Cedar football team opens with win over Ponca

PONCA —  A few inches made all the difference Friday as Cedar Catholic earned a nail-biting 18-14 win over the Ponca Indians.
Cedar gave up two big plays Friday night and came inches away from two more.
Jonathon Becker made a game-saving tackle of Ponca punt returner Justin Blatchford — a tackle the speedy Ponca senior was just inches away from breaking for a score. Ponca’s Jared Curry was just a few inches away from catching a last-second catch in bounds in the back of the endzone — a catch that would have given the Indians the lead with just seconds left in the game.
The Cedar defense prevailed in both instances, however, and the Trojans went on to open the 2007 football season with the nail-biting win. The victory keeps Cedar’s 42-year gridiron win streak over the Indians intact. Cedar now boasts a 14-4 career record over the Indians. The Trojans have won the last 11 times the two teams have met.
Coach Chad Cattau said his team answered a lot of questions Friday.
“With the inexperience that we had I was worried that in crunch time we may not know how to win, but the kids did a great job of stepping up when Ponca had the momentum and getting the job done,” Cattau said.
Ponca put the first points of the game on the board on the second play from scrimmage when All State running back Justin Blatchford took the handoff, cut to his right and raced down the field on a 65-yard touchdown scamper.
The Indians scored again in the fourth quarter when Blatchford hauled in a Corey Kruse kickoff and sprinted untouched 90 yards down the field for Ponca’s second score of the night.
Cedar sandwiched an excellent ball control offense between the two plays to take control of the game and build a solid lead.
The Cedar defense stepped up after Blatchford’s first-quarter run, holding him to just 14 more yards in the first half.
“We knew he (Blatchford) was obviously one of the better backs that we’ll see this season so stopping him was a big part of what we needed to do,” Cattau said. “If you take away his one long run we would have held him to 68 yards on 21 carries, but he did have the long one early in the game.”
Cedar forced Ponca to punt four times in the first half. The Indians also turned the ball over on downs once in the half.
A trio of seniors led the defense for Cedar. Defensive end Brandon Griess led the team in tackles with nine. Defensive tackle Kyle Dump racked up 7.5 tackles. Linebacker Corey Kruse had seven stops on the night.
The Trojans put their first points on the board when Myles Lammers ended an eight-play drive with a three-yard TD plunge.
Cedar quickly put together another solid drive in the second quarter. The nine-play drive featured mostly runs by sophomore running back Chad Koch and quarterback Kyle Kramer. Kramer ended the drive when he hit Tim Wieseler from 13 yards out on an endzone crossing pattern. Cedar again missed the extra point attempt, though, giving the Trojans a 12-8 halftime lead.

Ponca opened the second half with its best drive of the contest. The Indians put together a 13-play drive and looked like they were headed to the endzone until Andy Dickes sacked Ponca quarterback Brent Smith for a 12-yard loss.
Cedar continued its ball-control offense in the second half.
The Trojans finished out the third quarter and used the first two minutes of the final frame to put together an 80-yard, 14-play scoring drive. Kramer put the ball across the goal line on a 13-yard QB keeper.
Blatchford hauled in Kruse’s kick after the TD and raced down the field to score, making it 18-14 with just over nine minutes left in the game. Ponca kept the momentum going as the Indians forced a Cedar fumble on the ensuing kick off.
Coach Mike Johnson’s defense was up to the task, however, and they only allowed the Tribe to run four plays, before forcing Jared Curry to fumble, allowing Cedar to get the ball back.
Cedar then began to chew up the clock. Putting together a nine-play drive.
The drive stalled with enough time for Ponca to make one final stab at the endzone. The defensive line contained Blatchford and the secondary kept the passing attack at bay. However, Smith was able to launch a ball into the endzone as time expired. Curry grabbed the pigskin, but came down out of bounds, giving Cedar the win.
Cedar’s senior-dominated line opened some big holes and Koch powered through them to lead the Trojan ground attack. Koch rushed for 183 yards on 36 carries. As a team, Cedar rushed for 229 yards.

“I was very pleased with the way Chad ran.  The way he was able to finish his runs was extraordinary,” Coach Cattau said.  “The offensive line, fullbacks, and wide receivers did a great job of creating holes for him to run through to get to the second level.  After that, he has to make people miss on his own and that’s a very natural thing for him to do.”
Kramer threw the ball for 98 yards on the night, completing 9-19 passing attempts. He hit six different receivers on the night.
Coach Cattau also had praise for his new starting quarterback.
“I felt that Kyle came out and threw the ball well.  We’ve added some new routes and plays to our passing game this year and we executed them very well,” Cattau said.
Cattau said the Trojans’ special teams units need a lot of work.
“I was very displeased with our special teams,” he said. “We have worked hard on them for three weeks and it looked like we hadn’t even practiced them. It will be a point of emphasis this week in practice as we prepare for Crofton.  We cannot give up big plays in the kicking game and expect to win each night out.”
The Trojans will host Crofton Friday night at Russ Hochstein Field for the Cedar Catholic home opener.

Cedar    6    6    0    6    — 18
Ponca     8    0    0    6    — 14
Cedar        Ponca
First Downs    18            9
Rushing yds    229        121
Passing yds    98            6
Total yds    327        127
Total plays    72            46
Penalties    7-45        0-0
Punts    3-118        3-72
Def. Sacks    2-25        1-2
Time of poss    29:46        18:14
RUSHING
Cedar – Chad Koch, 36-183; Kyle Kramer, 8-27; Myles Lammers, 8-16; Cody Klug, 1-3.  Ponca – Justin Blatchford, 22-134; Jared Curry, 6-11; Brandon Watchorn, 1-6; Jared Cosgrove, 1-1; Brent Smith, 11-  -31.
PASSING
Cedar -  Kyle Kramer, 9-19-98, 1 TD; Jared Curry, 1-5-6.
RECEIVING
Cedar – Corey Kruse, 2-26; Cody Klug, 2-21; Chad Koch, 2-15; Turner Becker, 1-15; Tim Wieseler, 1-13, 1 TD; Tom Steffen, 1-8. Ponca -  Justin Blatchford, 1-6.
TACKLES
Cedar – Brandon Griess, 9; Kyle Dump 7.5; Corey Kruse, 7; Tim Wieseler, 6; Myles Lammers, 5.5;  Tyson Leise, 6; Tucker Lammers, 4; Kyle Kramer, 3.5; Andy Dickes, 3.5; Tony Heine, 2; Kelby Sudbeck, 2; Chad Koch, 2; Turner Becker, 1; Jonathon Becker, 1; Eric Becker, 1. Ponca – Brandon Watchorn, 18.5; Jared Curry, 8; Garrett Peterson, 6.5; D.,J. Smith, 6; Coleman Harbough, 4;  Jstin Blatchford, 3; Brandon Rush, 3; Andrew Watchorn, 3.

.  There were a few balls that we could have probably caught that we didn’t, but that’s the nature of the game.  Kyle did an excellent job of checking down to his second and third options on many of the plays, which is unusual for a first time starter to be able to do.  The more he runs this offense, the more it’ll slow down for him and become easier to execute.

Crofton is definately known for their defensive efforts.  They have such an excellent defensive system that it can be difficult to score many points on them.  It’s a team that won’t give you a lot of breaks so you have to take advantage when you can.  They execute their double wing offense so well also that you have to be disciplined at every position to be able to stop it.  If just one person doesn’t do their job, they can have big plays on any given snap.  We know their going to be well coached and fundamentally sound so we have to come out and play to the best of our abilities and good things will happen for us.