Otis-Bison allowed 41.3 points in 2013 and 48 per game last season in finishing with 3-6 and 4-5 records.
“Last year’s defense was a disaster,” 11th-year coach Travis Starr said. “The last two years was a disaster. We needed to get that fixed if you wanted to win ballgames.”
A significantly improved defense has helped Otis-Bison open 4-0. The defense has been geared by freshman defensive end Luke Higgason, sophomore nose guard Landon Hoopingarner, and seven overall returning starters on that side of the ball.
Higgason has 18 tackles and is tied for the team high with junior linebacker Kade Urban. Urban is the team’s starting quarterback and vocal leader. Hoopingarner is third on the team in tackles with 17 after playing mainly offensive guard last year as a freshman.
“We had great pursuit, we were getting off blocks,” Starr said after a big Week 3 win versus Ness City. “That’s something we didn’t do last year, we didn’t get off blocks. We didn’t pursue real well. We were satisfied with being blocked, but we have a freshman playing right defensive end that looks like a danged senior out there. He played well, he did his job every play. We had linebacking corps flying up and making hits and our secondary was where they need to be.”
The Cougars, ranked No. 4 in Eight-Man, Division II, has permitted just eight points a contest, top-five in the classification. Thus far, it’s the biggest turnaround in eight-man football this year.
“It started on defense,” Starr said.
Otis-Bison is similar to the 2009-12 teams that went a combined 40-6. In those four years, the Cougars allowed 20.2, 10.1 (best in 8-man II), 17.8 and 20.3 points per contest.
“Everybody is liking to go out there and play with each other just like my freshman year when we were really good,” senior defensive end Hayden Maier said. “Everybody loved to play every play they got. Kind of reminds me of my freshman year.”
Otis-Bison played a 3-1 look during the powerhouse years and switched to a 3-3 look in the last two falls. Starr said the Cougars can be more flexible in the 3-3 and contain the outside better.
“A lot of practice throughout summer,” junior defensive back Brad Lightfoot said. “Starr has been training us during season, really working on the fundamentals of our defense, and making sure we get keys and things like that.”
Last Friday, Otis-Bison shutout Kinsley, 56-0. In 2014, the Cougars won the highest-scoring game in eight-man history, 104-70, versus Kinsley. The Cougars started the season with blowout wins versus Macksville and St. John and the 58-20 marquee road victory at Ness City.
“It was different than what we had seen,” Ness City coach Marc Cowles said of the 3-3. “ And the teams that run it, they have that little niche, and they know how to run it, and Travis is one that knows how to run it, and they are so fast that there is always an extra guy in the box, it’s hard to account for all them, and we weren’t able to do that.
“You have to be able to win battles at the point of attack to get to that next level, and we couldn’t do that,” Cowles added. “Their guys up front were just really good. They are big.”
Otis-Bison opens district play at Thunder Ridge this Friday. Its district also includes No. 1 Victoria and 3-1 Beloit St. John’s-Tipton. Starr is 0-5 all-time against the Thunder Ridge, his worst record against any team in his tenure.
“I haven’t beat them ever,” Starr said. “That’s the next game on the list.”
Hoopingarner has a similar build to Robert Kolas, the all-state nose guard on Otis-Bison’s state runner-up squad in 2010. Otis-Bison already has 13 sacks, 11 more than last fall.
“He really gets after it,” Starr said. “He gets a good push, he controls the ‘A’ gaps, and that’s something that we have really lacked over the last couple of years. We have had to slant and do different things and when you can play a base defense and get after it, that makes things really nice for us.”
Senior Nick Higgason, Luke’s brother, has 16 tackles at defensive end, the same number as senior linebacker Trenton Welsh. Lightfoot and senior Brandon Keller have been solid in the defensive backfield.
“His speed has gotten better from what he was as a freshman,” Starr said of Nick Higgason. “Now, he is one guy that has developed in the weight room. He is a weight room guy. He gets after it in the weight room, and he is just on all pure hard work. He works hard, and he has increased his speed, and he does the right thing. He is where he needs to be on every snap.”
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