By BRETT MARSHALL

Garden City Telegram

MOSCOW -- For most of the 2008 football season, when Jordan Ottley clicks on all cylinders so do the Victoria Knights.

That's how the No. 1-ranked team in Eight-Man, Division II had gone unbeaten through its first 11 games and that's how they remained unbeaten here Saturday afternoon by outlasting the Moscow Wildcats 56-46 in a sub-state title game that moves them into Saturday's state championship contest in Newton against unbeaten Hanover.

But this game certainly didn't come easy for the Knights as head coach Doug Oberle said afterward.

"Moscow is a great, great football team," Oberle said. "They played hard and did an outstanding job. Both teams wanted this game and at times we got a little sloppy and they took advantage of it."

But Oberle reserved special praise for both his senior quarterback Ottley and his offensive line. And for good reason.

That group in the trenches plowed enough open holes for Ottley and his running back teammates to unleash a 480-yard ground attack that eventually was too much for the Wildcats. And Ottley was the critical player in this performance -- rushing 21 times for 265 yards, scoring three touchdowns rushing (65, 30 and 34 yards) and completing two passes for touchdowns (21 yards to Kameron Dinkel in the first quarter and 9 yards to Andrew Karlin in the third quarter).

"Jordan played a big game for us and we certainly needed every bit of it," said Oberle. "This is a good win and the kids deserve this. They fought hard the entire game. I'm telling you, though, the team we beat is as good as we've seen. No. 4 (Taylor Roop), we couldn't tackle him all day. He did a great job."

Roop was a thorn in the side of the Knights for much of the game although the senior quarterback, who had rushed for over 1,000 yards for the season, was limited by the to 59 rushing yards on 19 carries. He did, however, complete 10-of-20 passes for 207 yards, threw for two touchdowns and ran for another two. But it was his counterpart, Ottley, who was the star of the game.

"We did it when we needed to," said Ottley. "I can thank my line for doing a great job. We stayed strong and when the run was open, the line just opened up holes for us. Moscow is a great team, more physical than any team we've played. They really came back and fought us hard, so this is 10 times better than the others."

The Knights took a 42-32 advantage into the final quarter only to see Roop score another TD, this time from nine yards out with 11:53 to play and then hit Jace Moore for the point after, cutting the lead to 42-40. It stayed that way until 3:28 was left to play when Koerner raced 28 yards for a score. The failed conversion pass left the Knights with a 48-40 lead. Still, the Wildcats refused to go away.

Roop and Anthony Hernandez took the 'Cats downfield as Roop connected on a 14-yard strike to Moore with 1:53 on the clock. The Knights tipped away the potential tying point-after pass to keep a two-point edge.

Moscow's onside kick attempt failed when Koerner recovered near midfield and on the second scrimmage play, Ottley was off to the races once again, this time going for 34 yards and what proved to be the clinching score. He added insurance with a 2-point conversion run and 1:39 showing. Moscow did make it down to the Knights' 24 on its final drive, but Roop was intercepted by Garrett Dreiling who returned it 54 yards to the Wildcat 8 and the Knights simply went to the knee three times to run out the clock.

The game started as though the Knights were going to roll to a huge victory, going up 14-0 just 5 minutes, 10 seconds into the game. Blake Klaus scored from seven yards out to cap off a 65-yard, 9-play drive that took only 2:31 off the clock. On Moscow's first possession, Evan Koerner intercepted Roop and returned it 21 yards to the Wildcat 24. Three plays later Ottley found Kameron Dinkel wide open and the two point conversion pass made it 14-0 at the 6:50 mark of the first period.

"I'm not sure that we slacked off after that but it was that Moscow really came after us," said Oberle.

And the Wildcats did. Three unanswered first quarter touchdowns (one successful PAT pass and two failed runs) made it 20-14 after 12 minutes. The see-saw affair was off and running as Koerner plunged in from the one making it 22-20 at the 9:33 mark. Roop countered with a 5-yard scamper at 7:34 and it was now Moscow up 26-22. Ottley's first of his three scores came on a 65-yard run just 12 seconds later to put Victoria up 28-26 and that's how the first half ended.

Ottley got the Knights off and rolling in the third quarter with a 9-yard pass to Andrew Karlin and later sped 30 yards for another score. Sandwiched in between was Moscow's Hernandez who scampered 55 yards for a TD. That gave the Knights the 10-point cushion heading into the final 12 minutes.

For the third consecutive time that the Knights have made it to the sub-state in even-numbered years (2004 and 2006), they won on the road to move into the championship game. Each time, they came away with a state title. Will the third time be the charm for them? Oberle and his players will find that out in seven days.