RENSSELAER | There are ball-control offenses and then there are clock-munching, spirit-crushing attacks like the one Rensselaer displayed in Friday's 21-18 victory over Wheeler in the Class 2A Sectional 25 championship game.

"That's the way we've got to do it," Bombers coach Chris Meeks said. "As good as Wheeler's offense is, we felt we needed to control the ball."

Justin Bohannon, doing his best Brandon Grubbe imitation, ran 43 times for 223 yards. Rensselaer ran the ball 65 times, nearly double the snaps Wheeler (34) had the entire game.

"We wanted to keep our offense on the field and keep their offense off the field," Bohannon said. "We wanted to hold on to the ball as long as we could and run the clock."

Rensselaer (10-2) maintained the ball for the entire third quarter and one play of the fourth, going ahead 21-12 on Nick Green's sneak.

"We've eaten some quarters before, but it's usually out of the single wing," Meeks said. "This was out of the I set. Wheeler's got such a good line, we felt like we had to spread them out and get Justin and Ben (Ahler) the ball. They played great, physical football."

The drive featured 22 plays, all but one of them runs, three fourth-down conversions as well as another on third and 11. Bohannon tooted the ball 14 times on that possession alone.

"We usually like to spread the wealth, but all week long, we told Justin he was going to get the rock," Meeks said.

Wheeler got within three on a Kyle Kellar 11-yard run with 3:58 left, but eschewed the onsides kick and its offense, which had the ball only six times all night, never saw the field again.

"We were definitely considering it," coach Dan Klimczak said. "But we held them on another drive and we thought we could do it again. We saw (Bohannon) was cramping. We just couldn't get the ball back. The kid's just tough."

Catching Rensselaer off guard with a no-huddle offense, the Bearcats (11-1) shot out to a 12-0 lead on its first drives. It rolled down the field both times, scoring on a 35-yard pass from Sam O'Shea to Robert Hurd and a 3-yard Jarrod Branch run.

A long Bomber march got the hosts within 12-7 and Bohannon then ran the go-ahead score in from 28 yards after a Connor Houston interception of O'Shea.

"We could've easily folded," Meeks said. "But that showed the character of the kids. We've been down in the fourth quarter before and had to come back and score touchdowns at the end. I like the way we responded."

PREP FOOTBALL

Class 2A Sectional 25

Championship

Rensselaer 21, Wheeler 18

Bomber Justin Bohannon ran 43 times for 223 yards.