Eagle offense is too much for HNS Wildcats

NORFOLK — The Hartington-Newcastle Wildcats fell to 0-2 in District, and 1-3 overall with a 68-34 defeat Thursday at stateranked Lutheran High Northeast.

The Wildcats trailed the hosts 44-26 at the break and LHNE broke open the game from there.

HNHS had scores from Jake Peitz, who caught a 59-yard and 26-yard touchdown pass from Riley Sudbeck, and 33-yard and 16-yard touchdown catches by Kobe Heitman from Sudbeck in the first half.

Peitz added a 73-yard catch and run from Sudbeck after the break.

“We came out on the second play of the game and took an 8-0 lead on a reverse pass,” HNHS head coach Corey Uldrich said. “I thought that initial score really lit a fire inside our kids, and we competed well for the first half. Offensively, our kids executed well, and we spread the ball around a lot more than we had been. “We got 13 carries out of Riley,

“We got 13 carries out of Riley, 12 carries out of Lane Heimes and 20 carries out of Kobe. Moving the ball around more didn’t allow the defense to focus its attention in on Kobe.

“Our run game abilities led to opportunities in the passing game, and Riley threw for 302 yards.”

Peitz caught 194 yards worth of those passes, while Heitman also added 77 yards worth of receptions.

The Wildcats will host Elkhorn Valley beginning at 7 p.m., Friday.

“Elkhorn Valley is a very talented team that likes to use their quarterback in the run game,” Uldrich said. “He’s a very good passer as well, and they have some good receivers with nice speed that they throw to. This will be the first predominantly spread team that we’ve played this year, so we’ll have some new schemes to work on defensively to slow down their athletes.

“I think we learned a lot about ourselves in the game against Lutheran High Northeast. We went toe to toe with one of the better teams in our class for a half, and I thought our kids competed in a way we had not done this season. We have a difficult schedule, and our kids are beginning to realize that difficult doesn’t mean impossible or unwinnable.”

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