GREENSBURG – The Hanover Wildcats used big plays and a pair of timely takeaways to defeat Victoria, 28-20, in the Eight-Man, Division II championship on Saturday evening at Kiowa County High school.
The state championship is the eighth in school history and the seventh since 2008 under Coach Matt Heuer.
The Wildcats and Knights battled the bitter cold temperatures and wind in the third game of the day on Memorial Field. Victoria trying to control the ball and the clock with its power run game with Weston Scherrer behind all-state lineman Kirk Huser. Hanover attempting to spread the field and get the ball in space to their many athletes.
Hanover led 12-6 at halftime thanks to a 45-yard touchdown on a double-pass from Braylon Meyn to Landon Stallbaumer before halftime.
Vicotria opened the third quarter with a promising drive, but eventually was stopped on downs seemingly keeping the game’s momentum with Hanover.
But on the first play of Hanover’s ensuing possession, Victoria’s Ethan VonLintel snagged a Wildcat screen pass with one hand and raced to the end zone for a Knight touchdown. After the two-point conversion, Victoria grabbed a 14-12 lead.
That lead was short-lived. Less than a minute later, Hanover quarterback Kadrick Cohorst connected with Cooper Bruna on a short screen pass and Bruna did the rest – racing 55 yards to pay dirt. The two-point conversion put Hanover back on top, 20-14 with 5:16 remaining in the third quarter.
Victoria responded with a seven-minute drive the resulted in a 2-yard touchdown run by Scherrer. The game remained tied at 20-20 with 10 minutes remaining as Scherrer was ruled down before reaching the goal line on the two-point conversion attempt.
After a Hanover punt, Victoria once again started to move the ball, but a Knight pass attempt was intercepted by Hanover’s Hunter Kickhaefer at the Wildcat 23-yard line with 5:23 remaining.
A couple of plays later on third-&-5, Hanover again reached into its bag of tricks. Cohorst flipped the ball to Meyn on a reverse and Meyn pulled up and launched a 52-yard touchdown pass to Kickhaefer with 4:30 remaining. The two-point pass put the Wildcats up 28-20.
After the teams exchanged punts, Victoria got the ball back at its own 12-yard line with 1:43 remaining. The Knights started to move the ball, but Kickhaefer came up with another interception – his second in the final six minutes – to seal the victory for Hanover.
Kickhaefer led Hanover with 90 receiving yards on three catches, including the game-deciding touchdown. His two interceptions in the final six minutes were also critical.
Meyn completed two passes for 97 yards – both which went for touchdowns. Cohorst passed for 100 yards and added 41 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
Victoria was led by Scherrer’s 118 yards rushing with two touchdowns.
Hanover 28, Victoria 20
Hanover (13-0): 6 – 6 – 8 – 8 | 28
Victoria (11-1): 6 -- 0 – 8 – 6 | 20
Scoring Summary:
First quarter:
0:05 | Victoria – Weston Scherrer 20-yard run (run failed), Vic. 6-0
Second quarter:
5:17 | Hanover – Kadrick Cohorst 6-yard run (run failed), Tied 6-6
2:01 | Hanover – Landon Stallbaumer 45-yard pass from Braylon Meyn (run failed), Han. 12-6
Third quarter:
6:19 | Victoria – Ethan VonLintel interception return (conv good), Vic. 14-12
5:16 | Hanover – Bruna 55-yard pass from Cohorst (conv good), Han. 20-14
Fourth quarter:
10:00 | Victoria – Weston Scherrer 2-yard run (run failed), Tied 20-20
4:30 | Hanover – Hunter Kickhaefer 52-yard pass from Meyn (conv good), Han. 28-20
TEAM STATISTICS
HAN VIC
Rushing 32-77 44-198
Passing (Comp-Att-INT) 10-15-1 3-7-2
Passing Yards 222 15
Total yards 299 213
Turnovers 1 2
Penalties 3-25 4-30
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING:
Hanover – Kadrick Cohorst 13-41; Cooper Bruna 11-40; Alec Jueneman 5-7; Braylon Meyn 2-(-14); Brody Sedlacek 1-3
Victoria – Weston Scherrer 24-118; Mason Mauch 8-47; Nick Sander 4-17; Wyatt Schmidtberger 7-15; Ethan VonLintel 1-1
PASSING:
Hanover – Cohorst 7-12-1-100; Meyn 2-2-0-97; Cooper Bruna 1-1-0-25
Victoria – Schmidtberger 3-6-1-15; Scherrer 0-1-1-0
RECEIVING:
Hanover – Hunter Kickhaefer 3-90; Cooper Bruna 2-54; Landon Stallbaumer 1-45; Jack Bruna 1-12; Alec Jueneman 1-11; Braylon Meyn 2-10
Victoria – Wesley Sander 1-12; Nick Sander 1-2; VonLintel 1-1
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