NEWTON – Two weeks ago, Baileyville B&B played rival Hanover in the Eight Man, Division II sub-state championship game. Hanover often loaded the box and brought both linebackers.
“They blitzed the house trying to get to us before we could throw it,” senior quarterback Dustin Rottinghaus said.
B&B, with its short, quick passes and Rottinghaus’ strong arm, won the battle. The Falcons collected a 60-14 victory and Rottinghaus threw for eight touchdowns, one off the eight-man record, according to the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.
On Saturday, Wallace County tried the same tactic against B&B in the state championship at Newton’s Fischer Field. The Falcons started slowly and trailed 7-6 after the first quarter. Rottinghaus eventually took advantage of Wallace County’s blitzes that put defensive backs in 1-on-1 situations.
He completed 22 of 49 passes for 404 yards and five passing touchdowns with one rushing score in a 42-19 victory. Wallace County (12-1) had allowed just 52 points all season.
“We knew 1-on-1 was going to hurt them, just like it did in Hanover,” Rottinghaus said.
Rottinghaus and the Falcons finished the season 12-1 and won back-to-back state championships for the first time in school history. The Falcons, which will close its doors after the season and consolidate with Seneca-Nemaha Valley, completed its fall sports history with six straight state championship game appearances in football (four titles) and three straight volleyball crowns.
Rottinghaus led the way with 157 completions in 281 attempts for 2,666 yards and 46 scores against six interceptions. He came close to Bo Savage’s eight-man mark of 52 passing scores, set in 2010 with Burden Central.
“You are glad,” Rottinghaus said. “The community is so strong. Win or lose, they are going to be happy with us. We made it back, six straight. Finishing on top, that takes a little bit of pressure off. To know you went out on top last year, knew you had to do it, couldn’t have it any other way, that’s big.”
In the closing seconds, the Falcons doused third-year coach Justin Coup with water on a freezing night where temperatures dipped under 20 degrees. After the game, the B&B fans kept its tradition, lined up along the sideline and congratulated every player and coach. After he went through the line, Coup choked up.
“It’s sad, it really is,” Coup said. “Just look at these guys. It’s a tribute to the community and what a great, special place it is.”
Earlier in the day, Osborne celebrated its second state crown, first since a 3A title in 1983. The Bulldogs defeated Jetmore-Hodgeman County, 56-8, in a game called midway through the fourth quarter because of the 45-point rule. While Rottinghaus came close to state marks, Osborne and sophomore quarterback Jake Tiernan set three eight-man records. The Bulldogs scored 760 points, a team record, and Tiernan and Osborne set the individual and team marks for completion percentage, both at 78 percent.
Tiernan, in his second year as a starter and coach Steve Tiernan’s son, consistently found open receivers and rarely had pressure. At times, Tiernan used his creativity and arm strength to beat a defensive back or throw across his body to the other side of the field against Hodgeman County’s 5-1 defense.
“He did a great job,” Hodgeman County coach Matt Housman said. “… We didn’t help ourselves. We left guys wide open."
Hodgeman County had allowed just 13.2 points entering the contest and had contained some great quarterbacks, including Central Plains sophomore Braeden Crites and Hoxie senior Chase Kennedy. Several times, Tiernan exposed the middle, the vulnerable spot in the 5-1.
“The middle backers is very vulnerable especially up the middle, because he has the fullback and that’s how Central Plains scored their first touchdown,” Housman said. “We weren’t stopping the run. We had to start to sending our linebacker.”
While Tiernan didn’t throw an incompletion until Week 4, Rottinghaus showed marked improvement throughout the fall. In Week 1, B&B lost, 29-28, to Madison, then the No. 1-ranked team in Eight-Man, Division I. Rottinghaus completed just 44 percent of his passes, his worst completion rate of the season in a contest where he threw at least nine passes.
His quarterback rating of 102 ended up being 11th worst out of his 13 contests.
“I improved a lot, because if you look at that Madison game, we could have beat them easily if we could have thrown the ball or done something different – done anything like we were doing now,” Rottinghaus said. “We improved immensely in blocking, too. Blocking up front improved. Wide receivers have improved running crisp routes, and I have just been trying to get them the ball all year.”
Seniors Blake Deters, Cameron Haug and Brandon Bergman all hauled in at least 85 receiving yards and one score. Up just 12-7, the Falcons took over with 72 seconds left before halftime. On a 4th-and-6, Rottinghaus found Bergman for a 17-yard play. With 21 seconds remaining, Deters hauled in a 19-yard TD and drew pass interference.
“That was going to keep the mo on our side, and keep us going in the second half you might say,” Coup said. “It was so big. They had sort of stymied us with a little bit of a pass rush, and so I thought, ‘OK, we need to get them back onto their heels.’”
In the second half, Rottinghaus found Deters, matched up 1-on-1 on senior Cayden Daily, for an 18-yard score. Later, he and Deters connected on 4th-and-5 for a 32-yard gain to the Wallace County 1.
“We knew two-man routes were going to hurt them,” Rottinghaus said. “We just had our athletes out in space that were trying to get open. The line did a great job blocking and picking up all the blitzes up front.”
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