Hayden 20, Holton 8

The second meeting of the year between Wildcat rivals was opposite in a lot of ways; however, the same team prevaileid as Hayden knocked off Holton Friday in the Sub-State showdown.  Holton won the turnover battle 3-0 this time, but could not sustain drives, and more importantly, finish drives and captalize on Hayden mistakes.  This game, unlike the 47-32 Hayden win in week eight, was a defensive battle in the cold and wind and Hayden was the team able to control the ball and dominate time of possession, puntuated by a 15-play drive that chewed up eight minutes in the fourth quarter.   In comparrison, Holton only got 16 offensive snaps in the entire second half.  Hayden converted a pair of fourth downs on that final drive while previously moving the sticks on eight of nine third down plays.  Holton was a mere 1 of 9 on third down tries and was also stopped on all four of their fourth-down attempts, which were all on Hayden's side of the field. 

Hayden scored on their first two drives, showcasing a lot of trickery and misdirection as a 39 yard double reverse run by Deshawn Hanika set up a Thomas Stringer eight-yard TD run and in the closing seconds of the first quarter with the wind, Hanika caught a 38 yard pass from Sampson Huston to make it 14-0.  Holton's offense had just one play over 20 yards and that came on the first play of the second quarter as Miles McClintock-Stozier broke tackles up the middle and sprinted past Hayden for an 81-yard TD.  His pass to Carson Meerpohl for the two-point conversion brought Holton within 14-8.  But Holton could muster only one first down in their final drives drives of the first half, including getting the ball at the Hayden 38-yard-line after McClintock-Stozier recoverd a fumble and then starting a drive at the Hayden 19-yard-line after a muffed punt. 

Hayden put together an eight-play, 65 yard drive to open the second half as Stringer scored on a 15-yard run to cap the scoring before Hayden played keep-a-way the rest of the game and ran 33 plays in the second half to Holton's 16.  Hayden outgained Holton 373 yards to just 251 and had 10 more first downs, despite standing at minus-three in the turnover battle.  Stringer had 105 yards rushing while Andrew Smith and Huston each ran for more than 75 yards in a balanced attack.  With their seventh consecutive win, Hayden (8-4) advances to play Pratt in the 4AD2 Championship next Saturday in Salina.

Holton got 104 yards from McClintock-Stozier on just nine carries and Spencer Baum added 98 yards on 16 totes.  The other 49 yards of Holton's offense came from Tyler Price and Mason Strader.  AJ Haussler had a big game defensively, including an interception in the end of the third quarter.  Led by 12 seniors, the Wildcats end the season 7-5 after capturing Regional and Sectional titles in their 19th straight playoff campaign, but fall one-game short of returning to the title game.