By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

Bushton-Quivira Heights head football coach Jeff Savage had seen Victoria quarterback-defensive back Jordan Ottley compete in four contests, including two playoff games, the last two seasons. Last year, the 5-foot-9, 175-pound Ottley helped Victoria to a pair of wins over Quivira Heights. In the regular season, Ottley paced a big comeback and eventual 42-28 victory with four touchdowns. During the playoffs, Ottley had four tackles, an interception and 207 yards of total offense in a 56-50 Knights victory.

Ottley's play against the Thunderbirds helped the Knights finish 12-1, advance to the Eight-Man, Division II title game and establish himself as one of the top eight-man players in the state. Ottley, one of four eight-man players to earn a Shrine Bowl invitation, picked up a selection to the second annual Kansas vs. Nebraska Eight-Man All-Star game on Saturday.

"I have the utmost respect for Jordan," Savage said. "He is a true competitor. I told him God didn't bless him with a big body. He is not a big kid. He is not super fast, but he has incredible intelligence and he has an incredible heart. I have seen that, and that is why we got him on this all-star team, and he showed that tonight."

Ottley, along with Sharon Springs senior linebacker Tyler O'Connor, were voted two of the four Kansas captains before the game. In the contest, Ottley, the second-smallest player on the Kansas roster, delivered an exceptional game in a 20-12 Kansas loss at Lewis Field Stadium.

Ottley picked up Kansas Defensive MVP honors with a game-high 11 tackles, two of the Kansas squad's three pass breakups, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. His fumble recovery helped Kansas start a fourth-quarter comeback that ended when Rozel-Pawnee Heights quarterback Mason Salmans fumbled with 1:18 left.

"I was just as nervous as the rest of these guys, but we had a lot of fun," Ottley said. "I am glad I got a chance to get out here."

O'Connor, who earned 246 tackles in his last two years for the Wildcats, made seven tackles, third-best on the Kansas team, with half a sack, 11âÑ2 tackles for loss, a fumble recovery and a quarterback hurry. Entering the contest, the defense set a goal to force five turnovers. Ottley and O'Connor helped Kansas force six fumbles and recover three.

"Our defense did an amazing job," O'Connor said. "We have been working on the spread the most of the time, working on the outside blitzes and inside blitzes on the spread, so we came in starting with a base defense and then kind of looking to see what they were doing, where they were hurting us, and sending the blitzes from there.

"We called a lot of the right plays. (Savage) did a great job of doing the play calling. Just a few big plays that they had killed us," he added.

Nebraska averaged just 2.1 yards per rush, 3.9 yards per play and finished with 205 total yards, 71 fewer than Kansas. However, Nebraska had two big pass plays in the first half and two punt returns that helped set up short fields for touchdowns. Nebraska was led by Ewing quarterback Brett Kaczor, an athletic playmaker who earned Nebraska Offensive MVP honors.

"We shut them down pretty much for the whole first half except for those two plays that they had," O'Connor said.

At the end of the first half, Ottley had a game-high seven tackles, while O'Connor had six tackles. Both made game-changing plays in the second half. O'Connor came through the line with 6:59 left in the third quarter, had a sack and recovered a fumble at the Nebraska 30.

"We had a blitz through the B gap called," O'Connor said. "The guard collapsed down on the nose guard, so I came through untouched and someone got a hand on the ball and it kind of popped out and lost control. It started hopping along, so I thought I'd get on it. It was a good play by the whole defense."

Ottley's fumble recovery with 2:34 left helped set up Kansas' final touchdown and closed the deficit to 20-12.

"That was awesome," Ottley said.

After the TD, Kansas set up for an onside kick. O'Connor and kicker John Bruna were supposed to take out the Nebraska onside player.

"(Instead), I ended up taking up the onside guy and the ball popped right back up to him (Bruna), so it worked out perfect," O'Connor said.

Kansas, though, fumbled on its drive, but Ottley and O'Connor were both pleased with the game.

"Our defense played outstanding," Ottley said.

"Our defense, I could not have been more proud of them," O'Connor said.