NEWTON – With 41 seconds left, Victoria coach Doug Oberle called timeout in the Knights’ 52-8 victory against Argonia-Attica in the Eight-Man, Division II state championship.
Oberle removed Victoria’s lone seniors, running back/linebacker Bryan Dome and end/linebacker Noah Dreiling, to applause from the Victoria section at Newton’s Fischer Field. Dome, whose father and brother-in-law each won rings for Victoria, wiped away tears as he came off the field and stood on the sidelines in the final seconds.
“This just means a lot,” Dome said. “I know it was my last game, so we just knew that we had to come out, and I asked all the guys that they would do it for me and Noah, and that's what they did – they did for us.”
Dreiling won the first state title in his family as the seniors led Victoria to its sixth state title in seven tries in program annals. Victoria, now with eight-man crowns in ’04, ’06 and ’14, is the only team in Kansas history to win three 11-man and three eight-man titles. Dreiling, known for his stoic personality, shed some tears, especially during the team’s final breakdown.
“It’s the greatest feeling in the world,” Dreiling said. Dreiling led the team with 11 tackles and an interception, while Dome rushed 17 times for a season-high 201 yards and two scores. No. 1 Victoria won its 12th straight game and finished 12-1. Argonia-Attica, ranked second, went 12-1.
“Our two seniors, I don’t know if you could ask for a better way to finish your career with what those two guys did today,” ninth-year coach Doug Oberle said. “Bryan Dome and Noah Dreiling, phenomenal young men. They come to work everyday, they don’t complain. They show up, they work hard all the time. Two great young men that led this team.”
Argonia-Attica entered the game with 751 points, nine off the all-time eight-man record, but only scored in the third quarter. Standout junior quarterback Alec McDaniel passed for 128 yards, but the Titans had several dropped passes and ran 36 times for 36 yards.
“Mainly their team speed,” A&A co-coach Luke Greenwood said of Victoria’s defense. “Their physicality of their linebackers was the start, and then not making plays. We had some guys there going down the sideline a couple of times drop passes. Not killers, but at the same time, if you make those plays, it really gives you a little bit of momentum, a little bit of life.”
Victoria blocked a punt, recovered an onside kick, forced two turnovers and had great line play, including five sacks from junior Eric McAlonan.
“We talked all week about being a complete team,” Oberle said. “We talked all week about getting better each and everyday this week, and we did. I was very proud of our guys.”
The contest had family connections on both sides. Oberle’s longtime friend and brother-in-law is Monte Haxton, a first-year A&A assistant coach. Haxton comes from a big family that includes Gina Oberle, Doug’s wife. In Week 9, Larry Haxton, Monte and Gina’s father, passed away in Claflin. Oberle took the entire Victoria team to Claflin for the funeral.
With an hour left before gametime, Monte Haxton went to the Victoria side and gave his sister a big hug. The Haxtons had many relatives at Newton, the first time they had been together since the funeral.
“Once the ball is on the tee, it’s football, and it’s all about football,” Oberle said. “When they blow the final whistle, it’s about family. Monte is a great guy. That family has dealt with a lot this year, here in the last four or five weeks, and it’s a credit to him to just be able to get in there and coach and do what he loves to do and stay focused. That’s a difficult task when you lose a loved one like that.”
Victoria has had superb special teams all season and had nine defensive/special teams scores, plus several other big plays that yielded short fields. With 9 minutes, 28 seconds left in the first quarter, A&A had a bad snap on a punt.
Senior punter Garrett Wells ran back and tried to punt the ball, but Victoria junior Brady Dinkel blocked the kick. The ball bounded backward and Knight junior Grant Weber finally recovered at the 4-yard line. Two plays later, junior Joe Dortland scored for an 8-0 lead. Victoria led 14-0 after the first quarter after Dinkel scored from three yards out. He rushed for three scores and was 5 of 9 for 63 yards and a TD.
“We did a good job early of getting off the ball,” Oberle said. “I thought our front did a really good job of engaging and staying engaged and running our feet.”
Early in the second quarter, Dreiling picked off a pass at midfield and returned it to the Titan 18-yard line.
“We practiced all week on defense,” Dome said. “We knew they were good at offense. We just had to come out and play hard on defense, and if we did that, we knew that we could get the job done.”
Dinkel scored from two yards to bump the lead to 22-0. Dinkel added a one-yard score and then moved the lead to 36-0 with 3:26 remaining in the second half.
On 4th-and-16, Dinkel threw up a pass intended for Dreiling. But junior Taylor Corley cut in front of Dreiling and two defensive backs, made the catch and ran for a 39-yard score. A&A drew to 36-8, but Dome finished the scoring with TD runs of 72 and 36 yards to cap the brilliant season.
“It means a lot to me, but it means more to me for these young men and what they put into this and this program,” Oberle said.
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