Week Seven Showcase Match-Up: Axtell at Hanover

Entering the 2025 football season we knew when it came to 8-Man football that all eyes would be on the Axtell Eagles. Considering they are the four-time 8-Man II defending state champs and entered the season on a 8-Man state record 52 game winning streak. That streak was held prior by the Eagles opponent in the Hanover Wildcats.   If we rewind back to 2019, it was Hanover that held the record of 43 consecutive wins but finally fell to Axtell in a 28-26 ballgame. Quarterbacking the Eagles that night was a freshman in Issac Detweiler who was playing for the injured Quinn Buessing. Fast forward to 2025, it is now Isaac's younger brother Wyatt leading the charge and Quinn is now an assistant coach for the Eagles.   When week seven rolled around, Axtell (6-0) had been untested and had moved their record win streak to 58 games. Hanover (6-0) had played a little tougher of a schedule leading up to this game. Namely due to their week one contest against 8-Man I ranked Ell-Saline. The Wildcats came out on top in a big way with a 32-8 drubbing of the Cardinals.   Axtell returned some very quality players but lost to graduation a tremendous senior class led by Kansas signee Brandon Schmelzle and Baker signee Eli Broxterman. With the loss of their senior leadership, it was up to this years seniors that had played significant snaps in [player_tooltip player_id='1651894' first='Landon' last='Schmitz'] (5-foot-10, 170-pounds), Colin Shaughnessy (6-foot-2, 190-pounds) and Lucas Talbot (6-foot-1, 175-pounds) to lead the way. The junior class is just as loaded with [player_tooltip player_id='1613456' first='Wyatt' last='Detweiler'] (5-foot-10, 170-pounds), Joe Lybarger (5-foot-10, 160-pounds), Logan Sandman (6-foot-5, 190-pounds) and Riley Hasenkamp (6-foot-1, 150-pounds) looking to take on much bigger roles.   Hanover was a team that returned a lot of experience and depth. Last year was a great building year for the Wildcats since they played a very difficult schedule with eight of the 10 opponents reaching the playoffs last season. Leading the charge is seniors [player_tooltip player_id='1658726' first='Braylon' last='Meyn'] (6-foot-1, 170-pounds), [player_tooltip player_id='1250390' first='Alec' last='Jueneman'] (5-foot-9, 160-pounds), [player_tooltip player_id='1248330' first='Tanner' last='Bruna'] (6-foot-2, 205-pounds) and Eli Heiman (5-foot-11, 240-pounds). The Wildcats also have a loaded junior class with Kadrick Cohorst (5-foot-8, 180-pounds) leading the way with [player_tooltip player_id='1250567' first='Brody' last='Sedlacek'] (5-foot-10, 185-pounds) and Lanxden Stallbaumer (5-foot-11, 150-pounds). Keep an eye on sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='1664439' first='Cooper' last='Bruna'] (5-foot-10, 180-pounds) in the coming years.   Overall this game came in with so much hype between the #1 Eagles and #3 Wildcats and it did not disappoint one bit. Much like the 2019 ballgame, this game was a instant classic from the start.   Getting on the board first was Hanover after forcing Axtell to punt for the first time this season on their opening drive. A 1-yard touchdown run off left side by Kadrick Cohorst came with 4:07 in the 1st quarter. The ever important 2-point conversion was no good and our score was 6-0 Hanover.   Axtell answered with their own quarterback keeper with a 1-yard plunge by [player_tooltip player_id='1613456' first='Wyatt' last='Detweiler'] with 11:24 in the second quarter. The Eagles 2-point conversion was no good and our score was even at 6-6.   Cohorst got back in the scoring action with a 16-yard touchdown run with 9:49 in the second quarter. Once again the 2-point conversion was not successful and our score was 12-6 Hanover. Both teams traded blows but no scoring happened the remainder of the half and we entered half-time with Axtell trailing for the first time this season.   Axtell started to get things rolling and crossed into Wildcat territory before the wheels started to fall off for the drive. The Eagles started going backwards and salt was added to the wound when Detweiler was sacked and lost the ball by [player_tooltip player_id='1248330' first='Tanner' last='Bruna'] with 2:42 in the third quarter. Hanover set up shop on Axtell's 34 yard line.   When it looked liked Hanover was ready to open things up, Cohorst was intercepted in the endzone by Joe Lybarger with :28 in the third. Unfortunately for the Eagles, Lybarger lost his footing and feel at the 1-yard line. The Wildcats soon regained the momentum when Cohorst recovered as Eagle fumble on the 15-yard line of Axtell with 11:53 left in our ballgame.   With 11:11 in the fourth quarter Hanover struck quickly with yet another score when Cohorst rambled in from 13-yards out. Yet again the 2-point conversion was no good and our score was 18-6 Hanover.   The Kadrick Cohorst show continued when he ran in his fourth rushing touchdown of the night from 7-yards out with 6:42 left in the fourth. The ever important 2-point conversion was good and now Hanover led 26-6.   Things were looking quite dire for the Eagles but in a blink of an eye [player_tooltip player_id='1613456' first='Wyatt' last='Detweiler'] pumped life back into the Eagles with a 78-yard kick-off return for touchdown. That came with 6:28 left in the fourth quarter. 2-point conversion was no good and our score was now 26-12 Hanover.   Detweiler was not done inflicting immediate pain to Hanover when he recovered the onside kick with 6:21 left in the game. One had to have known Axtell was not going to go away easily.   With 3:29 in the fourth we had ourselves a ballgame once again after Joe Lybarger got in the endzone with a 1-yard touchdown run. 2-point conversion was no good but it was still a one score game with Hanover up 26-18.   Axtell came up big defensively and forced a Hanover punt. That punt was shanked and the Eagles were in business trying to tie this ballgame up with around 1:30 left in Hanover territory. Hanover defensively bowed up one last time and forced Axtell into a turnover of downs with :32 with a pass break-up and Hanover snaps Axtell's 58 game winning streak with a 26-18 victory.   Again this was a instant classic and one would expect these two teams to likely see each other once again in the 8-Man II playoffs in the coming month.   Axtell (6-1) hosts a quality (4-3) Frankfort ballclub this coming Friday. Frankfort is lead by quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='780342' first='Wes' last='Anderson'] (6-foot-0, 180-pounds) who has had a really good career for the Wildcats. Hanover (7-0) on the other hand goes on the road and has yet another tough opponent in the (5-2) Linn Bulldogs who are lead by [player_tooltip player_id='1115791' first='Dylan' last='Ohlde'] (5-foot-11, 200-pounds). Hanover is now the #1 team in 8-Man II and Axtell trades spots and now lands at #3 in the polls.   I'll be heading back west to Victoria (7-0) Thursday to watch the #2 ranked Knights take on the #4 ranked (7-0) Hodgeman County Longhorns. It will definitely be a pleasure to be able to watch the top four programs in 8-Man II back-to-back weeks. Then on Friday I'll be in Russell (6-1) to watch the Broncos take on the (4-3) Beloit Trojans for a big 2A district match-up.

Entering the 2025 football season we knew when it came to 8-Man football that all eyes would be on the Axtell Eagles. Considering they are the four-time 8-Man II defending state champs and entered the season on a 8-Man state record 52 game winning streak. That streak was held prior by the Eagles opponent in the Hanover Wildcats.