Week Eight Showcase Match-Up: Hodgeman County at Victoria

After attending a epic top five match-up in 8-Man II between then #1 Axtell and #3 Hanover this past week, I was blessed to make my way to West to see the #2 Victoria Knights and the #4 Hodgeman County Longhorns on Friday. Hanover flipped with Axtell and now sit at #1 while the Eagles are now #3 in the classification.   This game was going to be a excellent gauge to see how the top two teams in the West stacked up with the top two teams in the East. Yet again it was another classic and did not disappoint.   The Knights are looking to get back to state after falling to Axtell 50-0 this past season in the title game. Hodgeman County is a team with a young but very talented roster. The question coming into the game was how was the young Longhorns going to stack up with the more experienced Victoria squad that is very heavy senior laden? Lets just say Hodgeman County gave Victoria quite the battle to the very end.   Victoria is lead by reigning Central Prairie League offensive player of the year in [player_tooltip player_id='1370389' first='Kyle' last='Huser'] (6-foot-3, 270-pounds). It is not that often you see a offensive lineman, let alone a center be the league top player. Huser has been getting heaving MIAA/Juco looks but even some D-I schools sniffing around him. He is not the only all-stater that returns for the Knights, as junior bulldozer [player_tooltip player_id='1611463' first='Weston' last='Scherrer'] (5-foot-10, 240-pounds) is the bell cow and looking to have back-to-back seasons going over 1,000 yards rushing. Scherrer was a absolute terror in this game, much like he has done all season. Get him into the second level and he is a load to get down. He had 110 yards rushing and three touchdowns for the night.   Other top performers for Victoria are senior Wyatt Schmidtberger (5-foot-8, 155-pounds), senior Will Schmeidler (6-foot-1, 150-pounds), senior Ethan VonLintel (6-foot-2, 215-pounds), senior Matthew Pfeifer (6-foot-1, 185-pounds) and senior West Dreiling (6-foot-0, 175-pounds).   As for the Longhorns they are a young ball squad that is led by the Reece brothers. Junior [player_tooltip player_id='1115929' first='Ian' last='Reece'] (6-foot-0, 170-pounds) entered the season as the starting quarterback but the reigns were turned over to his younger brother in freshman Gavin Reece (6-foot-0, 160-pounds). Gavin entered the ballgame having already thrown for 715 yards and nine touchdowns on the season. He definitely showed very well in this ballgame and is now up to 916 yards passing and 10 touchdowns. Ian has taken over as the main ball carrier along with senior Garrett Nuss (6-foot-0, 140-pounds).   Another Longhorn to be keep an eye on is junior Tyson Younger (6-foot-2, 165-pounds) who had a big game with 4 receptions for 90 yards and one touchdown. He definitely showed he has a long and athletic frame that college coaches need to keep an eye on for the future.   Hodgeman County is led upfront on both sides of the ball by junior [player_tooltip player_id='1604525' first='Kendall' last='Burns'] (6-foot-0, 210-pounds), senior Desmond Thomas (6-foot-2, 185-pounds) and senior Carson Goebel (6-foot-0, 220-pounds). The Shank brothers in Devin (senior) and Talon (sophomore) are two other Longhorns to be aware of come playoff time.   When it came to the ballgame itself, Victoria came out punching but the Longhorns never backed down.   Hodgeman County struck first after they picked up a big 4th down conversion with 7:41 in the 1st quarter when freshman Gavin Reece found fellow freshman Talon Shank for a nice gain down to the 8-yard line. 6:12 in the first quarter the Longhorns finally struck paydirt with a 3-yard touchdown run by Gavin Reece. The 2-point conversion was good and our score was 8-0 Hodgeman County.   Victoria answered right back with a bruising 43-yard touchdown run by [player_tooltip player_id='1611463' first='Weston' last='Scherrer'] with 3:18 in the first quarter. The 2-point conversion was not successful and the score was 8-6 Hodgeman County.   Scherrer reached the end zone once again with a 4-yard touchdown run with 10:50 in the 2nd quarter. This time the 2-point conversion was good and our score was 14-8 Victoria.   With 7:40 left in the half, Scherrer came up huge for the Knights and turned the Longhorns over on downs with a big stop. This set the Knights up nicely at the Longhorn 35-yard line. With 5:49 in the second quarter Wyatt Schmidtberger keeps the ball and goes 5-yards for a touchdown to make our score 20-8 Victoria. The 2-point conversion was no good.   When things started looking bleak for the Hodgeman County they came up big with a huge 60-yard pass from Gavin Reece to Tyson Younger that set the Longhorns up nicely from the Victoria 5-yard line. It looked like the Knights were going to make a goal-line stand but on 4th down the same pass/catch duo came through with a Reece to Younger 4-yard touchdown connection. After a illegal procedure flag, Hodgeman County attempted at PAT but it went wide. Our score was 20-14 Victoria.   We reached half-time with a score of 20-14 Victoria and we definitely had ourselves a ballgame entering the last two quarters.   The story of the second half was all about the defenses and the big stops that followed. The Knights held the Longhorns to 20-yards rushing on 28 carries for the night.   With 10:42 in the third quarter [player_tooltip player_id='1370389' first='Kyle' last='Huser'] sacked Gavin Reece on 4th down. The Knights started on their own 34-yard line but were not able to capitalize as they Longhorns held firm with no damage inflicted.   We saw no scoring in the third but with 10:02 left in the fourth quarter Hodgeman County forced a Victoria fumble and recovered on the Knights 5-yard line. The moment of truth in this game came down to a 4th down play from the 1-yard line where Victoria stood firm with 8:05 in the game and kept the Longhorns out of the endzone. Our score remained at 20-14 Victoria.   The Knights showed their size, strength and experience by marching down the field 79-yards for the dagger. With 1:26 left in the fourth we saw Scherrer cap his big night with his fourth touchdown of the game with a 4-yard plunge. The 2-point conversion was good and our score was 28-14 Victoria.   Victoria shut down the Longhorns and were able to run out the clock for a well deserved victory. There is a very strong chanced we could see these two teams meet up once again in the playoffs for a chance to make it to state.   Victoria (8-0) hosts Norwich (1-7) this coming Thursday for first round playoff action. Hodgeman County (7-1) will host Fairfield (4-4) also on Thursday.   As for myself I'll be headed for Little River (7-1) where the Redskins host Clifton-Clyde (6-2) in a big 8-Man I first round match-up.   Little River's only loss on the season comes to the hands of Ell-Saline (7-1) by the score of 22-20. Clifton-Clyde is coming off a big 48-44 win over previously unbeaten Lincoln (7-1). The Eagles only two losses on the season came to Hanover (8-0) and Sylvan-Lucas (7-1).

After attending a epic top five match-up in 8-Man II between then #1 Axtell and #3 Hanover this past week, I was blessed to make my way to West to see the #2 Victoria Knights and the #4 Hodgeman County Longhorns on Friday. Hanover flipped with Axtell and now sit at #1 while the Eagles are now #3 in the classification.