Olpe’s two straight undefeated regular seasons have been predicated on two important values: Run the football and stop the run.
This season the Olpe defense has not allowed an opponent to run for more than 100 yards since Week Two against Osage City, and Olpe’s last four opponents have combined for 91 rushing yards. Meanwhile, Linden Stueve, Bradley Argabright and company have been dominant in the running game.
Just last Thursday in the regular season finale against Humboldt, for example, Stueve ran for 229 on only five carries, Argabright ran three times for 113 and the Eagles racked up 403 rushing yards. Humboldt ran for just 10 yards on 30 carries, and Olpe won easily, 56-0.
For the Eagles to get past Chase County in the first round of the State playoffs, which starts tonight at 7 p.m. at home, they will have to continue to dominate the run on both sides of the ball.
“A lot of their offense is running the ball, so we need to control their running game,” Schmidt said. “If we can make them one-dimensional where they have to pass the ball more — not saying they can’t pass — but seeing film, running game is a big part of their offense. That comes down to establishing the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, so I think that will be critical in the game.”
Chase County and Olpe also played in the first round last year, but Chase County (5-4) is a much-improved team this year. The Bulldogs have experience and have also relied on their running attack with two seniors in the backfield, Johnny Lang and Jesse Cole.
Olpe had a relative unknown in Stueve coming into the season, and Schmidt even thought that the Eagles would have to emphasize the pass more. Instead, Stueve has been just as dominant as Cole Krueger was last year, running for 1,189 yards through nine games.
The Eagles are not just a one-dimensional team, Schmidt likes to point out. With three-year starter Matt Redeker at quarterback, the Eagles can still win with a balanced attack if they need to.
“I think people look at us as a running team, and to me, we’re pretty balanced,” Schmidt said. “We haven’t had to throw the ball a whole bunch, and last year was the same way.
“Now, we got in the playoffs last year and we had to throw the ball to win ballgames. We kind of look at that. We definitely throw the ball at practice quite a bit, and we’ve got some kids who are experienced in those situations, and it feels a little bit the same this year as last year as far as that’s concerned.”
Olpe (9-0) beat Chase County 61-6 in last year’s first round. The key to last year’s run was making sure the Eagles didn’t overlook anyone, and Schmidt believes his team’s experience should help spark another run.
“We’ve got a handful of guys that played a lot last year that are back that had that experience, and they’re kind of our leaders this year,” Schmidt said. “Hopefully their leadership will help prepare us for these games and make it so everybody looks at it one game at a time.”
Frankfort (7-2) at Lebo (9-0)
Lebo only gets more impressive as the season goes along, and to make the Wolves even scarier to the rest of Eight-Man Division I, they’re getting healthy as the playoffs start tonight.
Lebo finished its undefeated regular season with a 50-0 mercy-rule win against Crest, a playoff team last season. Running back Devon Johnston returned from a broken leg and ran five times for 32 yards. The Lebo running attack was strong without Johnston, but should only be more dangerous in the playoffs.
Madison (8-1) at
Baileyville B&B (9-0)
Madison could not have gotten a worse draw in the first round. Baileyville ended Madison’s season last year in the State semifinals and is the top-ranked team in Eight-Man according to kansasprepfootball.com.
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