Photo by Adam Vogler
Northern Heights’ Steven Nuessen (95) takes down Rossville’s Sawyer Askren (21) during the Wildcats’ 37-7 loss to Rossville that ended NHHS’s season Thursday night.
ALLEN — Northern Heights controlled its own destiny entering Thursday’s night’s district finale against Rossville — and the Bulldogs took all of seven plays to wrestle control completely away from the Wildcats.
Rossville (5-4) ripped off three touchdowns in its first seven plays from scrimmage to take a commanding first-quarter lead, and the Bulldogs kept pouring it on on both sides of the ball, blanketing Heights’ receivers while quarterback Kenneth Bronson and the Wildcat offense tried in vain to forge a comeback.
Heights’ season ended as Rossville rolled to a 37-7 win for a perfect Class 3A District 5 record, and Mission Valley’s 20-6 win over Council Grove left the Wildcats on the outside of the playoff picture. The careers of Heights’ seniors, including the superlative career of Bronson, will end without a return trip to the playoffs.
“It hurts,” Bronson said before the Wildcats had heard the Mission Valley score, when asked about his feelings about potentially playing his last high school game. “We came back with a little pride there, but it is disappointing coming out at home, senior night, getting beat 37-7.
“But at least it was a good football team. It wasn’t an upset. I feel sorry for the kids that didn’t give it their all and didn’t leave it on the field. They’re gonna regret that the rest of their lives.”
Bronson gave it his all to the tune of 43 throws, many of them squeezed in tight windows to heavily covered receivers. He completed 17 for 203 yards and was intercepted four times. A nine-yard third quarter TD pass to James Crabtree was one of Heights’ few bright spots as the Wildcats’ high-flying spread offense was held to single-digit points for the only time this season.
“They had a very good (defensive) package against us,” Heights co-head coach Tad Hatfield said. “They had us covered well. Kenny was kind of combobbled a little bit, didn’t quite know what to do when he dropped back and saw ’em all covered. Give ’em credit — they had a good plan against us.”
Heights’ plan to stop Rossville’s running game didn’t turn out as well. Quarterback Mitch Buhler scored untouched on a 43-yard spread-option keeper on the Bulldogs’ third play from scrimmage, and tailback Robert Cooper took a toss left on the first play of their next drive and burst 53 yards to the end zone. Cooper’s daunting combination of size and speed was too much for Heights to handle; he later added a 47-yard scoring run in the third quarter and finished with 203 yards on 20 carries.
Rossville grabbed its first pick off Bronson following the Bulldogs’ second touchdown, and three plays later, Buhler found Tanner Cody for an eight-yard scoring strike. Heights was down 19-0 only six-and-a-half minutes in, and the Wildcats were already in catchup mode.
“We knew that coming in, we’d have to shut the running game down,” Hatfield said. “We didn’t get it done early, and we didn’t get it done the whole game.”
Trailling 28-0 at half, the Wildcats (5-4) put their hopes of a comeback on Bronson’s shoulders, but it just wasn’t going to happen. Bronson threw 20 times and was the only Wildcat to attempt a rush in the second half, and he also caught a nine-yard pass from receiver Roman Murray. Murray, also a senior, had a strong final high school game, with 124 yards on eight catches.
For the year, Bronson finished with 2,543 yards passing and 26 touchdowns. Murray cleared the 1,000-yard receiving plateau, finishing with 1,019 on 63 grabs.
Thursday at Northern Heights
Rossville (5-4) 19 9 6 3 — 37
Northern Heights (5-4) 0 0 7 0 — 7
First quarter
ROS — Mi. Buhler 43 run (kick failed)
ROS — Cooper 53 run (Mi. Buhler kick)
ROS — Cody 8 pass from Mi. Buhler (conversion failed)
Second quarter
ROS — Ma. Buhler 56 pass from Mi. Buhler (conversion failed)
ROS — Mi. Buhler 28 field goal
Third quarter
ROS — Cooper 47 run (kick failed)
NH — Crabtree 9 pass from Bronson (Nuessen kick)
Fourth quarter
ROS — Mi. Buhler 37 field goal
GAME STATISTICS
ROS NH
First downs 14 13
Rushing yards 308 34
Comp-Att-Int 8-14-0 18-45-4
Passing yards 146 212
Total yards 454 246
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-0
Punts-yards 3-28.3 3-37.3
Penalties-yards 9-54 2-15
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — ROS: Cooper 20-203, Mi. Buhler 6-69, Sa. Asken 8-34, Sp. Askren 2-7, Steckel 1-3, Reesor 1-1, Wehner 1-0, Satterwhite 3-(minus-9); NH: Bronson 11-21, Crabtree 2-13, Young 1-0.
Passing — ROS: Mi. Buhler 8-14-0, 146; NH: Bronson 17-43-4, 203; Murray 1-2-0, 9.
Receiving — ROS: Ma. Buhler 3-83, Sp. Askren 2-30, Cody 2-26, Guindon 1-7; NH: Murray 8-124, Mendez 4-45, Atchison 3-29, Crabtree 2-5, Bronson 1-9.
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Posted by spensanity (anonymous) on November 3, 2008 at 3:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Congratulations to Kenneth Bronson on another fine football season! To have a quarterback who can throw the ball well and run the ball well is a great asset to any team. Rossville is a good football team and they did a good job of preparing for the NHS passing game. Congratulations to the NHS wildcats on a great season.
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