In Week 5, Quinter High School coach Greg Woolf tried to throw different looks at the Ness City defense. Sometimes, the Bulldogs would catch the Eagles slightly off guard – but only gained a couple of yards.
More often, Ness City adjusted, flowed to the ball and made the play. Ness City won the game 48-0 in a contest that was called at halftime.
The Eagles led Quinter to 25 rushes for 44 yards. In its other eight contests, Quinter, long known for its power running game, averaged 196 rushing yards per contest. Several weeks after the game, Woolf remained impressed with Ness City, and especially its two senior linebackers, Dalton Gantz and Garrett Flax.
“They are so disciplined,” Woolf said.
Flax and Gantz, who also start at running back, have helped the Eagles, ranked No. 1 since Week 2 in Eight-Man, Division I, start 12-0 and deliver historically great numbers defensively.
For the season, Ness City – despite playing the No. 6 schedule in its classification according to preppowerindex.com – have outscored opponents 599-62. Since 2005, only one eight-man team has allowed fewer than 92 points. That came in 2007 when Victoria allowed 66 points, but went 9-2.
"It goes out to our coaches just continually stressing that in practice and obviously the kids do the right thing and they take the coaching, and then obviously they put it on the field," third-year coach Chris Bamberger said of the discipline. "They take pride in that as well. Kids want to be disciplined and they want to play that kind of game. They really do put a lot into that."
Each player has rushed for more than 1,000 yards and Flax is arguably Kansas’ best special teams player. He is tied for 16th nationally and second in Kansas among eight-man players with 677 return yards.
"We tell the guys up front, just get a hat on a hat, get on somebody and you are going to give him some green grass," Bamberger said. "The kids, they know that, and anytime they kick to him, or punt to him, the guys up front take some pride in that, and they understand, 'Hey, if we can just get a couple blocks here and there (and) spring him.'"
No other team in the classification has allowed fewer than 154 points. It’s a big improvement for the Eagles, who went 5-5 two years ago and 8-2 last fall – but lost Flax for the season in Week 8 of last fall because of a devastating ankle injury. It’s the first playoff wins for the Eagles and the first time Ness City has won back-to-back postseason games in school history.
Mankato-Rock Hills, Ness City’s opponent in Saturday’s state title game, has outscored opponents 618-212.
"They really work in unison," Bamberger said. "Our guys on the defensive line to our guys all the way in the secondary. They know where each other is going to be and they expect it. When you have a defense that trusts each other, obviously you can play your position and not have to worry. I think that's really kind of how they work out there.”
In the postseason, Ness City defeated Minneola 50-14, beat Pretty Prairie 46-0 and defeated Solomon 48-0 last week.
“I hope they take state,” Solomon coach Tom Cross said.
Senior lineman Blake McVicker leads the team with 102 tackles and 6.5 sacks. Gantz and Flax are tied for third on the squad with 77 tackles. Flax has a team-high five interceptions and has also collected six passes defended and two fumble recoveries. Offensively, Flax has a team-high rushing 1,075 yards, while Gantz has 1,001 yards.
Against Solomon, Flax recorded five punt returns for 195 yards and had a 65-yard interception return for a touchdown.
"We knew this was our last game here as seniors," Flax said. "We put a lot of work into this year and we didn't want this to be the last one all together."
This season, he has 19 returns for 526 yards on punts and five kickoff returns for 151 yards. He has 23 scores, seven from defense and special teams.
"That's what's great about this football team," Bamberger said. "You just never know who's going to take the bull by the horns.”
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