Class 3A
3A East: No. 1 Rossville (12-0) at No. 3 Silver Lake (11-1)
It must feel a little bit like deja vu for the Rossville Bulldogs and the Silver Lake Eagles.
The two rival Mid-East League schools are meeting in the Class 3A semifinals for the ninth time in the last 13 seasons.
Silver Lake has won all previous eight of those meetings.
Rossville hasn’t defeated Silver Lake many times in recent years. Even when the Bulldogs have won, they have done so in the regular season only to have the Eagles bounce back and win when it really counted.
A year ago, Rossville beat Silver Lake 27-21 in the regular season before falling 27-13 in the semifinals. The Eagles went on to win the state championship.
The Bulldogs will try to avoid repeating history after defeating Silver Lake 24-14 on Oct. 30.
Silver Lake quarterback Ryan Matzke is expected to miss the game after suffering an injury during last week’s 20-14 overtime win over Wellsville. Matzke had passed for nearly 2,100 yards.
Junior Cole Baird is expected to start under center.
The Bulldogs are led by dual-threat quarterback Tucker Horak, who has almost 3,300 yards of total offense. He ran for 198 yards and five touchdowns during last week’s 56-19 win over St. Mary’s-Colgan. He also passed for a touchdown and returned an interception for a touchdown.
Thatcher Horak returned a kick for a touchdown and caught a touchdown pass during the victory.
The Rossville defense has allowed 14 points or fewer in nine of 12 games.
Rossville 24, Silver Lake 21 (Schremmer)
3A West: Scott City (12-0) at No. 5 Halstead (10-2)
The Beavers, now 79-7 in the last seven years, are into their third sub-state championship game in a row after they enjoyed a perfect season and Class 3A title in 2012 and a sub-state loss to Beloit last fall.
The Beavers’ traditionally great defense contained Wichita Collegiate standout running back Jaques Williams in a 26-6 victory in a home win last Saturday.
Halstead is in the sub-state championship for the fourth time in school history and first time since 1980. First-year Dragon coach Jason Grider, formerly at Royal Valley, has led a five-win improvement.
Last week, Halstead used massive big plays early in a road contest against Minneapolis to roll out to a 66-0 lead and eventually 66-14 victory.
Halstead has outscored teams 483-227, while Scott City has a margin of 560-90.
Junior Blake Beckett, last year’s quarterback, has 182 carries for 1,992 yards and 24 scores. His classmate Eli McKee, who won the starting job in the summer, has 137 rushes for 1,304 yards and 20 scores. The duo has 14 combined 100-yard rushing games this season. They are also the team’s top two tacklers with 112 stops for Beckett, 103 for McKee.
Halstead has forced 21 turnovers, while Scott City has 32. The Beavers have 443 interception return yards, 50 off the state record set by Chanute in 2005.
Scott City senior quarterback Trey O’Neil has 20 touchdown passes against two interceptions. Junior Cooper Griffith has 1,127 rushing yards with 17 rushing scores, and junior Wyatt Kropp has 113 carries for 1,013 yards and 17 rushing touchdowns.
Halstead has enjoyed a great season, but Scott City will be simply too much on both sides of the ball.
Scott City 28, Halstead 12 (Nicholl)
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