Last season the Axtell football team fell one win short of reaching the 8-man DII State Championship falling to Hanover in the sub-state championship game.

Friday night the Eagles made sure that wouldn’t happen again as the Eagles senior quarterback Quinn Buessing scored four times in a 26-12 win over Hanover ending the Wildcats bid for a fourth straight state title.

The Eagles jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first quarter on a touchdown run from Buessing and a conversion pass to Derek Buessing before Hanover got a score on a Jacob Jueneman 5-yard run.

From there Axtell scored two more touchdowns before halftime on a Buessing pass to Isaac Detweiler and a 22-yard pass to JJ Hart putting the Eagles up 20-6 at the half.

After a scoreless third quarter Buessing put the game away with a 12-yard run midway through the fourth quarter before Hanover got a final touchdown from Jacob Jueneman.

Buessing finished with 232 yards passing and 112 yards rushing along with nine tackles and two interceptions. Isaac Detweiler also racked up 109 yards receiving while Hanover was led by Jacob Jueneman compiled over 250 total yards of offense.

The Eagles’ defense forced three total turnovers in the game and put an end to Hanover’s hopes of winning a fourth consecutive state title.

Axtell (11-1) moves on to their first state championship game since 1993 as they will take on Osborne (12-0) in Newton at Fischer Field next Saturday.