HHS running back Indie Allen (shown above, left) follows lineman Dean Klahr (middle left) on one of his three touchdown runs in Holton's 54-8 regional win over Osawatomie.Wildcat Derek Haverkamp (shown above, right) crashes in from the backside and makes a tackle for loss in the regional battle against Osawatomie.Linebacker Jordan Booth (shown above, left) leads the Wildcats onto the field as they prepare to open the Class 4A-DII playoffs against the Trojans of Osawatomie.Holton linebacker Mason Barta (shown above, left) penetrates the line of scrimmage to make a stop in regional action last Friday.Wildcat Justin Rieschick (shown above, left) tries to break free from the grasp of a Trojan defender in regional competition. Rieschick played a hand in the team's efficient offensive night, contributing two touchdowns in the 54-8 victory.

Holton offense rolls in regional football battle

We felt like going in we had them a little bit overwhelmed and we did what we wanted to do."

From start to finish, there was no question of who was in control of Friday’s regional showdown between the Holton and Osawatomie football teams to start Class 4A-DII playoff action.

The Wildcats scored on every offensive possession on the way to a 54-8 victory over the visiting Trojans.

To paint a picture of just how efficient the Holton offense was on Friday night, the Wildcats scored almost two points for every play (29) they ran in the game. In fact, Holton needed a little more than 15 minutes to score those 54 points and its longest drive lasted just over four minutes.

“I thought we did a lot of good things,” HHS coach Brooks Barta said. “We felt like going in we had them a little bit overwhelmed and we did what we wanted to do.”

Osawatomie might have been feeling that way very early in the game as the Wildcats received the ball first and proceeded to score on just the third play of the game, with running back Indie Allen racing 75 yards to the end zone.

It didn’t get any less overwhelming from there as Holton forced a turnover on downs on defense and quarterback Trey Tanking then had his own long touchdown run as he sprinted 50 yards for the score on the third play of the following drive to put Holton ahead 14-0.

While the Wildcats were in the process of building a comfortable lead, the Trojans would not go away quietly. Osawatomie crossed midfield before stalling on its first drive and proceeded to drive all the way to the Wildcats’ six-yard line following Holton’s second score.

The Holton defense saw a heavy does of Trojan running back Riley England on that drive, but outside of that and the final minutes of the game, Barta said his players limited the 1,700-yard rusher’s impact.

“I thought we did a pretty good job containing their running back and didn’t miss a lot of tackles,” Barta said.

The Wildcat defense held in the shadows of its own goalposts and Barta said that helped seal the deal for his team. Allen had another big run on second down of the following possession, which gave the offense some breathing room before Tanking capped off the drive with a 12-yard touchdown run.

While Barta noted there are a lot of factors that play into a successful option offense, he noted having a healthy Tanking back in the driver’s seat was a boost against Osawatomie.

“I think his legs are feeling a lot better. He kind of stepped right back into it. He’s really executed the option well all year,” Barta said. “Everything has to kind of fit together for that option to work well and we feel if people give us that opportunity, we have to be able to take it.”

Holton’s defense started to buckle down with a three-possession lead as it forced a punt on Osawatomie’s next drive and then stopped a fake punt on the Trojans’ following possession.

The Wildcats followed both stops with scores, including a six-yard touchdown run from Allen and 31-yard touchdown pass from Tanking to Justin Rieschick to put Holton ahead 34-0 going into halftime.

Following another defensive stop to start the second half, Allen broke free again for a 43-yard touchdown run on the Wildcats’ second offensive play of the third quarter.

It was Allen’s only carry of the second half, but it capped off a stellar night as he finished with 208 yards rushing and three touchdowns on just eight carries. He was a big part of Holton’s offensive explosion, though it didn’t stop after he came out of the game.

“Offensively, we got to the perimeter pretty well all night. What they were doing defensively kind of pushed us that way and we did a good job executing it and got big plays,” Barta said. “I think we have a lot of explosive players. If we block well in space and get them into space, we’re going to be effective.”

Holton was just that as Rieschick broke free for a 49-yard touchdown run on the second play of the following drive before Will Wright capped off the Wildcats longest scoring drive of the night with a 13-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

While the offense was off and running in the second half, the defense also held Osawatomie without a first down until the end of the third quarter. Barta noted the Holton players were breaking blocks better, but there were no major adjustments made at halftime as he said the team has become pretty good about adapting organically.

“We continue to make some small mistakes, but I think our speed has helped us overcome some of those mistakes and I think the thing we’ve done all year is kind of learn from those mistakes,” Barta said. “If we play something wrong, we generally don’t come back and make the same mistake the next time they run it.”

The Trojans’ lone scoring drive came as the final seconds were ticking off the game clock, with quarterback Brody Russell finding England for a five-yard touchdown to end the shutout and give the game its final score, 54-8.

Outside of some double teams and being out of position on one or two plays, Barta said the defense was pretty effective in shutting the Trojans’ down on offense the rest of the game, though it may need to be ready quicker as the competition gets tougher deeper into the playoffs.

“We’re going to have to take some steps forward this week because we’re going to see more athletic and more mature teams here over the next at least one game,” Barta said.

Holton will now leave its home field behind as it gets ready to take a long trip into southeast Kansas for its next tough test in the playoffs as the Wildcats (9-1) get ready to take on the Titans of Columbus (9-1) on their field at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Nov. 7, 2014

OHS:          0-0-0-8—8

HHS:  14-20-13-7—54

Team statistics:

HHS:  29 plays, 453 total yards, zero turnovers and two penalties for 10 yards.

OHS:  64 plays, 260 total yards, one turnover and six penalties for 60 yards.

Individual statistics:

Rushing:  HHS- Allen (8-208-3 TDs), Rieschick (6-67-1 TD), Tanking (4-58-2 TDs), Lovvorn (5-20), Pool (1-44), McClintock (1-9), Wright (2-16-1 TD); OHS- England (31-123), Newcomb (8-32), Russell (5-(-10)).

Passing:  HHS- Tanking (1-2-31-1 TD); OHS- Russell (8-20-130-1 TD).

Receiving:  HHS- Rieschick (1-31-1 TD); OHS- Booe (1-7), England (1-5-1 TD), Newcomb (1-15), Wylie (1-2), Soucie (3-54), Cuerden (1-37).

Defense:  HHS- Barta (11 tackles, 1 TFL), Booth (12 tackles), Lovvorn (6 tackles, 1 TFL, sack), Rieschick (8 tackles, 1 TFL, pass deflection), Bergsten (4 tackles, sack, fumble recovery), Haverkamp (8 tackles), Martin (6 tackles); OHS- Blanton (6 tackles), Hazzlett (6 tackles), Wylie (5 tackles), Gavin (3 tackles, sack), Soucie (4 tackles).From start to finish, there was no question of who was in control of Friday’s regional showdown between the Holton and Osawatomie football teams to start Class 4A-DII playoff action.

The Wildcats scored on every offensive possession on the way to a 54-8 victory over the visiting Trojans.

To paint a picture of just how efficient the Holton offense was on Friday night, the Wildcats scored almost two points for every play (29) they ran in the game. In fact, Holton needed a little more than 15 minutes to score those 54 points and its longest drive lasted just over four minutes.

“I thought we did a lot of good things,” HHS coach Brooks Barta said. “We felt like going in we had them a little bit overwhelmed and we did what we wanted to do.”

Osawatomie might have been feeling that way very early in the game as the Wildcats received the ball first and proceeded to score on just the third play of the game, with running back Indie Allen racing 75 yards to the end zone.

It didn’t get any less overwhelming from there as Holton forced a turnover on downs on defense and quarterback Trey Tanking then had his own long touchdown run as he sprinted 50 yards for the score on the third play of the following drive to put Holton ahead 14-0.

While the Wildcats were in the process of building a comfortable lead, the Trojans would not go away quietly. Osawatomie crossed midfield before stalling on its first drive and proceeded to drive all the way to the Wildcats’ six-yard line following Holton’s second score.

The Holton defense saw a heavy does of Trojan running back Riley England on that drive, but outside of that and the final minutes of the game, Barta said his players limited the 1,700-yard rusher’s impact.

“I thought we did a pretty good job containing their running back and didn’t miss a lot of tackles,” Barta said.

The Wildcat defense held in the shadows of its own goalposts and Barta said that helped seal the deal for his team. Allen had another big run on second down of the following possession, which gave the offense some breathing room before Tanking capped off the drive with a 12-yard touchdown run.

While Barta noted there are a lot of factors that play into a successful option offense, he noted having a healthy Tanking back in the driver’s seat was a boost against Osawatomie.

“I think his legs are feeling a lot better. He kind of stepped right back into it. He’s really executed the option well all year,” Barta said. “Everything has to kind of fit together for that option to work well and we feel if people give us that opportunity, we have to be able to take it.”

Holton’s defense started to buckle down with a three-possession lead as it forced a punt on Osawatomie’s next drive and then stopped a fake punt on the Trojans’ following possession.

The Wildcats followed both stops with scores, including a six-yard touchdown run from Allen and 31-yard touchdown pass from Tanking to Justin Rieschick to put Holton ahead 34-0 going into halftime.

Following another defensive stop to start the second half, Allen broke free again for a 43-yard touchdown run on the Wildcats’ second offensive play of the third quarter.

It was Allen’s only carry of the second half, but it capped off a stellar night as he finished with 208 yards rushing and three touchdowns on just eight carries. He was a big part of Holton’s offensive explosion, though it didn’t stop after he came out of the game.

“Offensively, we got to the perimeter pretty well all night. What they were doing defensively kind of pushed us that way and we did a good job executing it and got big plays,” Barta said. “I think we have a lot of explosive players. If we block well in space and get them into space, we’re going to be effective.”

Holton was just that as Rieschick broke free for a 49-yard touchdown run on the second play of the following drive before Will Wright capped off the Wildcats longest scoring drive of the night with a 13-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

While the offense was off and running in the second half, the defense also held Osawatomie without a first down until the end of the third quarter. Barta noted the Holton players were breaking blocks better, but there were no major adjustments made at halftime as he said the team has become pretty good about adapting organically.

“We continue to make some small mistakes, but I think our speed has helped us overcome some of those mistakes and I think the thing we’ve done all year is kind of learn from those mistakes,” Barta said. “If we play something wrong, we generally don’t come back and make the same mistake the next time they run it.”

The Trojans’ lone scoring drive came as the final seconds were ticking off the game clock, with quarterback Brody Russell finding England for a five-yard touchdown to end the shutout and give the game its final score, 54-8.

Outside of some double teams and being out of position on one or two plays, Barta said the defense was pretty effective in shutting the Trojans’ down on offense the rest of the game, though it may need to be ready quicker as the competition gets tougher deeper into the playoffs.

“We’re going to have to take some steps forward this week because we’re going to see more athletic and more mature teams here over the next at least one game,” Barta said.

Holton will now leave its home field behind as it gets ready to take a long trip into southeast Kansas for its next tough test in the playoffs as the Wildcats (9-1) get ready to take on the Titans of Columbus (9-1) on their field at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Nov. 7, 2014

OHS:          0-0-0-8—8

HHS:  14-20-13-7—54

Team statistics:

HHS:  29 plays, 453 total yards, zero turnovers and two penalties for 10 yards.

OHS:  64 plays, 260 total yards, one turnover and six penalties for 60 yards.

Individual statistics:

Rushing:  HHS- Allen (8-208-3 TDs), Rieschick (6-67-1 TD), Tanking (4-58-2 TDs), Lovvorn (5-20), Pool (1-44), McClintock (1-9), Wright (2-16-1 TD); OHS- England (31-123), Newcomb (8-32), Russell (5-(-10)).

Passing:  HHS- Tanking (1-2-31-1 TD); OHS- Russell (8-20-130-1 TD).

Receiving:  HHS- Rieschick (1-31-1 TD); OHS- Booe (1-7), England (1-5-1 TD), Newcomb (1-15), Wylie (1-2), Soucie (3-54), Cuerden (1-37).

Defense:  HHS- Barta (11 tackles, 1 TFL), Booth (12 tackles), Lovvorn (6 tackles, 1 TFL, sack), Rieschick (8 tackles, 1 TFL, pass deflection), Bergsten (4 tackles, sack, fumble recovery), Haverkamp (8 tackles), Martin (6 tackles); OHS- Blanton (6 tackles), Hazzlett (6 tackles), Wylie (5 tackles), Gavin (3 tackles, sack), Soucie (4 tackles).

The Holton Recorder

109 W. Fourth St.
Holton, KS 66436
Phone: 785-364-3141
 

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