Bison punch another ticket to Lincoln: McCook fights off Holdrege for chance of winning third straight state title

Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Daily Gazette McCook High School senior Brian Winder (31) signals touchdown after Bison fullback Alex Beam crosses the goal line on a 11-yard run in the fourth quarter. The TD gave McCook a 17-7 lead en route to a 17-14 win over Holdrege Saturday at Weiland Field in the Nebraska Class B football semifinals.

The McCook Bison had to overcome a tough battle against the

Holdrege Dusters Saturday in a Class B state semifinal football game.

The game was played in front of a packed house at Weiland Field.

McCook, the two-time defending Class B state champions, won a hard-fought contest against the Dusters 17-14 to improve to 11-0 and extended its winning streak to 38 consecutive games.

McCook will play Lincoln Pius X in the Class B championship at 7 p.m. next Saturday (Nov. 20) at Memorial Stadium on the University of Nebraska campus in Lincoln.

Lincoln Pius X defeated Waverly 40-14 in the East bracket semifinal at Lincoln Saturday afternoon.

McCook High School football coach Jeff Gross said the celebration was short, and the Bison coaching staff has already started to break down game film of Lincoln Pius X.

Monday morning, Gross remembered a promise he made to the seniors when they were freshmen more than three years ago.

During the 2000-2001 seasons, Holdrege swept the Bison varsity, junior varsity and freshmen games.

"I very rarely make promises or guarantees to kids, but I told these seniors when they were freshmen after a loss to Holdrege 'if you believe in me and my staff and you do your part, we will hold up our end and you will never lose to Holdrege again.' I told the senior after the win Saturday 'thanks for holding up that promise.'"

Neither McCook nor Holdrege scored in the first quarter.

McCook scored the game's first touchdown on a 15-yard touchdown run by Brendan Liess with 8:50 left in the first half. Josh Cherry kicked the extra point.

Holdrege tied the score on a 32-yard TD pass from quarterback Tyler Van Eperen to Pat Ackerman. Dustin Bailey kicked the extra point.

McCook scored an apparent TD late in the half, but the play was nullified because the officials flagged the Bison for illegally pushing ball carrier Alex Beam into the end zone.

Cherry kicked a 23-yard field goal and McCook led at halftime 10-7.

Neither team scored in the third quarter.

McCook took a 17-7 lead when Beam scored from 11 yards out and Cherry added the PAT. The TD was set up by a Jeff Lyster fumble recovery.

Holdrege closed the gap on a 3-yard TD pass from Van Eperen to Aaron Schultz.

The TD pass was set up by a bit of trickery by the Dusters, who successfully pulled off a double pass that took them from the 42 to the 19-yard line.

On the ensuing kickoff, McCook's Liess fumbled and Holdrege recovered.

Two plays later, Van Eperen was intercepted by McCook's Rico Quezada -- his second pick of the game.

Holdrege got one more possesion, but Purvis came up with the fourth takeaway of the quarter for the Bison to clinch the victory.

It was Purvis' first career interception.

Gross, whose team has eight shutouts in 12 games this season, said the Holdrege contest lived up to its billing.

"We played with a lot of guts -- my hats off to the kids," Gross said after the game Saturday.

"I'm very proud of the guys. It was a barn-burner -- a tough game. My hat's off to Holdrege. I told their coach 'I know you're sad, but it was a heck of an effort.'"

The Dusters' defense limited McCook's high powered rushing offense to 233 yards (about 229 below their season average.

Liess rushed for 101 yards on 19 carries and now has 1,812 yards rushing for the season.

Beam added 79 yards on 20 carries and now has 1,096 yards rushing for the season.

Drew Wilson contributed 4 yards rushing.

Purvis rushed for 49 yards and completed 4-of-10 passes for 79 yards.

Jeff Klug caught two passes for 50 yards. Paul Kenny caught one pass for 15 yards. Beam made one catch for 11 yards.

McCook senior punter/receiver Brian Winder punted seven times for a 35.3-yard average and laid out a Holdrege defender on a de-cleating block on a special teams play.

McCook's defense limited the Dusters to 233 total yards-- 134 passing and 99 receiving.

Holdrege, making only its second trip to the state playoffs, finished the season with a 10-2 record.

Both of the Dusters' losses came against McCook.

McCook won the 2002 Class B state title with a 39-14 victory over the Ralston Rams.

McCook defeated Omaha Bishop Roncalli 21-0 for the 2003 state title.

Next Saturday's matchup could be billed as a battle between McCook's blazing speed and Pius' size.

The Thunderbolts might outweigh McCook by 20 pounds per man on the front line.

"We're going to be pretty greedy," Gross said. "We're going down there with a purpose -- to win the game."

M -- Brendan Liess 15 run (Josh Cherry kick)

H -- Pat Ackerman 32 pass from Tyler Van Eperen (Dustin Bailey kick)

M -- Cherry 23 FG

M -- Alex Beam 11 run (Cherry kick)

H -- Aaron Schultz 3 pass from Van Eperen (Bailey kick)

Team statistics

McCook individual statistics

Rushing: Brendan Liess 19-101, Alex Beam 20-79, Tony Purvis 10-49, Drew Wilson 4-4.

Passing: Tony Purvis 4-10-0-76.

Receiving: Jeff Klug 2-50, Paul Kenny 1-15, Alex Beam 4-4.

Defense: Rico Quezada 2 ints., Tony Purvis one int.; Jeff Lyster one fum. rec.

Lincoln

Pius X 40,

Waverly 14

LINCOLN -- Dan Bargen rushed for 194 yards and four touchdowns on Saturday to lead Lincoln Pius X to a 40-14 win over Waverly in the Class B football state semifinals.

Bargen scored on runs of 6, 26, 1 and 40 yards.

Waverly opened the scoring in the first quarter on Alex Woita's 13-yard touchdown run.

Pius then used a 20-point second quarter to take control of the game.

Bargen accounted for all three of Pius' second-quarter touchdowns, rushing for two scores and hitting Matt Greenway on a 41-yard touchdown pass for the third score.

Woita rushed for 112 yards and two touchdowns in the loss for Waverly.