Class 4A-II football semifinal: Andale at Holcomb

The chance to play for a 4A-II football title comes down to Friday’s semifinals.

Here’s a closer look at Andale and Holcomb:

Class 4A-II

Andale (9-2) at Holcomb (9-2)

Andale

Top players: QB Taylor Richter, jr. (980 rushing yards, 554 passing); TB Zach Meyer, jr.; TE Jeff Ast, sr.; FB-LB Bo Knoblauch, sr.; OL-DL Mark Hageman, sr.; OL Daniel Bergkamp, sr.

Key stats: Richter has 980 rushing yards, 554 passing. Meyer has 1,223 rushing yards. Andale has won eight straight since starting the season 1-3 with losses to Buhler and Collegiate.

Indians coach Gary O’Hair

Reaction to being in the semifinals: “It’s what you do this for. Your goal is to always advance in the playoffs and hopefully make it to the state championship game. The farther you go, the better it gets.”

What has gotten you here: “It’s a combination. I kind of feel like our first playoff game, against Nickerson, the offense came through. We had to score 60 points. Then against Hugoton, we kept turning it over and putting our defense in a bad situation, and they came through time after time.”

What will it take to win: “We hadn’t (turned it over) all year and started doing it last week for a while and made it tough on us. The team that has the fewest turnovers will have the biggest advantage. They have a good-enough offense that you won’t stop them. But we need to contain them and not give up big plays. We’ve got to get drives going and keep their offense off the field.”

What fans should know about your team: “The thing we’ve been striving to do offensively all year is develop a good running game and then take what the defense is giving you. If they have to bring everyone up to stop your run, you have to be able to take advantage of it. I think our passing game is better than people realize.”

Holcomb

Top players: QB Trey Teeter, sr.; TE-DE Connor Vancleave, jr.; LB Dillon Williams, jr.; WR Christian Merz, sr.; WR-LB Brandon Stegman, jr.; OL-DL Aaron Hernandez, sr.

Key stats: Teeter, the coach’s son, has 2,265 passing yards. Williams has 114 tackles.

Longhorns coach Kent Teeter

Reaction to being in the semifinals: “Last year we made the semifinals, and it was my first year at Holcomb… We got to play Andale, and they were kind of in a league of their own. We had quite a few kis returning as starters as juniors and seniors. The kids felt like we need to be back in the playoffs again and one of our goals was to play Andale in the playoffs again.”

What has gotten you here: “Our defense has played well all year long. I didn’t feel like we played great (in a loss) against Ulysses. They blocked us better than anyone had in the last couple years. Defense since then has really improved. Our offensive and defensive lines have been really solid, and we have some playmakers who can get out in the open.”

What will it take to win: “We have a pretty good team in Andale that we have to face. They’re very good on offense. They’re patient, they’re ball controlling, they’re very well coached.… Our offense has to be productive like we have been most of the year.”

What fans should know about your team: “We’ve had some kids where in one game they had two or three touchdowns, and then in the next game, it’s someone else. We have a versatile offense. No one has been the main guy. One game we may have 200 yards rushing and then throw for 300 yards.”

This story was originally published November 18, 2015 at 3:06 PM with the headline "Class 4A-II football semifinal: Andale at Holcomb."