Collegiate’s last-ditch effort falls short in 3A championship loss to Rossville (+video)

HUTCHINSON — Traces of blood lingered on Collegiate senior Nathan Burgoyne’s lips, just below the three wads of cotton stuffed into his nose as he walked toward the Spartans’ locker room following the Class 3A title game on Saturday.

There was a splotch of blood on his white jersey, which was soaked from the rain that fell throughout. Burgoyne thinks he broke his nose when he made a 25-yard catch to get the Spartans to the Rossville 16 in the game’s final 45 seconds at Gowans Stadium.

The physical pain met little, though, because Rossville defeated Collegiate 20-19 to win its second straight title and hand the Spartans their first loss.

“I’ll remember this game for the rest of my life,” Burgoyne said, shivering. “Obviously I’ll never play high school football again. It’s been an amazing ride. I just can’t imagine it’s over.

“To get so close and lose by a point, it hurts. I’m not going to lie.”

In the final 30 seconds, Collegiate had two incomplete passes and a false start penalty. In the final eight seconds, Spartans quarterback Austin Waddell threw to the end zone but was intercepted by Jacob Bradshaw as time expired.

“If we had a couple more times, I wouldn’t have thrown that last pass,” said Waddell, who completed 12 of 21 passes for 177 yards and two touchdowns.

“A lot of regrets. The last play, nothing else really matters. It was the game-deciding moment. It was win or lose right there. We just came up short.”

The conditions slowed Collegiate and Rossville and their speedy players. There was ice packed on the field, which made cuts virtually impossible. And if a player successfully changed direction, a lengthy gain was likely. As the rain soaked the players’ uniforms, tackling became even more difficult.

“It’s hard to cut, hard to throw the ball,” Waddell said. “The ball is soaking wet. It’s hard to do anything football related.… It was a mental battle.”

Still, both teams moved the ball well.

Rossville took a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter on quarterback Tucker Horak’s five-yard touchdown run that capped a 16-play drive. He finished with 24 carries for 150 yards.

Collegiate responded with 19 unanswered points, first scoring when Waddell connected with Jack Larsen for a 24-yard touchdown pass for the 7-7 score at the half.

In the third quarter, Burgoyne scored on a 60-yard pass from Waddell for a 13-7 lead. After a Cooper Root interception, Waddell capped an eight-play drive with a one-yard scoring run for a 19-7 lead with 2:40 to go in the period. Waddell had 101 rushing yards on 20 carries.

“We thought this one was ours,” said Root, a junior. “Especially when we got the lead in the third quarter. We thought we had this one, finally.”

But on the first play of the final period, Horak finished an 11-play drive with an eight-yard touchdown run to get within 19-14.

Less than a minute later, on Collegiate’s third play following that touchdown, Horak recovered a Spartans fumble and ran 65 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.

“He made football plays today, and it wasn’t just from the quarterback position,” Rossville coach Derick Hammes said. “That’s the kind of kid he is. When the moment’s the biggest, he somehow comes up with the play needed, and he did that again for us today.”

It was a blow to Collegiate.

“It’s so painful because the conditions, and we had (a) fumble there that we typically don’t,” Collegiate coach Mike Gehrer said. “They had the same (field) condition, so you can’t complain about it. I just hate the fact that it was a determining factor.”

Collegiate forced Rossville to punt, and with 7:42 to go and, starting at its own 9, put a quality drive together.

A Rossville pass interference on third and nine at the Collegiate 22 extended the drive, and then Levi Aldag converted a fourth-and 1 near midfield.

Burgoyne’s 25-yard reception at the Rossville 16 put the Spartans in prime territory. A field goal for the win was planned.

But time ran out and the desperation pass was intercepted.

“There’s always plays in every game you play where you know you could have done something better,” Root said. “No matter how hard you try to do it, it’s always going to happen, no matter what. It’s part of the game.

“When you lose a game like that, all those plays come straight to your mind. Every single time.”

After Collegiate was given the second-placed trophy, Gehrer huddled his players around him one last time.

“I told them I was proud of them,” Gehrer said. “As a coach, you love your guys. It hurts. You feel the same pain they do.”

This story was originally published November 28, 2015 at 4:49 PM with the headline "Collegiate’s last-ditch effort falls short in 3A championship loss to Rossville (+video)."