Howells reclaims D-1 championship

LINCOLN -- The Howells football team’s game plan on offense hasn’t been a secret since the opening week of the season.

The Bobcats run the ball, and running back Clint Belina takes the lead.

It’s simple, but effective.

More importantly, no team has been able to entirely keep Belina and the Bobcats from executing it at their will.

Axtell was the most recent team to find that out falling to Howells 46-21 in the Class D-1 state championship Thursday before 1,517 fans at Memorial Stadium. It’s the Bobcats seventh D-1 title and first since they capped a string of six consecutive D-1 championships in 2005. Howells played Class C-2 the past two seasons qualifying for the playoffs both seasons before returning to D-1 this fall.

“This is a huge win for the program,” said Howells coach Mike Speirs, whose team defeated Axtell 46-6 in the 2005 title game. “This team was a fun group to coach.”

Belina, who finished with 310 yards rushing and six touchdowns, executed the Bobcats’ game plan flawlessly, and got to work early scoring the games first four touchdowns.

All of the 6-foot-2 junior’s touchdowns were runs, the longest being from 26 yards, and each touchdown went a long way in proving which Bobcat makes the Howells’ offense click.

“Clint had a nice game running the ball,” Speirs said. “That’s our offense, and our blocking up front was great.”

Belina agreed.

“Like I’ve said all season, the offensive line makes the holes and I run through them,” Belina said. “It’s never a hard job for me with them making those big holes. It makes things a lot easier, and less painful for me.”

Axtell sidelined Belina for 6 minutes, 12 seconds in the second quarter executing a 14-play, 59-yard scoring drive capped by a 1-yard touchdown run by Spencer Fecht.

A refreshed Belina responded with a 3-yard rushing touchdown on Howells’ next possession.

Belina’s damage on offense was well documented, but the Howells defensive unit played a major role in Axtell’s demise.

Entering the game, Speirs targeted the Wildcats’ junior quarterback Spencer Fecht as the player to contain.

“Their passing game worried us all week,” Speirs said. “We got a couple breaks on offense early, and to take that first drive to the end zone for a score in a game like this is huge.”

Axtell coach Kent Ropers said Howells’ defensive man-to-man scheme was unexpected and caused problems for Fecht.

“We got in a big hole early, and it didn’t help that we turned the ball over several times,” Ropers said. “We expected them to play us zone, but they threw us for a loop when they came out in man coverage, which disrupted Spencer’s passing.”

Fecht was 5-for-14 passing for 73 yards and was intercepted twice. One of those interceptions was returned 11 yards for a touchdown by Cody Hegemann who picked off the pass after Fecht and the Wildcats lined up in a stacked-right formation hoping to pick up a quick score before halftime.

Instead Howells’ took a 40-7 advantage into the locker room.

Axtell put together some drives in the second half, but Howells’ simple I-formation offense had already done its damage.

And Belina stands by the Bobcats one-dimensional offense.

“Our coaches told us all year we may have the most boring offense in the state, but if it gets the job done than you have to go with it,” Belina said. “It definitely got the job done tonight.”

Howells (13-0) 20 20 0 6 -- 46

Axtell (9-4) 0 7 0 14 -- 21

• Scoring Summary: HOW -- Clint Belina 5-yard run (run failed); HOW �” C. Belina 2-yard run (C. Belina run); HOW -- C. Belina 16-yard run (run failed); HOW -- C. Belina 4-yard run (run failed); AXT -- Spencer Fecht 1-yard run (Casey Eggleston kick); HOW -- C. Belina 3-yard run (run failed); HOW -- Cody Hegemann 11-yard interception return (Brian Prusa run); HOW -- C. Belina 26-yard run (run failed); AXT -- Weston Gustafson 1-yard run (Eggleston kick); AXT -- James Clark 38-yard fumble recovery (Gustafson run).

Team Statistics

HOW AXT

First Downs 19 16

Rushes-Yards 57-364 51-172

Passes (Comp-Att-Int) 1-5-0 5-14-2

Passing Yards 13 73

Total Yards 377 245

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 3-1

Punts-Avg. 1-16.0 2-28.0

Penalties Yards 6-42 2-20

Individual Statistics

• RUSHING: HOW -- C. Belina 37-310, Prusa 13-36, Austin Coufal 1-6, Dustin Sindelar 1-5, Trent Mastny 1-4, Mitch Belina 1-4, Sam Schlautman 2-1; AXT -- Grant Carlson 21-86, Gustafson 16-59.

• PASSING: HOW -- Prusa 1-5-0-13; AXT -- Fecht 4-12-2-52, Brandon Benson 1-2-0-21.

• RECEIVING: HOW -- Sindelar 1-13; AXT -- Gustafson 3-48. Erik Lundeen 1-21, James Clark 1-4.

• TACKLING: HOW -- Sindelar 9.5, Mitch Tomka 7, C. Belina 6, Bryan Mejstrik 6, Cory Brester 5.5, Derek Coufal 5.5, Cody Hegemann 4.5, Jeremy Scheef 2.0, Brian Bayer 1.5, Austin Coufal 1.5, Derek Brester 1.5, Sam Schlautman 1.5, Prusa 1.5, D.J. Michael 1, Zac Boysen 1.0; AXT -- Clark 10, Heath Anderbery 9.5, Trevor Fecht 8.5, Jordan Larson 6, Gustafson 5.