yards when one was needed from the Rossville 38. Sterling’s final fourth-down conversion came one play before the Isaac-to-Lewis touchdown, as Farney gained three on fourth-and-2 from Rossville’s 27.
 
“We practice a 2-minute drill and our 2-minute drill looks a little different,” said Schneider, a 2005 Sterling alumnus. “We run the ball and we trust the process even when time’s running out.
 
“I know it gets a little bit crazy for some people in the crowd, but we kind of have our plan. Our kids know it and they just go execute.”
 
Ironically, the play that will arguably go down in Sterling lore defied the norm. Isaac didn’t hesitate when he saw Lewis get a step beyond the Rossville defensive backs, all of whom were within five yards of the line of scrimmage. Though they recovered, Lewis had the inside track on the pass that wrapped up Sterling’s 13-play, 70-yard drive.
 
“Teams just don’t expect it,” Lewis said. “They expect us to run it to the outside. It definitely helps you as a wide receiver.
 
“I saw it and I knew I could catch it. I was like, ‘I’ve got to come down with this.’”
 
With 52 seconds to try to claim its sixth state title in 12 years, Rossville threatened. After a kickoff return to the Bulldawg 36, Mitchell threw a pass that caromed off a Sterling defender to Cameron Miller for 20 yards. Another pass to Jack Donovan went for 12.
 

But after Mitchell ran out of bounds at Sterling’s 29, the drive stalled. Juniors Tucker Haas and Derek Krone combined to sack Mitchell for a 5-yard loss. After an intentional grounding call on Mitchell pushed Rossville back to fourth-and-32 from its own 46, the Bulldawg quarterback’s final pass of the season to Miller came up 11 yards short of the first down.
 
Sterling’s title celebration was its second in eight months. The Black Bears won the Class 2A boys basketball championship in March, defeating Heart of America League rival Moundridge in the final.
 
It was Sterling’s second basketball title and first in 13 years. Friday’s football victory bridged a much longer title gap, but the Black Bears’ unbeaten run gave the Sterling community a chance to not only discover new heroes, but remember old ones.
 
“It’s a pretty unique deal,” Schneider said. “A couple of my (assistant) coaches have dads who played on that 1982 team. Coach (Gary) White, who coached that championship team, was here today.
 
“Sterling isn’t really known for its football tradition, but we’re trying to establish that. The spirit of that (1982) team was with us.”
 

CLASS 1A CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
 
At Gowans Stadium, Hutchinson
 
STERLING 35, ROSSVILLE 34
 
Sterling (13-0) … 14 … 7 … 0 … 14 … – … 35
 
Rossville (11-2) … 6 … 8 … 14 … 6 … – … 34
 
Sterling – Wyatt Newberry 5-yard run (Lane Weigel kick)
 
Sterling – Zane Farney 6-yard run (Weigel kick)
 
Rossville – Canann Mitchell 2-yard run (kick failed)
 
Sterling – Farney 66-yard run (Weigel kick)
 
Rossville – Conner Bush 26-yard pass from Mitchell (Mitchell run)
 
Rossville – Andre Johnson 1-yard run (Austin Dohrman kick)
 
Rossville – Mitchell 2-yard run (Dohrman kick)
 
Sterling – Farney 18-yard run (Weigel kick)
 
Rossville – Mitchell 4-yard run (kick blocked)
 
Sterling – Jacob Lewis 24-yard pass from Logan Isaac (Weigel kick)
 
TEAM STATISTICS
 
… S … R
First downs … 18 … 26
Rushes-yards … 48-347 … 53-227
Passing yards … 24 … 193
Passing (Comp-Att-Int) … 1-2-0 … 14-20-0
Total plays-yards … 50-371 … 73-420
Fumbles-lost … 3-1 … 0-0
Penalties-yards … 4-33 … 4-55
Punts-Avg … 1-17 … 2-22.5
 
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
 
Rushing – Sterling: Farney 27-279, Newberry 9-41, Jace Darnauer 3-20, Isaac 8-8, Team 1-minus 1; Rossville: Mitchell 28-149, Landon Lewis 5-28, Bush 12-27, Cael Horgan 1-10, Johnson 3-7, Jack Donovan 4-6.
 
Passing – Sterling: Isaac 1-2-0, 24 yards; Rossville: Mitchell 14-20-0, 193 yards.
 
Receiving – Sterling: Jacob Lewis 1-24; Rossville: Bush 5-73, Donovan 3-25, Cameron Miller 2-41, Cale Horak 1-29, Johnson 1-10, Landon Lewis 1-9, Horgan 1-6.