The Axtell Eagles hadn't been in the playoffs since 2008 and ended that drought this year making back to the Sub-State game this season, the same heights reached in 2008, but that is where the year came to a close on Friday night.

A four-plus hour road trip down to Argonia stood in front of the Eagles as they took on another high scoring 8-Man team in the Argonia-Attica Titans and had an early lead, kept it close until things pushed in favor of the Titans ending the Eagles season with a 70-44 loss.

The game started with a bang for Axtell on the second offensive play of the game Colton Buessing hit Caleb Heiman for a short pass and Caleb broke free from the defender and took it to the house for a 42-yard touchdown and with the two-point conversion it was 8-0 Axtell less than a minute into the game. Axtell would hold that lead until the first mistake of the game with 8:14 to go in the first the snap on a punt was over the head of Buessing and recovered in the endzone by Argonia-Attica and with the two-conversion it was tied 8-8.

Titans then took the lead in the first quarter with a three-yard run by their quarterback, Alec McDaniel for a touchdown and made it 14-8. But the Eagles were not intimidate as they pushed back to retake the lead with 9:27 in the second quarter as Buessing found Shane Talbot for a seven-yard touchdown and with the two-point conversion took the 16-14 lead. Argonia-Attica scored the next two scores on two more runs by McDaniel leading 28-16 with just over two minutes before halftime.

Looking to draw within a single score before halftime Axtell hit the Titans with another big plays as Shane Talbot who finished with a strong performance, busted a 45-yard run and the two-conversion it was a four-point game 28-22. But there was enough time for Argonia-Attica to answer and that they did before the half as McDaniel scored is fourth rushing touchdown of the game, making it 34-22 at the half.

Axtell started with the ball in the second half and marched down the field making big plays and Talbot ran it in from 14-yards out to making it a four-point game again 34-30. But the Titans answered with a Devon Newberry touchdown run but missed the two-point conversion making it a 10-point game, 40-30. After that things unraveled for the Eagles as they turned the ball over three times in the second half and Argonia-Attica scored on the offensive drive off of them, as Axtell had five turnovers in the game.

Titans pushed the lead to 64-38 scoring four straight touchdowns before Axtell broke through to the endzone again, as Buessing found Heiman for a seven-yard touchdown pass with 5:08 remaining in the game and Axtell added a four-yard touchdown pass from Buessing to Tyler Jones in the final seconds of the game, but fell 70-44 to end their season.

Eagles gave up 463 yards of offense, while gaining 382 yards themselves but had the costly turnovers in the competition. Buessing finished 24-40 for 257 yards with four touchdowns with two interceptions, while Talbot ran for 121 yards on 18 carries with two touchdowns and caught seven passes for 89 yards and a touchdown. Earning the Community National Bank "Player to Bank On" honors on KMZA were the Axtell seniors, Jones, Talbot, Noah Deters, Andrew Feldkamp and Shawn O'Neil. Four of the five seniors made major impacts in the game and throughout the season.

With the loss the Eagles close out the year 9-3, flying high to their best record since 2004 when they also finished 9-3 and a Sub-State runner-up finish; finishing as one of the top four teams in 8-Man Division II.