OTIS — It only took 24 minutes for a winner to be decided in an Eight-Man Division-II Bi-District game on Tuesday evening.
The Otis-Bison High School football team beat Rolla 54-0, ending the game at halftime due to the 45-point rule.
“There were some things that we need to fix on offense, but we played well,” Otis-Bison head coach Travis Starr said. “We survived to keep playing. That’s the key.”
Otis-Bison hosts a quarterfinal game on Saturday against Thunder Ridge, which beat Weskan 58-12 on Tuesday night.
Cougars senior tailback Dylan Wissman scored on the second play from scrimmage, a 57-yard touchdown run.
The Pirates followed with a quick three-and-out as the Cougars defense held Rolla to 44 yards of total offense in the game.
“I think our defense played well,” Starr said. “We were in the right spot. We made plays. We made tackles. We did the things that we needed to do to win.”
Wissman finished with a team-leading 124 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns, punching in 44- and 2-yard scores in the second quarter. He returned a fumble three yards for a touchdown in the first quarter.
With the Pirates defense bruised early by Wissman, Rolla started to key in on the 1,700-yard rusher, giving quarterback Kole Urban room to run.
Urban finished with 103 rushing yards and two TDs. He also completed a 5-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Hoffman.
“Kole read it well,” Starr said of numerous option plays that bit Rolla for large chunks of yardage. “He made some nice reads on the dive option, the stretch option, whatever. He took what they were giving him, which was open field right down the middle most of the time.”
Urban had some trouble with snaps, fumbling on a few occasions. The Cougars fumbled the ball four times, losing two.
“Turnovers were a big issue early in the season,” Starr said. “We’ve had it under control, but those plays really hurt us. I’ve said we’re not a second-and-10, third-and-8 team. We run for four yards every down and wait for the big play. We can’t have those negative plays.”
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Eight-Man Division-II Bi-District
Tuesday
At Otis
Otis-Bison 54, Rolla 0
Rolla 0 0 — 0
Otis-Bison 22 32 — 54
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
Otis-Bison — Dylan Wissman 57 run (Kole Urban run), 11:08
Otis-Bison — Wissman 3 fumble recovery (run failed), 8:48
Otis-Bison — Urban 14 run (Urban run), 4:20
Second Quarter
Otis-Bison — Wissman 44 run (Urban run), 10:39
Otis-Bison — Urban 3 run (Tyler Maier pass from Urban), 9:11
Otis-Bison — Wissman 2 run (Urban run), 7:18
Otis-Bison — Jordan Hoffman 5 pass from Urban (Wissman run), 4:44
