Week Two Showcase Match-Up: Hoxie at Trego County

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We kick-off week two action with a game pitting the defending state champs in 8-Man I in the Hoxie Indians, going on the road to face-off against the up and coming Trego County Golden Eagles in WaKenney. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hoxie went undefeated a year ago and won the state championship defeating Central Plains 46-0 but this a new year. The Indians lost six high level seniors (10 overall) who were either All-State or All-League this past season. Only two players return that garnered post season honors in senior lineman Javon Kachel (6-foot-0, 280-pounds) and junior linebacker Mat Bretz (6-foot-1, 200-pounds). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Trying to replace a roster that only gave up 5.6 points per game and scored an average of over 40 points per game is a daunting task. Overall the team is very young. Keep an eye on Sophomore skill position player Noah Nickelson (5-foot-9, 160-pounds) who is already asked upon to carry a heavy load early in his career. Griffin Zerr (6-foot-2, 185-pounds) is another Sophomore who brings good size and athletic ability to the Hoxie line-up. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Trego County on the flip side returns a very experienced ball club that is coming off of a 4-5 season a year ago. Senior quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='1229100' first='Ashton' last='Wynn'] (6-foot-0, 160-pounds) leads the way but the Golden Eagles bring back a quality group of skill position players. Seniors Aaron Samson (6-foot-0, 180-pounds) and [player_tooltip player_id='1248312' first='Cass' last='Smith'] (5-foot-11, 195-pounds) bring speed and experience. They are joined by Junior stud running back [player_tooltip player_id='1609451' first='Jack' last='Conness'] (5-foot-11, 195-pounds) and a few high level underclassmen athletes in Sophomore Westyn Windholz (6-foot-1, 170-pounds) and two Freshman in Vladon Crawford (6-foot-0, 170-pounds) and Jared Aschenbrenner 5-foot-10, 175-pounds). Conness is definitely a prospect colleges should be having their eyes on the next couple of seasons.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The question coming into the season was how the line would come together but Trego County has two quality players upfront in Chris Ghumm and Hudson Deines (6-foot-0, 190-pounds). Ghumm brings a good frame and size standing 6-foot-3, 245-pounds. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Frankly this game was all Trego County from the very start. The Golden Eagles experience and number of skill position players was just to much for the young and inexperienced Indians. They grabbed two Hoxie fumbles, blocked a punt and picked off the Indians once in this game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The scoring was kicked off by a [player_tooltip player_id='1229100' first='Ashton' last='Wynn'] touchdown pass of 28 yards to Vladon Crawford. Two point conversion was good and the score was 8-0 Trego County. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Wynn took matters in his own hands with the next score with a 11 yard touchdown run. That was set-up by a [player_tooltip player_id='1609451' first='Jack' last='Conness'] 44 yard scamper the prior play before. Two point conversion was good bringing the score to 16-0 Trego County.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As we entered the second quarter, Wynn once again found another young receiver through the air connecting with Westyn Windholz for a 5 yard touchdown pass. Once again the two point conversion was successful bringing the score to 24-0 Trego County.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The score reached 32-0 when Wynn once used his legs and scored from 3 yards out. The two point conversion was once again successful. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Wynn's final scoring play of the night was a 15 yard pass to Windholz once again, making the score 40-0 after yet another successful two point conversion. This came just before the end of the second quarter. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hoxie finally got on the board right before half with a 27 yard pass from Junior Chase Meyer to Griffin Zerr. The two point try failed and we reached half with a score of 40-6 Trego County.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Golden Eagles closed out the ball game in the third quarter with two short [player_tooltip player_id='1609451' first='Jack' last='Conness'] runs. The first score was a 1 yard plunge followed by yet another successful two point conversion to make the score 48-6. The last score of the night came at 1:21 left in the third when a 2 yard run by Conness brought our score to a 54-6, ending the ball game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hoxie (0-2) will host (0-2) Ellis this coming Friday. Both of these teams saw one another right before the season at the Ellis Jamboree. Trego County (2-0) on the other hand looks to stay undefeated against a quality (2-0) Atwood-Rawlins County ball club. This game will be in Atwood. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This coming Friday I'll be in Victoria to check-out the (2-0) Knights who fell to Axtell in the 8-Man II state title game this past season. They are coming off a top five 8-Man classic battle against Central Plains, where they won 22-20 in the closing half minute of the ballgame. Their opponent is the (1-1) Osborne Bulldogs. Osborne is coming off a tough defeat to the hands of Ell-Saline but did beat Hoxie week one in a barn burner. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->