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Cedar Catholic pitches second straight shutout
HARTINGTON — The Cedar Catholic football team seems to be hitting its stride at the right time of the season despite having a few injuries which are consistent for the time of the year.
The Trojans and head coach Chad Cattau pitched their second straight shutout of the season with a 48-0 stroll in the park over Ponca at Russ Hochstein Field on Oct. 11.
“This was a week where we challenged our kids to make sure we prepared at a high level ,” said Cattau. “We need to be consistent and play at a higher level each week and we were able to do that. This group has been excellent in their mental and physical preparation all season.” Grady Haberer spotted Mason Baller in the Ponca secondary and hit him for a 20-yard touchdown pass and after a Jared Rutar kick the Trojans were on their way, 7-0 with just under nine minutes left in the first quarter.
“I felt we were able to set ourselves up for success by playing well on our first drive and establishing ourselves and the way we want to play,” Cattau said. “We have been playing well in all three areas and it’s really helped our balance as a team.”
Haberer finished the night with a very efficient passing game, hitting all three of the four passes he threw with all three completions resulting in a touchdown.
A little over two minutes after the first passing TD, Haberer hit Cooper Hochstein on a 34-yard pass play and Rutar’s kick made it 14-0.
The Cedar special teams got special later in the quarter when Easton Hochstein hauled in a punt and raced 60 yards the other way for the Trojans third touchdown of the evening.
Brady Hochstein got in the scoring barrage to open the second period, bolting 35 yards to paydirt.
Hochstein would score on two of his four carries on the night.
Haberer hooked up with Hunter Bensen on a 30-yard scoring play and with 9:33 left in the first half, the score ballooned to 35-0.
Brady Hochstein blasted in from the four with 4:13 left and the teams went to the halftime break with Cedar Catholic in command, 42-0.
Neither team scored in the third and the Trojans got one more score in the game on an 11-yard run by Hudson Dendinger with 9:03 remaining on the clock.
“We have a strong nucleus of guys that can carry the ball and catch the ball which makes us hard to prepare for since the ball has been distributed to a variety of guys,” Cattau said.
Brady Hochstein paced the Cedar Catholic defense with nine tackles including four stops behind the Ponca line of scrimmage. Easton Hochstein contributed eight tackles and Joe Bowen and Jake Hoebelheinrich each picked off a Ponca pass.
“We now have a bye week to help heal up some bumps and bruises and we will need to keep working on our fundamentals and skills,” the coach said. “Those are the things we can always improve on each week so we will be able to do a lot of that at this time.”
The Trojans were scheduled to take on Oakland-Craig this week but the Knights did not field a varsity team this fall.
The next game on the Cedar Catholic slate is the annual showdown with Norfolk Catholic which is set for Oct. 24 in Norfolk.
This year’s contest is drawing quite a bit of statewide attention as it will feature the top two teams in the state in Class C2.
PON (2-5) 0 0 0 0 - 0 CC (7-0) 21 21 0 6 - 48
FIRST QUARTER
CC: Mason Baller 20 pass from Grady Haberer, Jared Rutar kick, 8:58. 7-0. CC: Cooper Hochstein 34 pass from Grady Haberer, Jared Rutar kick, 6:42. 14-0. CC: Easton Hochstein 60 punt return, Jared Rutar kick, 3:00. 21-0.
