OTIS – Otis-Bison took a gut-wrenching six-point road defeat at Dighton in Week 7 of 2016. The Cougars were at the Dighton 8-yard line with two and a half minutes left and threw a costly interception.
Dighton responded with the game-winning score. The defeat, Otis-Bison’s third close loss last fall, essentially kept the Cougars from the playoffs. Surprising Dighton eventually went 12-1 and earned Eight-Man, Division II runner-up.
Right after the defeat, Cougar coach Travis Starr couldn’t wait to face Dighton again.
On Friday, Otis-Bison delivered a marquee 54-8 home win versus Dighton in Division II, District 6 play. Otis-Bison led 20-8 at halftime, and then scored 34 points in the third quarter. The game ended on the quarter’s last play by the 45-point margin on a 45-yard scoring run from senior Blake Bahr.
“I was ready to get to this game right here right now after that loss,” Starr said. “It took a long time for that loss to shake off. I got tired of reading about that loss. I got tired of thinking about that loss. I was ready to get ready for this game right now.”
Otis-Bison, ranked third in the classification, bumped to 6-1, 3-0 in district play. Dighton dropped to 6-1, 2-1. The district also features fourth-ranked Hodgeman County, which will face Dighton and Otis-Bison the next two weeks.
“Most of these guys played them last year,” senior center/nose guard Landon Hoopingarner said. “I think it’s all just carried over. It’s a great feeling. To beat a team that beat you last year, it’s just a great feeling. You can’t describe it.”
Dighton had its 15-game regular season winning streak end and finished with 23 rushes for 47 yards. After allowing 23.6 points a game in ’16, the Cougars have permitted 14.7 this fall. It marked the second-fewest points Dighton has scored since the start of 2015.
“They are a very good team,” Dighton coach Ken Simon said. “Expect them to make some noise come November. We’ve just got to respond well and bounce back against Hodgeman County.”
Otis-Bison opened the game with an 11-play, 59-yard drive that ended with a six-yard touchdown run from junior quarterback Anton Foust.
“We have preparing for this all summer,” Foust said.
On the contest’s third play, Otis-Bison faced fourth and 1 from its own 30-yard line. The Cougars elected to go for it, and the 190-pound Foust barreled ahead for a five-yard gain.
“We’ve got a pretty good offensive line, and I think we’ve got a pretty good quarterback that’s going to get some yardage,” Starr said.
Foust, stylistically a similar runner to former Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein, found openings, broke tackles and carried several defenders on multiple occasions.
“He reads holes, he is patient, and he is a tough runner,” Starr said. “He has got speed, and he is strong. Everything you kind of want in a running quarterback, but he is heady, he is a great leader for us. He has been a great asset for us.”
Often, he ran straight up the middle behind the 280-pound Hoopingarner, a three-year starter.
“It was big,” Foust said. “It’s fun to see, too. Oh yeah, the hole he makes, I am following.”
Hoopingarner was bothered by an ankle injury in the past but called his ankle fully healthy now. For the second straight year, he often battled Dighton 6-foot-2, 240-pound senior Logan Lingg, an all-state lineman in ‘16 and off to a strong start this fall.
“He got after it tonight, and I think this game meant a lot to him,” Starr said. “I think he was ready for this. He knew what he was going up against, and I think he was excited.”
On the first drive, Foust carried six times, including an up-the-middle touchdown run from six out on third and 1.
“I am glad they have trust in me,” Hoopingarner said. “When it’s that close, and the game is on the line, you have got to dig deep and go hard. It feels great honestly knowing that I just pushed a guy so many yards for my quarterback to get a first down.”
Foust finished with 14 carries for 144 yards and three scores. Bahr tallied 11 rushes for 222 yards and four touchdowns.
“(Foust) breaks a lot of tackles, and he is very, very tough to bring down, and obviously that showed,” Simon said. “And then having (Bahr), the kid has just got terrific speed, and then their offensive line is physical and big and just do a great job.”
After the Otis-Bison score, Dighton tied the game at eight on a 1-yard run from junior quarterback Blair Hoffman. On the next drive, Bahr bumped the lead to 14-8 with a 36-yard run.
Early in the second quarter, Bahr fumbled at his own 25-yard line. Otis-Bison held Dighton without points, including a pass defended on fourth down from senior Daniel Scott.
“Glue of this team,” Starr said of Scott. “He really is. He has played a lot of positions over the course of his four years, and the dude is tough. Defensively, he flies around, makes plays, and offensively, we put him all over the field, and he is just hard-nosed.”
After the stop, the speedy Bahr had a 10-yard score for a 20-8 lead with 6 minutes, 43 seconds left in the half.
“I told (assistant) coach (Curtis Little), ‘That fumble isn’t the end of the world,’ because he is going to start running and he ran awfully hard,” Starr said.
Dighton’s last two first-half drives ended on the Otis-Bison 26-yard line and with a Foust interception at the Cougar 3 – his first of two in the contest. In the second half, the Cougars broke the game open against the Hornets’ 10-player roster. Otis-Bison had five touchdowns off eight offensive plays.
Dighton plays the same eight on offense, defense and special teams. Otis-Bison had just 12 healthy players and was able to rotate some.
“That’s a very good football team, and Coach Starr does a good job with them, and you can’t let that team get rolling,” Simon said. “You can see how quickly they can score, and they are very explosive. Just a couple of missed opportunities there in the second quarter. I think that really hurt us going into half, and just momentum into the third quarter.”
After a Dighton punt, Foust rushed 53 yards for a touchdown. Then, Bahr picked off Hoffman, which led to a 26-yard scoring run by Foust. Bahr tacked on a 66-yard touchdown, and Scott had a 46-yard TD.
“I think we honestly wore them down,” Hoopingarner said. “That would be my biggest factor I think. We started wearing them down, held blocks longer.”
After Week 7 last year, Otis-Bison was 4-3 with its season essentially over after it spent early fall as a top-five team.
In 2017, the Cougars have, along with Hodgeman County, solidified itself as the Division II west favorites. Otis-Bison travels to struggling Triplains-Brewster next week before it plays host to the Longhorns in Week 9.
“I like the position we are in a heck of a lot better than I did at this time last year,” Starr said.
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