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 win also gave Axtell their third state championship game appearance and their first since 1993 where they are 1-1 in their two trips to state.
In last week’s victory over Hanover 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 while Isaac Detweiler also racked up 109 yards receiving.
Quinn is now up to 2,263 yards passing with 39 touchdowns to just two interceptions while he has ran for 548 yards and 19 more scores. He has thrown for over 7,000 yards and over 100 touchdowns in his career while last season he finished second in classes in passing yards while leading the state in touchdown passes by 13.
His favorite target this season has wound up being freshman and coach’s son Isaac Detweiler who has recorded 827 yards receiving with 11 touchdowns while Derek Buessing has compiled 718 yard and 17 scores. Mitchell Buessing adds over 800 yards receiving and rushing with 11 combined touchdowns.
Defensively the Eagles are led by junior Kolby Talbot who has compiled 85 tackles and 19 tackles for loss on the year, while Quinn Buessing and Detweiler each have seven interceptions.
The Eagles will face off against Osborne who is coming off a 52-26 win over Central Christian and coming off a runner-up finish to Hanover in the state title game a year ago.
The Bulldogs are a perfect 12-0 on the year and last week got back senior running back Darrien Holloway from injury who is one of the state’s best players. He shined rushing 29 times for 195 yards and three touchdowns while compiling a team-high 12 tackles.
Along with Holloway, sophomore Mason Shurr added 94 yards and two scores while senior Steele Wolters added over 100 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns.
On the season Holloway has rushed for over 1,100 yards with 22 touchdowns and for his career has compiled 3,579 yards and 70 touchdowns on the ground.
Wolters and Shurr have each added over 700 yards on the ground with 30 combined touchdowns while Wolters has thrown for 553 yards and 12 scores compared to just two interceptions.
He also is second on the defense with 123 total tackles and four interceptions while Evan Garman leads the unit with 130 tackles and two sacks.
Osborne is in their fifth state championship game where they boast a 3-1 record while Axtell looks to wrap up stellar careers of a senior class that has been one of the best in school history.
Kickoff for Saturday’s game is scheduled for 3 p.m. from Newton-Fischer Field with live coverage on Sunny 101.3 and online here.
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