By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

OTIS -- All week, the Otis-Bison prep football team saw film of a 3-2 defense from Sharon Springs. However, in the first round of the playoffs Tuesday night, the Wildcats opened in a stack formation.

"We were not expecting that," senior quarterback Kevin Wissman said. "Even our coaches, they have mentioned that they have never seen that defense in their life."

"I would say our line was pretty confused at first," junior running back Michael Hlavaty said.

Sharon Springs held Otis-Bison, the state's highest scoring offense, without a score in the first quarter. The second quarter, though, immediately yielded a change. The Cougars scored in four plays and never trailed in a 60-30 home victory.

"They come off the ball and played us really tough," Cougar coach Travis Starr said. "It was one of those games that went back and forth a little bit. I think they came out and played hard, but we didn't have the surge like we had been having in the past. We started doing some good things in the second quarter."

Wissman, Hlavaty and Otis-Bison's offensive line, three bulwarks all season, helped the Cougars, ranked No. 2 in the statewide media poll in Eight-Man, Division II, move to 10-0 and continue the state's biggest turnaround.

Otis-Bison, 2-7 last season, made its third trip to the postseason in 14 years and won its first playoff game since 2003. Sharon Springs finished 7-3.

"We are kind of the underdog even though we are at the top of the state," Hlavaty said. "We are kind of the underdog since we have never been here before, so we feel like we have something to prove, so we don't feel any pressure. We just know what we can do and what we got to do, so we just come out and play."

Wissman, one of the state's top players, finished with 134 rushing yards on 19 carries and three rushing touchdowns, went 2-for-4 passing for 47 yards, returned an onside kick 40 yards for a score, intercepted a pass and forced a fumble. Similar to past contests, Wissman juked defenders with stiff arms and spin moves, broke four tackles on several plays and delivered multiple big runs.

"Sometimes you wonder what he is thinking in his head, but you know every time he gets the ball, he wants to score," Hlavaty said. "He knows he can score and sometimes you just catch yourself sitting there watching when you are supposed to be blocking. He does some crazy things. I don't know how he does it."

Sharon Springs coach Kevin Ayers, a 12-year veteran with three state titles, called Wissman "no question" one of the best players he has seen.

"He is a special, special player," Ayers said. "The thing about it is, he has got guys around him that allow him to be even more dynamic in what he does."

That includes Hlavaty, the Cougars' bruising fullback who picked up 106 yards and three touchdowns, junior linemen Josh Krom (31âÑ2 tackles for loss) and Robert Kolas (2 tackles for loss). At first, though, the Cougars, who have scored 602 points, were confused in the first quarter. Otis-Bison had a fumble and punt on its first-quarter possessions. Sharon Springs, with putting a little pressure on Wissman, held the Cougars to 40 total yards.

"It's a defense that we haven't run this year," Ayers said. "We put it in especially for them. ... Our game plan coming in was to try to give them some different looks and try to confuse them up front hopefully and take a little of their aggressiveness out of their offensive line. Wissman is very difficult to put pressure on because as soon as you do, it opens up lanes and then he just creates."

In the second quarter, though, the Cougars had an incompletion on their first pass before Wissman completed a 27-yard pass to junior Dominic Trapp, rushed 12 yards and then capped the drive on an 11-yard TD run for an 8-0 lead. After a Wildcat punt, Wissman rushed four straight times for 32 yards and Hlavaty scored on a 1-yard run. Hlavaty moved his season numbers to 968 rushing yards and 21 rushing touchdowns.

"They communicated very well," Hlavaty said. "They figured (the defense) out pretty fast."

"We did a good job of reacting to those changes," Starr said.

After a Wissman interception, freshman Dylan Wissman rushed 16 yards for a 22-0 lead with 6:09 left in the first half. Sharon Springs, playing without injured senior quarterback Trevor Bieker, closed to 30-14 before halftime on a 77-yard kickoff return from senior Taylor Pearce, who finished with 293 all-purpose yards and three scores.

In the second half, Otis-Bison moved its lead to 44-14 on a 13-yard run from Hlavaty and a 29-yard score from Kevin Wissman, who has over 2,000 all-purpose yards and is responsible for 44 touchdowns this fall.

"In our defensive scheme, they were some things that we had to give up in order to try and contain Wissman," Ayers said. "Some reads that we were making that set us up for some big plays if they found them out and caught us in the right defense with the right play call."

Kevin Wissman, with four special teams returns, tacked on the final score with 7:59 remaining. Sharon Springs tried an onside kick and Wissman, on the hands team, picked up the kick, rushed around left end and scored from 40 yards as the Cougars moved forward in the playoffs.

"I probably should be in trouble for that, but since I scored, I think I am OK," he said.

"I just saw where he was kicking it. I was thinking about falling on it and I think it bounced right up to my arms and I took off for a touchdown."