For the eighth time in school history and the second straight year the Victoria Knights are headed to the state championship game after a 40-8 win over Wallace County Friday night in Sharon Springs.
Early on the first drive of the game Knights starting quarterback Joe Dortland went down with an injury forcing Victoria to turn to Brady Dinkel who accounted for five touchdowns in the win.
Dinkel, who suffered an injury in the Knights week-one win over Central Plains and missed six regular season games, threw a pair of first quarter touchdowns, one to Taylor Corley for 38 yards and a second to Grant Weber for 11 yards putting Victoria up 16-0 after the first quarter.
The Knights offense would stall in the second quarter with a fumble inside the red zone and a number of untimely negative plays. Wallace County took advantage of the Knights struggles late in the second quarter with a 67-yard drive capped off with a 7-yard touchdown pass cutting the lead to 16-8 at halftime.
With the momentum on their side coming out of the halftime break it appeared the Wildcats were in a position to make it a game but the Knights defense forced a three-and-out on Wallace County’s first possession of the second half. Victoria’s offense took the ball right down the field, on their first possession of the second half and capped off a nine-play, 45-yard drive with a 15-yard Dinkel touchdown run putting the Knights up 24-8.
Dinkel added a second touchdown run in the third quarter giving the Knights a 32-8 heading into the fourth quarter. Victoria then put the game away in the fourth quarter with Dinkel, for a second time in the game finding Grant Weber for a 29-yard touchdown reception.
Dinkel finished with a game-high 70 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. He was also 6-of-7 passing for 117 yards and two touchdowns.
The Knights move to 11-0 on the season and have now won 23-straight games. The win also sets up a rematch of last year’s state championship game in which beat Attica/Argonia.
The 8-Man Division 2 state championship game kicks off at 3:30 Saturday Nov. 21.