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Bison blitz Hastings for the huge playoff road victory
HASTINGS, Neb. — Playoff pressure hit an all-time high as soon as McCook High’s masterminds started mixing up recipes to attack Hastings Friday night.
“It was fun. Our coaches cooked up all sorts of blitzes,” Bison junior linebacker Ollie Corbett revealed. “And yeah, they worked.”
“Getting pressure was definitely the difference,” coach Joe Vetrovsky confirmed.
The result?
A 28-point turnaround from their meeting at Weiland just four weeks earlier.
Rather than losing 38-23, the Bison unleashed their pressure on Hastings’ quarterbacks and enjoyed one sweet 34-21 playoff victory.
Junior Tristan Campbell was the ultimate “cooker” with 245 rushing yards on 31 carries and four fantastic touchdowns.
All Bison leaders appear today on Page 12.
Campbell dashed 59 yards on the game’s second play which set up this new tone to McCook-Hastings.
Those 59 yards had already surpassed what Hastings would rush for during ALL FOUR quarters (58 yards).
Hastings (6-4 final record) did turn an early interception into a quick drive and 7-7 tie.
However, McCook responded with another ingredient Hastings did not see in that first meeting:
Sophomore fullback Lee Davidson.
L.D. shot three times on quick hitters through the startled Tigers. He then led Campbell on a other first down inside Hastings’ 25.
Moments later, Campbell patiently found another crack and motored 17 yards for his second touchdown.
The Bison led 14-7 while basically never looking back.
McCook’s 331-58 ultimate rushing edge was quite a tribute to blockers like senior Beckett Heskett, Davien Hanson, juniors Trey Tiller, Simon Garcia and Eidos Klein among others.
“I just kept working my way up and got my chance,” Heskett said. “Now we’re going on to the second round of the playoffs.”
McCook (7-3) will take on Class No. 1 Bennington (9-1) Friday at 6 p.m. in Bennington.
An ultimate challenge though those Badgers did see their long four-year winning streak end against Omaha Skutt Catholic earlier this fall.
Vetrovsky knows the challenge will begin long before Friday’s kickoff.
“We can beat them with how hard we work Monday through Thursday,” he told his team after Friday’s first Class B playoff win for McCook since 2018. “Then we’ll see what happens on Friday.”
The Bison (7-3 record) literally dominated this first Friday playoff challenge from junior Miles Pollmann’s opening kickoff return.
Following Campbell’s first two TDs, McCook made its first strong defensive stop and promptly went three-for-three on TD drives.
Hanson literally drove his Tiger defender into the end zone while Campbell achieved a first and goal inside Hastings’ 10.
Another Davidson power run put that pigskin inside the one.
Following a long Hstings injury delay, Campbell pushed across the line to make it 20-7.
McCook missed that PAT, but kicking really stepped up on Pollmann’s fantastic punt bouncing out-of-bounds again near that Hastings one.
Now the blitzing fun really took center stage.
On second down from the eight, Tiger quarterback Tucker Synek took another shotgun snap which was about to become one painful BLAST.
That’s because the 6’7” Corbett looped around blockers untouched and crushed Snyek.
The ball popped loose and Ollie soon found it while teammates converged for his first varsity touchdown.
Sophomore Gunner Kaps’ PAT made it 27-7 five minutes before halftime.
Though Synek never returned, the talented Tigers still made some second-half rally attempts.
They completed a third-down pass for nearly 80 yards and closed within 27-14.
Hastings had a chance to get closer, but more Corbett leading pressure and tight coverage from sophomore Ty Junker ruined a fourth-down pass.
Campbell’s ensuing 17-yard run finished the McCook High victory.