CLAFLIN – After bolting out to a 16-0 lead, Victoria looked poised for another lopsided win over Central Plains on Friday night in Claflin. 

Instead, the Knights found themselves on the ropes in the final minute after late-game heroics from the Oilers. 

A spectacular one-handed grab by Central Plains’ Rylan Siemsen set up a go-ahead touchdown run from Richard Stroud, leaving Victoria just 45 seconds to find its offensive spark. 

“We were kind of nervous,” Victoria quarterback Wyatt Schmidberger said. “ We were like, ‘Man, we can't lose here.’ We just kind of got in our heads. 

“But then we regrouped.”

Aided by two Oiler penalties, the Knights needed just 18 seconds to respond, scoring the game-winning touchdown on a 23-yard run by Schmidberger. Victoria’s defense then sealed a 22-20 victory with a sack as the Knights’ won their seventh straight matchup against Central Plains. 

Schmidtberger, a first-year starting quarterback, burst through a huge hole on the right side on his scamper, which was the Knights’ first touchdown since the first quarter. 

“I was either going to run it or I was supposed to pitch it, and I saw a hole and I was like, ‘I'm going to take this,’ ” Schmidberger said.  “To get that touchdown was absolutely amazing, but it's all credit to my line.”

“I'm happy for Wyatt,” Victoria coach Doug Oberle said. “He didn't have the greatest game throughout. We could not throw the ball very well, and there's a lot of stuff involved with that. But for him to come back and answer in that moment was huge for him.”

Victoria (2-0) opened with touchdown drives on runs of 13 and 39 yards by Weston Scherrer. Central Plains (1-1) spent the next three and a half quarters clawing its way back into the game behind a potent passing attack from Brodie Crites. 

“Our guys battled so hard. Made some hellacious plays,” Central Plains coach J.D. Johnson said. “We just dug ourselves into too deep of a hole, and against a Doug Oberle team, that's just something you can't do.”

The Oilers got on the board early in the second quarter when quarterback Brodie Crites flipped a 4-yard touchdown pass to Stroud to make it 16-6. Central Plains crept to within two in the third quarter after Crites hit Siemsen for a 43-yard TD and the two connected again on the two-point try.

With just over a minute left and Central Plains facing fourth-and-long, Siemsen sent the crowd into a frenzy with a diving, one-handed catch for a 44-yard gain to the 1. Stroud’s ensuing touchdown run gave the Oilers their first lead. 

“[Siemsen] made an unbelievable catch,” Oberle said. “Our kids stayed resilient, stayed in the fight. We had done nothing for three quarters. But we kept the faith and believed, and that's part of our mantra.”

Victoria’s final drive started past midfield after Central Plains committed a personal foul on the kickoff. The Oilers also had a pass interference call before Schmidtberger broke loose on the run.

“Mental mistakes,” Johnson said. “We're going to learn from it. We're going to learn from it and be better as the season goes. This one's going to sting for a while, but we're going to use it as fuel for the rest of the season to know that it was ours.”

Central Plains’ last-ditch effort was derailed by Victoria pressure that pinned the Oilers deep in their own territory. Scherrer’s sack closed out the battle of last year’s state runner-ups (Central Plains in Eight-Player Division I and Victoria in Division II). 

Crites finished with 246 yards through the air with two touchdowns and two interceptions but the Oilers’ only had 8 yards on the ground against Victoria’s stalwart D-line, anchored by senior Kyle Huser. 

Wyatt Scherrer ran for 102 yards and the two early touchdowns for Victoria. 

“We came out and established the offensive line, ran the ball hard,” Oberle said. “I want to sit here and say we maybe took a breath or something, but I've got to say that Central Plains came back and just took it to us. And outside the first quarter and maybe the last minute, the better team was the green team tonight. A lot of credit to them.

“We've got to get better. But I'm just really proud of our guys.”

Johnson also applauded his team for responding after the 16-0 deficit. 

“The guys made a big step,” Johnson said. “I was obviously very nervous coming into this game. I know what Doug's teams can do and what they always do. But our boys showed how tough they are.”
 

 

VICTORIA 22, CENTRAL PLAINS 20 

Victoria … 16 … 0 … 0 … 6 … – … 22

Central Plains … 0 … 6 … 8 … 6 … 20 

Victoria – Scherrer 13 run (Schmidtberger run)

Victoria – Scherrer 39 run (Scherrer run)

Central Plains – Crites 4 pass from Stroud (pass failed) 

Central Plains – Siemsen 43 pass from Crites (Siemsen pass from Crites)

Central Plains – Stroud 1 run (pass failed) 

Victoria – Schmidtberger 23 run (run failed)