The drive for five; Scott City to battle Rossville for Class 3A crown

Hutchinson, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–You can look at the phrase “Drive for five” in two ways that would end up great in Saturday’s Class 3A State Championship game in Hutchinson. The first way would be to win their fifth playoff game in 2014, and the second would be winning the fifth football championship in school history. At Gowan Stadium at 1 pm, the Scott City Beavers will attempt to accomplish that feat, as they face the Rossville Bulldawgs in a battle of 13-0 teams.

Both teams had battles in their sub-state championship games last week.

Rossville used an 85-yard touchdown by Thatcher Horak with just over two minutes remaining in the game to defeat and dethrone the defending Class 3A champion Silver Lake Eagles 21-14 in the second edition of the “War on 24” in 2014. In fact, the Dawgs have defeated two defending champions twice this season. Rossville has also defeated Centralia, the 2-1A champs in 2013 in the regular season and in the playoffs. The Bulldawgs are led by junior quarterback Tucker Horak, who has passed for over 1,595 yards and 22 touchdowns, and has rushed for nearly 1,900 yards, and 26 touchdowns. This year, Rossville has scored an average of 50.5 points a game, including a 91-point performance in week eight, in which they scored 77 first half points. Thatcher Horak, the older brother of quarterback Tucker, leads the team in receiving with 531 receiving yards and eight touchdowns.

Scott City had to rally for the first time all season, as they got a touchdown pass of 10 yards from Trey O’Neil to Chantz Yager to win 20-14 in overtime over the Halstead Dragons last Saturday afternoon. The Beavers led 8-0 after the first quarter, 8-6 at the break, and trailed 14-8 after the third quarter, which was their first deficit all season. O’Neil scored the game-tying touchdown with just over a minute left in regulation, and had an interception on fourth down when Halstead had the football in overtime. Scott City has also been explosive and balanced on offense this year. The Beavers are led by Trey O’Neil, who has thrown 23 touchdown passes, and 1868 yards, while Cooper Griffith has 1181 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns, while Brett Meyer has seven touchdown catches and 598 receiving yards. They have averaged close to 45 points per game, while their defense has been stout and has given up only eight points per contest.

This is the second time Rossville has been in a state championship game. They lost to Hesston 3-0 in the 1992 3A title game. Scott City will be appearing in their sixth state championship game all time. The Beavers are 4-1 in the title contests, rallying from a 21-0 late first half deficit to win 28-21 in 2012 over Silver Lake to win their fourth-ever title, and the first since 1991. 

Kickoff is set for 1 pm at Gowan Stadium in Hutchinson. Pregame coverage on Mix 94 begins at 12:30. You can also listen to the game online at https://www.westernkansasnews.com/mix94/, on TuneIn radio by searching “Mix 94”, or on the free KSKL app on your Android or Apple device.