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HARTINGTON — The Cedar Catholic Trojan football team remained defensive in turning away Hershey 48-0 in the opening round of the Nebraska Class C2 Football Playoffs at Russ Hochstein Field on Halloween.
The Trojans pitched their fourth shutout of the season and their fourth in the past five games after allowing a single touchdown to Norfolk Catholic in the final week of the regular season.
“I knew it was important to get off to a good start and we were able to do just that,” said Cedar Catholic coach Chad Cattau. “We got a fourth down stop on their first possession then we scored on our first play from scrimmage. I believe that helped set the tone for the entire night.”
Brady Hochstein did the honors on that first score with a 24-yard dash to the end zone and after the extra point was blocked, the Trojans were up 6-0 with 9:45 left in the first 12 minutes.
Hunter Bensen then took the ball 63 yards to paydirt, add a Jared Rutar kick and the Trojans were rolling, 13-0 just under the midway point of the first.
“We really wanted to play physically at the line of scrimmage and our kids answered the call,” Cattau said. “We’ve been able to do that most of the season and Friday night was no different.”
Cedar Catholic took to the air for its next touchdown when Grady Haberer, who had a very efficient night under center completing 7-of-10 passes for 112 yards, hooked up with Bodie Hochstein from 25 yards out and another Rutar kick made it 20-0 just seven seconds into the second frame.
The fourth different Trojan, Micah Cattau, scored from the nine on a gallop past the goal line and a Brady Hochstein conversion run made it 28-0 with 7:44 left. Then Haberer hooked up with Easton Hochstein with just 14 seconds left before the halftime huddle and the continuous clock would start after the break.
“We were able to continue to distribute the ball to different players on the ground and through the air, which makes us dangerous to defend,” the coach said. “If we can continue to do that with success, we should have opportunities for more success.”
Easton Hochstein found the end zone in the third quarter on a 9-yard scamper then Hunter Kuchta put the cherry on top of the Hershey sundae with a 43-yard scoop and score of a Panther fumble.
Brady Hochstein led the Trojan rushing attack, carrying the ball 11 times for 117 yards and a touchdown.
Four different Trojans snared Haberer aerials and one pass from Hunter Bensen.
Bodie Hochstein caught one pass from Haberer and Bensen’s only attempt for the 25-yard score.
Bensen hauled in a couple of passes for 46 yards, Booker Hochstein caught a couple for 35 yards, Easton Hochstein one for 11 yards and a score and Quinn Hochstein grabbed one for 18 yards.
Brady Hochstein, Will Steffen and Easton Hochstein paced the Trojan defense with eight tackles each. Two of Brady’s tackles were behind the line of scrimmage and two of Easton’s stops were for a loss.
Haiden Thoene had two tackles for a loss while Booker Hochstein, Cattau, Graham Potts, Gus Lammers and Teyton Dendinger each had one stop behind the line.
“We played hard on defense against an offense that was averaging 315 yards rushing per game,” Coach Cattau said. “We really made them earn everything they got. They ran a variety of schemes within their option offense, but our guys did a great job of trusting their reads and doing their job to stop them.”
The Cedar Catholic defense held the Panthers to just 147 yards on the ground while posting the shutout.
The Trojans host Ord, a 63-30 winner over Doniphan-Trumbull, at 7 p.m. Nov. 7.
“We still have some things we need to clean up and get better because we will face the best team we have played all season on Friday night and we need to play really good football,” Cattau said. “They are going to provide us with a great challenge in all areas so I look forward to seeing how our team responds to that challenge.”
Hershey 0 0 0 0-0 Cedar 13 22 13 0 - 48
FIRST QUARTER
Cedar: Brady Hochstein 24 run, kick blocked, 9:45. 6-0. Cedar: Hunter Bensen 63 run, Jared Rutar kick, 6:33. 13-0.
SECOND QUARTER
Cedar: Bodie Hochstein 25 pass from Hunter Bensen, Jared Rutar kick, 11:53. 20-0. Cedar: Micah Cattau 3 run, Brady Hochstein run, 7:44. 28-0. Cedar: Easton Hochstein 11 pass from Grady Haberer, Jared Rutar kick, 0:14. 35-0.
THIRD QUARTER
Cedar: Easton Hochstein 9 run, Jared Rutar kick, 7:20. 42-0. Cedar: Hunter Kuchta 43 fumble return, kick blocked, 5:21. 48-0. Cedar Passing 8-11 157 Rushing 33-342 Total Yds 499
PASSING: Cedar Hunter Bensen 1-1 25 1TD; Grady Haberer 7-10 112 1TD.
Rushing: Cedar - Hunter Bensen 2-68 1TD; Micah Cattau 3-17 1TD; Grady Haberer 4-16; Abram Steffen 1-0; Hudson Dendinger 2-4; Brady Hochstein 11-117 1TD; Hudson Whitmire 5-39; Easton Hochstein 5-81 1TD.
RECEIVING: Cedar Hunter Bensen 2-46; Quinn Hochstein 1-18; Bodie Hochstein 2-29 1TD; Booker Hochstein 2-35; Easton Hochstein 1-11 1TD.
TACKLES: Cedar - Joe Bowen 1; Quinn Hochstein 3; Bodie Hochstein 7 1INT; Cooper Hochstein 2; Booker Hochstein 2 1TFL; Micah Cattau 5 1TFL; Wes Pinkelman 2; Graham Potts 3 1TFL; Nolan Heimes 4; Hudson Dendinger 5; Brady Hochstein 8 3TFL; Hunter Kuchta 5 1FR; Hudson Whitmire 1; Easton Hochstein 8 2TFL; Josh Pinkelman 1; Sam Wiebelhaus 6; Dylan Leise 2; Will Steffen 8; Jared Rutar 3; Gus Lammers 4 1TFL; Teyton Dendinger 2 1TFL; Jake Hoebelheinrich 4; Haiden Thoene 2 2TFL; Ryan Hoebelheinrich 8.
