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Bearcats back on top
MOROCCO — Though the celebratory chant of “1-2-3 Champions” by the huddled mass of Wheeler football players may have seemed rather pedestrian, the emotions from the boys were anything but simple.
After what had been an absolute struggle to get to the title game of Class 2A Sectional 25 on Friday night, the Bearcats broke through for their first sectional crown since 2007 with a 48-6 rout over North Newton.
“It feels really good, it’s definitely a good thing to be on this side of the sideline,” Wheeler coach Dan Klimczak said, after falling to Rensselaer in the sectional championship each of the last two seasons.
The rematch with North Newton (Wheeler won 49-0 in Week 4) was a jolt of energy to a Wheeler offense that has been heavily tested. In the first two rounds of the tournament, Wheeler combined for about 200 total yards of offense and tight-rope walked away from both Andrean and Rensselaer. Against their GSSC rivals, however, Wheeler more than doubled those stats with 406 yards (305 on the ground and 101 through the air). On a blistering cold night at North Newton, the Bearcats were on fire.
In the first half, Wheeler had six possessions and each time they found paydirt. In the first quarter, the Bearcats were especially dominant. After taking over at the 45-yard line, it took five plays to score on a 4-yard-run at 8:15 by Derek Hartwig. On the next set, it took four plays, including a 33-yard breakaway TD by Robert Hurd at 3:11. It took three plays for the next one, Hurd’s 3-yard run, at 1:20.
“I just saw a cutback lane, so I took it,” said Hurd who had 63 yards in the half and helped set up a lopsided 38-0 score at the intermission.
And while the offense was robust behind Nick Naspinski (who played in his second game after returning last week from a broken ankle, and had 48 yards rushing and 94 passing yards in the half) and Hartwig (130 yards rushing for the game, with three TDs), the defense also was stout. The Spartans were held to eight total first downs and were forced into six first-half punts, many times going three and out.
“All the credit goes to my linemen, receivers, I had tons of time to throw,” Naspinski said. “Anytime the defense starts the game three-and-out, that’s a huge confidence boost for the offense.”
North Newton’s (6-6) score came in the third, when QB Ray Thomas sailed a 29-yard pass to Cody Balog at 6:27. The area’s leading rusher, North Newton junior Chad Schultz, ran for 112 yards.
“It was a lot different last week,” Klimczak said of the offense, which led to the first 12-0 Bearcats sectional winner in school history. “We had a 21-play drive. Tonight, we didn’t have a 21-play drive.”
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