Ewing too much for St. Francis in D-2 final

LINCOLN -- The Humphrey St. Francis football team made a living on running the ball all year.

But Thursday, the Flyers ran into a roadblock also known as the Ewing defense.

St. Francis was held to 153 yards rushing in a 49-24 loss to Ewing in the Class D-2 state championship game before 1,378 fans at Memorial Stadium.

“We ran into a buzz saw today,” said St. Francis coach Eric Kessler, whose team finished the season 12-1. “Their size up front hurt our running game early, and they did a nice job of stopping Matt (Korus).

“We moved the ball well at times, but then their defense would make a big stop,” he said.

St. Francis, who won D-2 titles in 1995 and 1996, earned its first runner-up honor in a state final since 1998 when it was runner up in Class D-1.

The win secures the first ever football state championship for Ewing, who was runner up in Class C-2 in 1980.

What stung most for the Flyers were three failed conversions on fourth down during the game, two of which came in the first half. Losing two fumbles didn’t help either.

Meanwhile, the Tigers wasted no time finding their groove on offense.

Ewing’s offense only occupied possession of the ball for 3 minutes, 53 seconds in the first quarter, but managed to build a 21-0 lead in that time scoring on all three of its possessions in the quarter.

Leading the way was senior quarterback Brett Kaczor, who finished 10-for-11 passing for 160 yards and three touchdowns. Kaczor added 118 yards rushing and three touchdowns. He also posted 13.5 tackles on defense.

The offensive output from Kaczor and the rest of the Tigers was enough to rattle St. Francis.

“We didn’t have an answer for them on offense, and they did a nice job of slowing us down,” Kessler said.

Kaczor connected with his cousin Austin Kaczor for 5- and 51-yard touchdown strikes in the first quarter.

“It was very important for us to get off to a fast start on offense,” Ewing coach Brock Eichelberger said. “But our defense played well and has kept us in games all year.”

Eichelberger said Ewing’s game plan on defense was to stop Korus from having a big day on the ground and was confident that if the St. Francis runner would be held to around 100 yards rushing the Tigers would win.

Mission accomplished.

Korus finished with 105 yards rushing and scored on 2-yard run in the fourth quarter, but by then Ewing was in full control.

With slim pickings on the ground, St. Francis turned to senior quarterback Derek Classen.

Classen finished 15-for-21 passing for 205 yards and two touchdowns, one of which was snared by Korus for 44 yards.

The other touchdown pass was caught by Austin Wegener for five yards with 17 seconds remaining in the first half making it 29-12 in favor of Ewing.

Kessler said he thought Wegener’s score was a positive, and believed the Flyers would come out and play a better second half.

Ewing had other plans beginning the second half with a six-play scoring drive capped by a 2-yard touchdown run by Kaczor, who said the Tiger offense fed off the defense the entire game.

“We knew Humphrey St. Francis was a very good offensive team,” Kaczor said. “We really took pride in our defense today.”

Korus got a taste of the Ewing’s stingy defense early and was impressed.

“We knew it was going to be tough running on them, and after they stuffed us on the first possession we lost some momentum,” Korus said. “We still had a good year. It was fun winning all the games and playing down here in Lincoln. We just came up short.”

After the game, Kessler said he and the Flyers won’t dwell on today’s game too much, but will look at this season as a whole, rather than one game.

“I can’t say enough about these kids and how they played this year,” Kessler said. “We lost 13 seniors last year, and came a long way as a team this season.”

Ewing (12-1) 21 8 14 6 -- 49

St. Francis (12-1) 0 12 0 12 -- 24

• SCORING SUMMARY: EWG -- Brett Kaczor 6-yard run (kick blocked); EWG -- Austin Kaczor 5-yard pass from B. Kaczor (B. Kaczor run); EWG -- A. Kaczor 51-yard pass from B. Kaczor (Philip Thramer kick); HSF -- Austin Wegener 2-yard run (run failed); EWG -- Beau Fry 3-yard run (Thramer pass from B. Kaczor); HSF -- Jameson Werner 4-yard pass from Derek Classen (run failed); EWG -- B. Kaczor 2-yard run (Fry run); EWG -- Josiah Switzer 19-yard pass from B. Kaczor (pass failed); HSF -- Matt Korus 2-yard run (run failed); EWG -- B. Kaczor 8-yard run (kick failed); HSF -- Korus 44-yard pass from D. Classen (pass failed).

TEAM STATISTICS

EWG HSF

First Downs 18 17

Rushes-Yards 47-212 40-153

Passes (Comp-Att-Int) 10-11-0 15-21-0

Passing Yards 160 205

Total Yards 372 358

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 6-2

Punts-Avg. 3-22.7 2-25.5

Penalties Yards 6-51 4-29

Individual Statistics

• RUSHING: EWG -- B. Kaczor 20-117, Fry 22-85, Thramer 3-11; HSF -- Korus 27-105, D. Classen 6-28, A. Wegener 4-16, Werner 3-4

• PASSING: EWG -- B. Kaczor 10-11-0-160; HSF -- D. Classen 15-21-0-205

• RECEIVING: EWG -- A. Kaczor 5-86, Thramer 3-59, Switzer 2-15; HSF -- A. Wegener 7-78, Werner 4-39, Trent Classen 2-30, Korus 1-44, Kyle Christensen 1-14.

• TACKLING: EWG -- B. Kaczor 13.5, A. Kaczor 10, Chad Rokahr 7.5; HSF -- Wegener 10, T. Classen 8, Werner 5.5, D. Classen 5.5, Nick Krings 5, Jeff Brockhaus 4.5, Korus 4, Christensen 2.5, Dylan Klassen 2.5, Jared Heinen 2, Blake Wegener 1.