8-man DII State - Bracket

After a dominant win over Rock Hills last week 80-30 the Axtell Eagles’ football team is in to the quarterfinal round of the 8-man DII playoffs with one of the most prolific offensive attacks in the state of Kansas.

The Eagles are on a collision course to a possible rematch with top-ranked Hanover next week, but Friday night will face another tough test going up against 9-1 Waverly who is averaging 48 points per game.

Axtell heads into the matchup with an offense that may be the at the best it’s been all season after putting up 80 points last week and truly getting the run game going for the first time this season.

The Eagles rushed for 351 yards last week against Rock Hills, led by junior quarterback Quinn Buessing who had a field rushing for 236 yards and three touchdowns on just 15 carries averaging over 15 yards per rush. J.J. Hart also rushed for 91 yards and two touchdowns while sophomore George Volle also recorded a score on the ground.

It was the first time this season that Axtell has rushed for over 200 yards as a team in a game, as the Eagles are typically a pass oriented offense that features perhaps the top passing duo in the state in Buessing and senior Hunter Koch.

On the season Buessing has thrown for 2,090 yards and 46 touchdowns to just two interceptions while he has also completed over 70 percent of his passes.

Koch is his favorite target and for good reason as the senior has compiled 1,133 receiving yards and 31 touchdowns which is now a state record, while Koch also has the state record for touchdown receptions in a career which currently sits at 61.

Along with Koch the Eagles have three other guys with over 225 receiving yards on the year with Volle and Hart combining for 16 more touchdowns.

As far as rushing the football goes Axtell does have two guys over 440 yards on the season with Buessing leading the way at 583 yards and 11 touchdowns while Hart has ran for 442 yards and eight more scores.  

The Eagles will face off against a Waverly team that has won eight straight since a week two 20-0 shutout loss to Madison who is currently 9-1.

The Bulldogs can put up numbers with the best of them and showed that last week scoring over 60 points in a 62-14 beat down of Southern Coffey pitching a shutout in the second half.

The Bulldogs average over 45 points per game and have scored over 50 points six times this season with their biggest scoring outing coming in a 66-40 shootout victory over Lost Springs-Centre.

Waverly is led by their two standouts Drew Pyle and Jake Newton who each had huge games last week with Newton recording a touchdown run and reception in the second half to break the game open.

The winner of Friday night’s quarterfinal contest will get either Hanover or St. Paul in the semifinals next week in what may turn out to essentially be the state title game.

The Eagles and Bulldogs are scheduled to kick off Friday night at 7:00 pm. in Axtell meeting for the first time.