Kpreps 2021 playoff coverage is presented by BTI – “Proud Supporter of Kansas High School Athletics”
NEWTON – Axtell opened the 2021 season with a 46-point win versus Wheatland-Grinnell. This week, both coaches knew the margin would be much closer in the rematch for an Eight-Man, Division II state championship. Since the current playoff system started in 1969, it marked a highly rare occasion that teams met in the regular season and state finals.
On Saturday, Wheatland-Grinnell trailed by one score at halftime and was within 10 points early in the fourth quarter. Axtell faced a 3rd-and-13 from its own 19-yard line when the contest shifted. Eagle standout junior quarterback Isaac Detweiler’s first option was a long pass down the left sideline to junior Evan Buessing.
However, Wheatland-Grinnell blitzed the linebacker, and Detweiler faced duress. Freshman Eli Broxterman recognized Detweiler was in trouble, changed his route and ran to the middle of the field. Detweiler’s pass was deflected, and Broxterman received it in open space.
“He was getting pressure, so I rolled to where he would have thrown it,” Broxterman said. “I just looked for the ball.”
Then, Broxterman cut down the right sideline, broke two tackles and scored a 61-yard touchdown. Freshman Brandon Schmelzle tallied a vital two-point conversion to give Axtell a three-score margin.
The sequence helped Axtell pull away for a 44-18 victory Saturday at Newton’s Fischer Field. Axtell, the state runner-up two years ago, finished 13-0 and won its second state title, first since an undefeated crown in 1993.
“That was kind of the turning point in the game,” Isaac Detweiler said. “They thought they had us.”
The Eagles, which have zero seniors in key roles, capped a remarkable year with another huge performance from Detweiler and the freshmen first cousins. Axtell was not ranked in the preseason top-five to open the year. Its offensive line has sophomores Grant Buessing and Sawyer Deters and junior Owen Strathman. They helped Axtell roll up 446 yards of total offense.
“It’s just so unique,” coach Eric Detweiler said. “We are young. I don’t think anybody give us a chance this year. Coming into the season, we were unranked. I think maybe even picked third or fourth in our league. So, makes it special. Nobody believed in us but ourselves.”
Now, Axtell should return everyone for 2022. The expectation is the Eagles will continue a dominant run. Saturday tied for the Eagles’ second-closest margin this year.
“Everything,” Detweiler said of Wheatland-Grinnell’s improvement from Week 1. “We knew this wasn’t going to be a simple game. I think everybody was predicting us to win. We knew this game wasn’t going to be a blowout game by any sorts of the imagination, so they do a great job. Their coaching, they are coached well, their play calling is phenomenal, and they get the ball into space to their athletes, so we knew it was going to be a tough game.”
Axtell finished 3-0 against Twin Valley League and district foes Hanover and Frankfort, the first time the Eagles posted a perfect mark versus its big rivals since 1991. Wheatland-Grinnell played without junior Adam Phillips, who had 139 tackles. Detweiler accounted for 63 offensive TDs and more than 3,200 yards of total offense.
“Eric is a great coach,” Wheatland-Grinnell coach Jesse Vincent said. “And very smart, and he was seeing the holes in our zone coverage that we were running, and their kids are just disciplined. They do a good job and protect him long enough to be able to see those holes and throw it to them. And Isaac is a good quarterback. So they are just fundamentally sound all across the board. I would not be betting against them for a repeat next year. They are going to be solid.”
Isaac Detweiler, the likely classification player of the year, completed his third straight first team all-state season. He passed for 264 yards and two scores. Detweiler, who operated as Axtell’s primary ball carrier all year, delivered 37 carries for 141 yards and four scores. He also recorded 20 special teams yards.
His 37 carries tied for the fourth-most ever in an eight-man state title game, per Kansas historian Brett Marshall. Detweiler had the third-most ever total yards in an eight-man state contest.
“It’s the way I wanted to be,” Isaac said. “I wanted to be an all-around athlete. I just didn’t want to be the quarterback that could only pass or the quarterback that could only run. I wanted to be able to do anything and everything.”
Schmelzle fought off a bruised left knee that sidelined him for several plays early in the second quarter. He finished with 119 yards of total offense and a score.
“There was a lot of pain at first, and I walked it off, and it loosened out a little bit,” Schmelzle said.
Broxterman recorded six catches for 147 yards and a score. Overall, Schmelzle finished the season with 69 carries for 742 yards and 19 TDs and caught 41 passes for 651 yards and 12 scores. His 31 touchdowns ranked first nationally among eight-man freshmen, according to MaxPreps. Broxterman finished with 990 yards and 14 TDs.
“I knew we were going to have good success since we were little,” Schmelzle said. “All of us were playing together at the high school games.”
Defensively, Axtell picked off five passes, two from Evan Buessing and one apiece from Detweiler, Broxterman and Schmelzle.
“When we were in eighth grade, we knew we had talent,” Broxterman said. “We knew we were going to win. We are going to go and win three more after this year.”
Wheatland-Grinnell completed the best season in school history with an 11-2 mark. The Thunderhawks had several strong games from its experienced core of senior quarterback Trey Vincent, junior receiver Jett Vincent, senior running back Isaac Mendez and senior defensive end Tyrell Chapin. Mendez, who finished just shy of 4,000 career rushing yards, had six rushing yards in the first Axtell meeting. This time, he delivered 22 carries for 106 yards and a pair of scores.
Schmelzle guarded Jett Vincent, who finished with nine catches for 164 yards and a TD, throughout the contest.
“They changed a lot, and they got more physical,” Schmelzle said. “And they came out and they put us in our spot, and we had to answer back.”
Detweiler had three first half touchdowns as Axtell built its 20-12 lead. The first score came after Schmelzle caught a 22-yard pass on 4th-and-12.
“Passing and rushing, kind of keeps the defense off guard,” Isaac Detweiler said. “Even on third and long, we still run it a couple of times tonight to get big gains.”
The third score followed a 20-yard Broxterman reception on third and five. With 5:08 left in the third quarter, Detweiler found Schmelzle on 4th-and-15 for a 29-yard TD pass.
“I knew Week 1 was not us,” Vincent said. “And I guess on that note, if you had told me after that game would we see them again Week 13, I would have doubted you. But I knew we were better than what we showed. Our goal was to keep swinging at them and try to keep it tight, be in a position to win the game in the fourth quarter. There late third quarter, things started slipping away. Second half, their defense was so solid. We went three-and-out twice, and that killed us.”
Mendez closed the game to 28-18 with a 28-yard run with 10:56 left. Wheatland-Grinnell, which finished 0 of 3 on 2-point plays, tried to run a reverse to Jett Vincent. Axtell thwarted the play and kept a two-score margin.
“I was willing to do anything,” Vincent said. “Even run reverses. On that play, I didn’t look at the personnel I had on the field, and I had a kid in that shouldn’t have been in and didn’t get it blocked right. Those things are so crucial if it would have stayed tight.”
The next drive yielded Broxterman’s reception. Axtell knew it had openings in the middle versus Wheatland-Grinnell’s defense. Chapin (two sacks, two quarterback hurries) had disrupted throughout the game, which kept Axtell from likely completions. This time, Detweiler got the pass off – which deflected to Broxterman.
“A little bit of luck,” coach Detweiler said. “Isaac was getting hit as he was throwing it, and Eli caught it and made two guys miss and was gone. To win a state championship, you have got to have a little luck on your side, and I guess we got it there.”
Axtell was 0 of 5 on two-point plays in a 30-24 district win in Week 4 against rival Hanover that shaped the season. Since then, the Eagles made two-point plays a focal point and significantly practiced the conversions the last several weeks. The coaches preached to Axtell the importance of the plays. After Broxterman’s touchdown, Detweiler completed a two-point conversion pass to give Axtell a three-score margin.
“We go over those plays every day, and we get them until they are perfect,” Schmelzle said.
A few minutes later, Axtell completed their perfect season. Isaac Detweiler, the only key player on both the ’19 and ’21 teams, stood among the celebration at Fischer Field.
“It’s been a lifelong dream of mine,” Detweiler said. “Come out here, win a state championship, just brings everything in perspective, that bring all my community together, make everyone happy.”
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