CLASS 9AA FOOTBALL: BLACK PANTHERS GROUND PHOENIX

A cold, windy and wet night in Platte hindered Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy’s ability to spread out its offensive attack while favoring Platte-Geddes’s relentless ground game as the two teams battled in a rugged Class 9AA quarterfinal game Thursday night, Oct. 26.

The result was a 34-6 win and trip to the semifinals for the Black Panthers and another second-round exit for the Phoenix — their second in as many years as a cooperative.

F/M/FA, which entered the playoffs as the No. 10-seed and edged No. 7 Stanley County by a touchdown in the first round of the playoffs, finished the 2023 season with a record of 7-3.

No. 2 Platte-Geddes hosts No. 3 Howard Friday night, Nov. 3 in what should be a great game and with a trip to the Class 9AA state championship at stake.

“Honestly, it was one of the worst weather games I’ve ever been involved with,” said Phoenix head coach Dustin Tschetter. “That constant drizzle/mist that kept blowing in our face was almost worse than the two blizzards I played in when I was in high school. It was ugly.”

And — yes, he says — the conditions were a factor.

“It became more of a downhill running game,” Tschetter said, “and with their size and experience, that helped them more than us.”

Still, he continued, “we had our chances.”

Indeed, F/M/FA forced the Black Panthers into a punt on the opening possession of the game and then, following a Tyler Goodwin interception on their second possession, the Phoenix had the ball on the Platte-Geddes 10-yard line.

But the Platte-Geddes defense bottled up a handoff to junior running back Dominic Sperling on 1st and goal, successfully defended two pass attempts from Karter Weber, and senior Evan Scharberg couldn’t find the edge after taking a pitch in the backfield on 4th and goal, and the Black Panthers shut down the threat almost as soon as it began.

“We score after that interception,” Tschetter said, “it changes the whole game.”

Instead, it was Platte-Geddes who got on the board first thanks to a long march down the field that culminated in a 7-yard touchdown run and successful 2-point conversion by Joey Foxley, who finished with 80 yards rushing and a pair of scores.

While the Phoenix responded with a long touchdown drive of their own that ended with a 1-yard touchdown pass from Weber to Chris Aasen with 8 minutes left in the second quarter, the Black Panthers quickly took control of the game.

Two additional touchdowns in the second quarter made it 20-6 at the half and two more in the third broke the contest open at 34-6, and that was that.

The Phoenix did have their chances to close the gap with three promising drives in the second half, but each ended with a fumble.

“We had some sloppy ball possessions, and a lot of that was due to the weather conditions,” said Phoenix offensive coordinator Austin Unruh, who admitted the wet and windy conditions hindered the playbook.

“You have to take the weather into account,” he said. “I felt going in that we needed to get the ball on the edges and be able to throw the ball, and the weather did not make that very possible. It definitely played a factor in some of our decision making.

“On a clean day when it’s dry, it would have allowed us to expand some things more on the play calling.”

But Unruh is quick to credit the Black Panthers, too.

“I’m not taking anything away from Platte; they’re a very good football team,” he said. “They’re here for a reason. Their record reflects their coaching staff and their players. They’re not where they are by accident.

“But that game is very different on a different day.”

Platte-Geddes outmuscled the F/M/FA in yards 301 to 244, with 276 of those coming on the ground. And the Black Panthers didn’t commit a penalty or a turnover while the Phoenix lost three fumbles and were flagged five times for 35 yards.

Weber threw a solid game in spite of the weather conditions, completing 12-of-19 passes for 125 yards. On the receiving end was Aasen with 41 yards, Sam Clark with 34, Rocky Ammann with 31, Jackson Donlan with 30 and Evan Scharberg with 23.

Weber also carried the ball eight times for 61 yards.

Sawyer Wipf once again led the defensive effort with 10 tackles/assists while Tannen Auch and Ammann had eight and seven tackles/assists, respectively.

Postgame report

For Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy players, coaches and fans, the 2023 season wasn’t what they had in mind thanks to what happened against Avon on Sept. 1, when late in the game all-conference quarterback Riley Tschetter suffered a torn ACL and starting junior center Sawyer Wipf broke his hand.

While Wipf remained on the field the rest of the season — he ended up leading the team in tackles — Tschetter’s injury ended his year and forced the Phoenix coaching staff to reimagine the playbook.

“After the Avon game, when everyone thought our season was over, if you had told me we’d be in the quarterfinals and finish 7-3, I’d have said you were nuts,” said Tschetter. “But here we are. That says a lot about our progress, maturity and development.

“We’ve come a long way in two years.”

Much of that resolve is due to Weber, who quickly stepped into the starting quarterback position and, not only did well, but excelled.

“We had to put Karter in the best position possible and he did a fantastic job for us,” said Tschetter.

“Karter showed an ability to play fearless — absolutely without fear,” said Unruh. “It was coming out party for his level of athleticism. He’s a wonderful athlete and a good kid. He smiles, he bounces around, and that’s an extension of who he is. You can’t coach that.”

But it wasn’t just Weber’s ability to control the quarterback position that enabled the Phoenix to go 3-2 over the next five games and then defeat a good Stanley County team in the first round of the playoffs.

Unruh also said “strong upperclassmen leadership and strong coaching” helped F/M/FA stay on the winning side of the ledger and is “proof that we are more than that.”

“To lose your leader in Riley and have your center go down with a broken hand — a lot of teams would have thrown in the towel on the season, but that’s not who we are,” he said. “That wasn’t going to define us. Instead, we chose to put in the work.

“They want to compete and that’s all you can ask for,” said Tschetter. “They wanted to fight after the injury, and that’s what we did.”

‘Sky’s the limit’

Tschetter says most people would have never imagined that the Phoenix would post a 14-6 record in their first two seasons as a cooperative.

“I think some would have thought 6-14 was more likely,” he said. “We’ve come a long way and have built the foundation for where we want to be.”

And expectations are high.

With Tschetter and Weber both capably filling the slot behind center, the Phoenix may find themselves in a dual-quarterback position next year.

And while a number of playmakers will be lost to graduation, including offensive and defensive threats Ammann and Scharberg, a load of potential will return, including strong talent that trickles all the way down to this year’s eighth-grade class.

Given all that, Tschetter said the Phoenix will seek out both a conference championship and trip to the state title game in 2024.

“That’s the kind of a talent we have coming back and the kind of talent we have coming up,” he said.

“Boy is the sky the limit for this group,” added Unruh. “There’s a lot of positivity and connectivity on the team and the groundwork has been laid for a long, successful program.

“All the pieces are there for something spectacular moving forward.”