By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

All season, the adjectives and superlatives poured in for Otis-Bison senior quarterback/defensive back Kevin Wissman. Victoria coach Doug Oberle labeled Wissman "the best player we have seen."

Cunningham coach Lance McGuire said Wissman "ran 360s around some of our freshmen" and "really had some of us spinning around." Sharon Springs designed a defense specifically to contain Wissman, but the Cougars still tallied 60 points. Afterwards, Wildcat coach Kevin Ayers called Wissman "a special, special player."

Otis-Bison coach Travis Starr provided one other title:

"They look to him like a real sergeant," Starr said of his players. "He means a lot to them. They rally around him."

Wissman's leadership, especially in summer workouts and 7-on-7 drills, and all-around play fueled the biggest one-season turnaround in Kansas high school football. The Cougars, hampered by a hurt Wissman in 2008, finished 2-7. This year, they delivered a 10-1 record and a No. 5 final ranking in Eight-Man, Division II in the statewide media poll. The Cougars won their first playoff game and delivered their best season since going 10-1 in 2003. Wissman earned Hays Daily News Offensive Player of the Year honors on the 26th annual Super 11 team.

"He got the guys together in the summer," Starr said. "He was our coach when we couldn't be there. He did the things that he needed to do as far as being a senior leader -- and that he thought he had to do. He did a good job. It wouldn't have worked if the kids didn't believe in him like they do."

Wissman, 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds, delivered impressive numbers, including 120 rushes for 1,097 yards and 27 rushing touchdowns.

Helped by the summer workouts, Wissman, who completed 45 percent of his passes as a junior, was 27-of-48 passing for 457 yards with nine touchdowns.

"Their hands got better," he said. "My passing got better. We got to work on it."

In addition, Wissman also caught three passes for 40 yards and a score. He returned eight kicks for 255 yards and 2 touchdowns and collected 231 yards and three scores on 10 punt returns. Overall, Wissman accounted for 42 offensive touchdowns with 2,080 yards on 189 touches.

"I've got some good memories," Wissman said. "You always have plays that stand out. Too many to remember."

"He has done some unbelievable things around here," Starr said.

Wissman, a four-year starter, didn't play quarterback the first four games of '08 because of shoulder surgery. The Cougars opened 0-4 and finished with two wins, bumping Starr's career mark to 12-24. This season, the Cougars had two seniors, but a large junior class, including six who had played since freshmen.

"I think you could kind of look at this group and you could kind of tell when they were juniors and seniors, that, hey this could be the year," Starr said. "You still didn't know. You didn't know if you could go from 2-7 to 10-1 all in one year."

The process started in the summer. Wissman said multiple times that he wanted to improve the team's leadership entering 2009. He and senior lineman Matt Suppes gathered players from multiple towns, including Albert, Olmitz, Hoisington, Otis and Bison.

"It's hard to communicate and get everyone here, but we pretty much got everybody that we wanted," he said.

The team met three times a week during the summer to lift weights. After each workout, the players ran through drills, a difference from past years. On Sundays, the Cougars went through 7-on-7 passing drills. On days the coaches couldn't be present, Wissman led.

"He made sure everybody was there and accounted for," Starr said. "I think he kind of took it upon himself."

The work helped Otis-Bison lead Kansas in scoring offense for much of the season. The Cougars eventually finished with 608 points, one of 10 teams, regardless of classification, to score more than 600 points. In Week 3, Wissman rushed for more than 200 yards and led an 18-point comeback for a 44-38 double-overtime win against Macksville.

"I think they started believing," Starr said. "We thought that we were one of the top teams in the state."

In Week 8, Wissman and the Cougars delivered their signature win, 72-26, at Victoria, then undefeated and ranked No. 1. Wissman -- "just incredibly tough to tackle," Oberle said -- often broke three and four tackles per play, rushed for 164 yards and accounted for six scores.

On one play, Victoria didn't rush anybody and Wissman had nearly 10 seconds before he completed a pass.

"His confidence and watching him play out there got everybody going out there," Starr said.

"You could tell that they were playing at a higher level and he was, too. There were plays that you thought he was done and they weren't getting him down."

In the first round of the playoffs, Ayers unveiled a new stack defense. After a scoreless first quarter, the Cougars eventually won 60-30. Wissman was responsible for more than 200 yards of total offense and four touchdowns, including a 40-yard TD off an onside kick where, instead of downing the ball, he picked up the bouncing ball and then sprinted past the Wildcats.

"You could just see his leadership out there on the field as far as what he meant to the other guys," Starr said.

"The little things that he does for the program are just unbelievable."