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HARTINGTON - Crofton used a relentless rushing attack to get past Hartington-Newcastle in a battle of D1 heavyweights Sept. 26.
The Warriors led for the lion’s share of the game despite giving up some yards to the Wildcats all night.
In fact, Hartington-Newcastle ran the ball for 229 yards and quarterback Austin Sudbeck completed 14-of-21 passes for another 229 yards, but the ‘Cats still fell short on the scoreboard.
The Warriors got on the board first with a 45-yard scoring toss, but Sudbeck scampered in from the 12 and after an Ashton Wakeley conversion run the game was tied 8-8.
Tyson Jackson, who would finish with 143 yards on his 19 carries, scored the first of four touchdowns on the night to take the lead back for Crofton.
Another Warrior score to open the second pushed the lead to 22-8, but a 20-yard hookup from Sudbeck to Mason Krause and a Brayden Lammers run got the Wildcats back within a touchdown, 22-16.
Crofton however would score once more in the second frame and twice in the third to go up 44-16 and a couple of Hartington-Newcastle touchdowns in the final 12 minutes wasn’t enough as the Warriors got out of town with the win.
Krause hauled in seven passes for 135 yards on offense and Sudbeck added 90 yards on the ground to his 229-yard night through the air.
Jason Heimes ran for 87 tough yards on his 18 totes of the pigskin and also grabbed a couple of passes for another 41 yards.
Ty Opfer and Kyptin Collier paced the HNS defense with seven tackles each with one of Collier’s stops being behind the line of scrimmage.
Carter Kelly had a couple of tackles for losses and Cody Cavanaugh added one in the Warrior backfield. Krause had an interception.
The road does not get any easier for the ‘Cats as they welcome undefeated Wausa/ Osmond to town Oct. 3.
HNS 8 8 0 14 - 30 CRO 14 16 14 8 - 52
FIRST QUARTER
CRO: Trevor Allen 45 pass from Preston Foxhoven, Tyson Jackson run. 0-8. HNS: Austin Sudbeck 12 run, Ashton Wakeley run. 8-8. CRO: Tyson Jackson 2 run, conversion no good. 8-14.
SECOND QUARTER
CRO: Tyson Jackson 15 run, Tyson Jackson run. 8-22. HNS: Mason Krause 20 pass from Austin Sudbeck, Brayden Lammers run. 16-22. CRO: Trevor Allen 17 pass from Preston Foxhoven, Tyson Jackson run. 16-30.
THIRD QUARTER
CRO: Tyson Jackson 56 run, conversion no good. 16-36. CRO: Jace Panning 2 run, Tyson Jackson run. 16-44.
FOURTH QUARTER
HNS: Trevon Hopping 2 run, conversion good. 2444. CRO: Tyson Jackson 6 run, Grant Jordan run. 2452. HNS: Kayne Gratzfeld 6 run, conversion no good. 30-52. HNS Passing Yards 14-22 229 1TD Rushing Yards 53-229 3TD Total Yards 67- 458
PASSING: Kayne Gratzfeld 0-1 0; Austin Sudbeck 14-21 229 1TD.
RUSHING: Kayne Gratzfeld 3-26 1TD; Keatyn Arens 2-12; Austin Sudbeck 24-90 1TD; Jason Heimes 18-87; Trevon Hopping 2-5 1TD; Ashton Wakeley 4-9.
RECEIVING: Keatyn Arens 2-27; Jason Heimes 2-41; Mason Krause 7-135 1TD; Brayden Lammers 2-23; Ashton Wakeley 1-3.
TACKLES: Ty Opfer 7; Alyk Zach 1; Kayne Gratzfeld 3; Jason Heimes 5; Carter Kelly 3 2TFL; Colton Campbell 3; Mason Krause 6 1INT; Brayden Lammers 8; Aiden Walter 1; Trevon Hopping 1; Ashton Wakeley 4; Logan Kneifl 2; Cody Cavanaugh 2 1TFL; Kyptin Collier 7 1TFL; Cris Kneifl 3; Lincoln Grutsch 4.
