WIBAUX – Wibaux and Jordan will have one thing in common when the two teams take the field on Saturday for the 6-man championship. They will both be looking for their first 6-Man state championship. That’s pretty much where the similarities end.
Wibaux comes in with a storied tradition that features six 8-Man state titles and double digit trips to the championship game. However, this is only the Longhorns’ second season at the 6-Man level and they’d love to add some more hardware to their collection.
“Well, we kind of knew that we had a good chance. We had a lot of kids coming back. We did well last year in our first year,” Wibaux head coach Craig Lunde said. “Part of how successful we are is, we have good competition each week and you know it’ll be fun. Jordan’s got a great team. It’ll be a different game than the first time we played them, I’m sure. We’re back to the state title game and couldn’t be happier.”
Running back Cade Dschaak added, “It really means a lot. It’s really a big tradition in Wibaux to be really good at football and really try your best. This makes me feel really proud that we can represent Wibaux the way we have.”
On the other side, Jordan has reached brand new heights this season. The Mustangs have never played in a state title game, but they come in with an extreme amount of confidence. Jordan has been on the road for all three postseason games so far and earned themselves a new nickname — road warriors.
According to head coach Brian Bills the secret is to treat it like a business trip.
“We know we’re not there to mess around and sightsee. We’re there to do a job. We take away phones at the hotels, so yeah we take it seriously,” Bills laughed. “We’re not there to swim in the hotels, we’re just there to get everything done. Our moms have helped us out giving us some snacks for the bus rides. Just making it this far, it’s been such an awesome year. That would be pretty crazy. We’ve already made history but we’re not satisfied. We want to go in Saturday and show what we can do.”
Jordan has rolled over all three opponents in the playoffs. The Mustangs have done it with a high-powered offense that averaged more than 61 points per game this season.
However, it’s their defense that has been the key to this late season charge.
““Our defense has been winning us these past three weeks’ games,” Bills said. “That’s the saying: Offense wins games, defense wins championships. We’ve been really strengthening up our defense. We try to be proactive, but if we see something, we react to it.”
Wibaux’s calling card is also a championship caliber defense. The Longhorns have allowed over 24 points only once, and that was the season opener against Geraldine-Highwood.
The Longhorns offense is not far behind. They have scored at least 40 points in every game this season and do it in a variety of ways.
Wibaux can beat you through the air on the arm of Tel Lunde or on the ground with the legs of Cade Dschaak. They also feature a Randy Moss-like target on the outside in the form of 6-foot-5 receiver Cobe Begger.
In their first meeting of the season, Wibaux held Jordan to 19 points as the Longhorns cruised to a 65-19 win.
Kickoff on Saturday is at 1:00 p.m. in Wibaux.
