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Falcons outplayed in six-man football state finals
KEARNEY, Neb. -- There weren't too many surprises across the line of scrimmage Friday night, Nov. 11, for the Hitchcock County High School football team.
The Falcons were very familiar with their Arthur County opponent in the Nebraska six-man state championship game at Cope Stadium on the University of Nebraska-Kearney campus. The only losses Hitchcock County's squad suffered in the past two seasons have come at the hands of the Wolves.
Hitchcock County lost another game Friday to the six-man powerhouse, as Arthur County used a strong start to claim a 54-6 victory. The Wolves extended their winning streak to 33 games, as Arthur County captured a third consecutive six-man state playoff championship.
Arthur County jumped on the Falcons with four touchdowns in the opening quarter, and head coach Jarod Albers' team never recovered.
"I think we had three fumbles on our first three touches, and I don't know if we had three fumbles all year -- I'm being sincere when I say that," Albers said. "Not the way we wanted to start. Give Arthur credit, they are a good football team; they just seemingly wanted it more than we wanted it tonight."
Arthur County took the opening kicked and used just three plays to cover 61 yards and get on the scoreboard first on Brad Vasa's 3-yard touchdown reception from Jordan Trimble.
More fumbles
The Falcons bobbled the ensuing kickoff but recovered to start their first possession on their own 18-yard line. On the next play, Vasa recovered a Hitchcock County fumble at the Falcons 26. Five plays later, Seth Cumpton ran 9 yards for another Arthur County touchdown, and the Falcons looked at the scoreboard and saw a 16-0 deficit less than four minutes into the contest.
Hitchcock County bobbled the kickoff return again, but the Falcons controlled the football on their 21-yard line. Austin Blume fumbled again on first down, but he covered the loose ball. Three plays later, Blume took a pitch and ran around left end, then cut back and sprinted 41 yards for a touchdown to get Hitchcock County back in the contest.
Blume's conversion kick was blocked, and the Falcons cut the lead to 16-6 with 4:38 left in the first quarter.
Arthur County scored on its next two possessions, sandwiched around a Hitchcock County punt, as Trimble ended both drives with 10-yard touchdown runs. The last Trimble TD run came with 17 seconds left in the opening period to put the Wolves ahead 32-6.
After Friday's loss, Coach Albers was asked if perhaps his team's slow start could be attributed to a bit of nerves with his team being in the state championship game for the first time?
"As many times as we've played Arthur, especially the last couple years where we've played them with a lot on the line, I thought maybe we'd be better than that, we would get over that," Albers said. "But we just didn't tonight, I guess."
Four losses in two years
Hitchcock County lost to the Wolves, 68-20, in last year's six-man playoff semifinals. The Falcons also dropped a 54-20 decision at home to the Wolves during the 2010 regular season. Arthur County also beat Hitchcock County, 56-32, in a regular-season contest last September.
Hitchcock County senior Cale Brown thought his team was prepared for the Wolves in Friday's rematch.
"We practiced against everything they did all week," Brown said. "They came out, you could tell they'd been here before, and they just ran with confidence. We got caught sitting on our heels a couple times, didn't come up and make plays, and they just took advantage of it."
Second-quarter control
Hitchcock County controlled the second quarter but couldn't put any points on the board.
The Falcons drove deep in Wolves territory to start the period, but the possession ended when Trimble batted a pass away from Jacke Vioxx in the end zone on fourth down from the Arthur County 20. On the next play, the Wolves threw a deep pass in front of the Hitchcock County bench. But Vioxx sprinted across the field and snared the interception before he ran out of bounds at the Falcons 29.
The Falcons kept the ball for 16 plays while driving to the shadow of the Arthur County end zone. The Wolves helped with five penalties, including two offside calls and two roughing the passer infractions. Blume's pass to Gabe Ware in the end zone missed the mark on fourth down and goal at the Wolves 3. But Arthur drew a roughing penalty on a late hit after Blume had released the football, and Hitchcock County got a first down with 11 seconds left before intermission.
Blume plunged into the line on the next play, but he was stopped short of the end zone, and with no time outs remaining, the Falcons could not get another play off before the first-half clock expired.
Missed chances
Brown lamented on his team's missed scoring opportunities.
"Simple as that -- we just needed to put the ball in (the end zone) when we had the chance, take advantage," he said. "(Arthur County) gave us 10 penalties that time to give us first downs, and we just have to capitalize and we just didn't do it."
Hitchcock County kept the momentum going to start the second half. The Falcons marched deep in Arthur County territory on the first possession of the third quarter, but the drive stalled when Blume was stopped for a 3-yard loss on fourth down from the Wolves 22.
Five plays later, aided by a Falcons face mask penalty, Arthur County scored when Vasa caught an 18-yard pass from Trimble to put the Wolves ahead 38-6.
The winners tacked on a pair of touchdowns in the final period.
Falcons stat leaders
Blume led the Falcons with 117 yards on 17 rushing attempts. Brown added 81 yards on 22 carries. Hitchcock County managed just 52 passing yards.
Arthur County had a balanced attack with 153 rushing yards and 149 more through the air.
Coach Albers felt that Arthur County's 2010 state title team was stronger that this year's edition. But back-to-back state championships and a winning tradition fueled the success of this year's squad, in Albers' view.
"I don't think they're as good a team as were last year," he said of the Wolves. "They were loaded top to bottom and really didn't have any holes. I think the biggest thing with Arthur is they win because of all the success that they've had. Their kids truly believe that they are the best team.
"Honestly, if you lined our teams up player-for-player, our kids are just as fast as they are, we're bigger than they are. You wouldn't think that they'd be able to stop us from running the football, or run it right at us like they did. It's just a product of their success. They're just extremely well-coached, and they are very well disciplined and they want to win."
Two strong seasons
With just four losses the past two years -- all coming at the hands of the three-time state champs -- Hitchcock County has enjoyed two great seasons.
"It's been an awesome two years, playing with the guys we had this year," Brown said. "I love these guys. They played hard for us every game we had. I wouldn't take anything back."
Coach Albers was asked what he said to his players in the locker room following Friday night's game.
"I just told them, you know what, as much as it hurts right now, to be honest with you, they need to look back and be proud of the accomplishments they've made," he said. "When these seniors were freshmen we were 1-6 and we were lucky to be 1-6 when we were playing all those young guys. Just to get to this point, they should be proud of themselves.
"I told them, in a couple days, in a couple weeks, they'll look back and they'll be real proud."
NEBRASKA STATE HIGH SCHOOL
SIX-MAN FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS
At A Glance
Friday, Oct. 28 First Round Results
Arthur County 64, Sioux County 34
Greeley-Wolbach 56, Cedar Rapids 12
Hitchcock County 84, Loup County 42
Elkhorn Valley 69, Arcadia 16
Friday, Nov. 4 Semifinals Results
Arthur County 54, Greeley-Wolbach 24
Hitchcock County 48, Elkhorn Valley 28
Championship Finals Results
Friday, Nov. 11
At Ron & Carol Cope Stadium, Kearney
Arthur County 54, Hitchcock County 6