ANDOVER —
    As the final seconds ticked off the clock in the fourth quarter on Saturday night, a feeling somewhere between sheer awe and immense frustration began to take over in the stands at Andover.
    The question, long on the lips of nearly everyone in attendance ever since Rock Creek's first clock-eating drive, slowly began to verbalize.
    "Who are these guys?"
    "There's going to be a lot of people looking up where Flush, Kansas is tonight," a Mustangs assistant coach quipped in the post-game huddle.
    Against a heavily favored one-loss Andover squad, Rock Creek controlled nearly every aspect of the game to walk away with a 39-12 win in its second round playoff match-up, to clinch a spot in the Class 4A State quarterfinals for the first time in school history.
    The Mustangs (9-2), who got bumped up a class from 3A this season, now sit just two wins away from the State title game.
    "We were regional champions in 2000 in 3A, so this is only the second time we've been this far," Rock Creek coach Mike Beam said. "It's a huge win, and doing it in a class higher than what we are technically — it's probably the biggest win in Rock Creek history right now."
    "It's the biggest win of my career for sure," quarterback Kegan Rawhouser added with a laugh. "They were a good team. I'm not going to lie, we were a little intimidated coming in just because they're down by Wichita, but after that first kickoff it all went away and they were just another team."
    The third smallest school in 4A and by far the smallest still alive in the playoffs, the Mustangs simply out-physicaled the Trojans (9-2) — setting the tone with a 16-play, eight-minute scoring drive on their opening series.
    Rock Creek had two drives spanning more than eight minutes, including a clock-chewing 16-play, 75-yard drive to open the second half that used up more than three-fourths of the third quarter.
    "That's just what our offense is designed to do," Rawhouser said. "We try to minimize their possessions and to maximize ours."
    The game stayed close in the opening half, with Andover taking a 9-8 lead after a 42-yard field-goal by Tanner Kircher midway through the second quarter. After Rock Creek struck back to take the lead again, Kircher hit another 41-yarder to pull the Trojans within four going into the locker room.
    Then, with the first possession of the third quarter, the Mustangs took over.
    Rock Creek's eight minute, 44 second march down the field, capped off by an 8-yard pass from Rawhouser to Dustin Miner, sucked away any momentum Andover had gained at the end of the half.
    "Everything felt like it was just going too fast," Rawhouser said. "Then we get down to about the 20-yard-line, and I look up and see that there's about seven minutes on the clock. I didn't even believe it."
    On its ensuing drive, the Trojans fumbled just across midfield to give the Mustangs the ball with just six seconds left in the quarter.
    "They just came out of the locker room and held on to it," Andover coach Mike Lee said. "These are 16, 17, 18-year-old kids that have you thinking like, 'Wow, we have to come back now. We have to come back right away.' Then you make a mistake and that anxiety goes up even higher."
    Just less than three minutes later, Rock Creek went up 32-12 after a 6-yard touchdown run by Miner, set up by his own 30-yard reception from Rawhouser just a play earlier.
    Rawhouser, who didn't throw a pass in the Mustangs' 40-7 victory over Abilene in the first-round, was a perfect 7-for-7 passing for 109 yards including two touchdown passes to Miner and another to Jacob Haverkamp. The senior quarterback also completed four passes on every one of Rock Creek's successful two-point conversion attempts.
    "They were stacking their guys in the box, so Kegan made some nice throws and my guys made some great catches," Beam said. "He's been doing a great job of running our offense. He makes my job very easy when it comes to calling plays."
    Miner, meanwhile, had a game high 98 yards rushing on 23 attempts while catching three passes for 68 yards. Matt Gee also had 93 yards on just three carries after breaking a 61-yard touchdown run late in the fourth and another 33-yarder on his next carry. The senior, who was Rock Creek's starting running back as a sophomore before switching to defensive back, also recorded an interception in the fourth — his third pick in the past two games.
    "Gee doesn't run the ball much because the son-of-a-gun doesn't like to run it," Beam said with a laugh. "He just likes playing defense and special teams. We'll put him in there now and again because he's a heck on an athlete. His play was fantastic today."
    For his part, Gee wasn't too upset after nearly topping 100-yards in two carries.
    "It felt pretty good," he said with a grin. "The coaches said they wanted me to step up and play a little running back this week, so I've been working on it."
    Rock Creek will now face one-loss defending 4A State champions Andale on the road Friday. A win over Andale would propel the Mustangs into the State semifinals for the first time — in any class — in school history.
    "It was a big win," Beam said, "but, hey, we can go out and win an even bigger one next week."

Individual statistics:
RUSHING — Rock Creek, Miner 23-98, Gee 3-93, Umscheid 19-59, Rawhouser 8-22, Beam 2-6, Wahlmeier 3-(minus 2), Roberts 2-(minus 2). Andover, Hoover 18-77, Hansen 2-24, A. Croitoru 1-5, Shaw 1-5, Lent 3-3, B. Croitoru 1-3, Shellew 1-0.
PASSING — Rock Creek, Rawhouser 6-6-0 109. Andover, Hansen 8-19-2 85.
RECEIVING — Rock Creek, Miner 3-68, Wahl 1-23, Umscheid 1-15, Haverkamp 1-3. Andover, Hilyard 4-30, Hilts 2-23, A. Croitoru 1-16, Lent 1-16.