Turnovers, empty red zone visits hurt Rabbits at state
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EYOTA -- Wabasso was unable to overcome five turnovers and three empty trips to the red zone as it fell to Border West 28-6 in the opening round of the Class Nine-Player Football State Tournament on Thursday.
"They're really well-coached and they have good size and they do a lot of dynamic stuff offensively," Wabasso head coach Joe Kemp said. "Tonight, what they really did is play good defense and pass guys off in zone coverage. You just can't make mistakes, and not converting the three times in the first half inside the 10 and then the second half starting off with the turnovers, those things cost you when you get to this level."
Border West, the second seed in the south bracket of the tournament, went up 14-0 in the first half, and Wabasso, the third seed in the south bracket, fumbled on its first two possessions of the second half.
"I've seen it happen a million times in these big games," coach Kemp said. "We haven't been here in a while, so we were kind of shocked with it. Again, going back to just not converting those touchdowns early, it gets in your head a little bit. Kudos to Border West, they played a great game. We had a slow start and made those mistakes. Tough to recover up here."
Border West scored on its first drive as Dylan Groebner broke off a 61-yard rushing touchdown for an 8-0 lead. The teams traded punts, and Wabasso was able to drive down to the Border West 3-yard line, but were unable to convert, turning it over on downs. Border West punted it back, but an interception gave the Buccaneers the ball back, and this time Owen Deal connected with Teague Nachbor for a 40-yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead. Wabasso again got it inside the opposing 10-yard line, but another turnover on downs meant the Rabbits came up empty. Wabasso had one more chance before halftime as a bad snap on a punt meant the Rabbits got the ball all the way at the Border West 7-yard line, but another interception ended the attempt short.
Wabasso fumbled the second-half kickoff for its third turnover of the game, and while the Rabbits defense got it back with Joe Rohlik recovering a fumble of his own, Wabasso fumbled it again on the next drive, and this time Border West marched down and scored a touchdown on a four-yard run by Deal for a 20-0 lead. Wabasso turned it over on downs, and Border West took the game into the fourth quarter on a drive that ended in a 5-yard touchdown run by Groebner and a 28-0 lead. Wabasso had its fifth turnover of the game a few drives later on an interception, but was able to close out the game with a 13-play drive, with quarterback Drew Kemp hitting Rohlik for a 15-yard gain and then Jack Burns for an 11-yard gain, then finished off the drive with a quarterback sneak for a touchdown. But Border West was able to kneel out the rest of the clock for the win.
Despite it ending with a loss, coach Kemp was proud of where the team ended the season in the state tournament.
"I'm super proud of these guys," he said. "Had most of them through junior high when I coached junior high a little bit. To see the improvement and what we expect out of Wabasso football to get us back to this level, those guys are the reason we're here. We want them to be the reason we continue to be at this level. Super proud of the guys."