Rensselaer senior Noah Bierma spent the offseason dreaming of nights like this.

The 6-foot-1, 190-pound running back/defensive back dedicated his summer to film study and the weight room, hoping to be on the field for every play of his final high school season.

“I’ve always wanted to play as much as I can,” Bierma said. “I just kept working at it in the offseason. As a team, we got in the weight room a lot and I was doing more on my own. And I watched a lot of film to see what I had to improve.”

Bierma scored three touchdowns Friday night as Rensselaer went on the road to Wheeler and eliminated the Bearcats with a 48-6 decision in the first round of Class 2A Sectional 33.

Rensselaer (8-2) advances to play North Newton (7-2) in next week’s sectional semifinal after the Spartans had a first-round bye.

Two of Bierma’s TDs came on offense while his third was a 42-yard interception return. It was the typical effort for Bierma, Rensselaer’s leader in the regular season with 1,263 all-purpose yards and 16 TDs.

“The only place we haven’t had him play yet is on the line,” Bombers coach Chris Meeks said of Bierma. “He can do everything. He’s an outstanding athlete who brings a lot to the table.”

The game didn’t start in Rensselaer’s favor.

On the opening possession, Wheeler (4-6) moved 63 yards on nine plays, capping the drive with a 10-yard TD run by freshman running back Trey Gibson.

“Whatever we wanted to do on that first drive worked,” Bearcats coach Adam Hudak said. “We had a fourth-and-short conversion and we controlled the line of scrimmage. But then they bottled us up for the rest of the game.”

Rensselaer countered with a three-play scoring drive, and on the ensuing possession, Bierma’s pick-six opened the floodgates for the Bombers.

By halftime, Rensselaer was ahead 42-6, leading to a running clock for the second half.

Making his first start for Rensselaer in four weeks, senior quarterback Eli Hickman threw a TD pass to Bierma and ran for another while wearing a cast to protect two broken bones in his non-throwing right hand suffered in a Week 5 loss to West Lafayette.

Hickman also filled in for injured senior kicker Kaden Pinkerman by connecting on 5 of 6 extra-point attempts.

The hand injury didn’t appear to affect Hickman, however, as he connected with sophomore running back Kelton Hesson on downfield passes of 36 and 27 yards in the first half.

Still, Hickman refused to take any credit for the offense’s success.

“Our line set up everything for us,” Hickman said. “It seemed like we were off to the races on very single play.”

Dave Melton is a freelance reporter.