LCC Bears win Cedar County battle
HARTINGTON — The Laurel-Concord-Coleridge Bears won the battle for control of the line of scrimmage Friday.
Their victory in the trenches allowed the Bears to steamroll to a 60-16 win over Hartington-Newcastle here Friday.
“Laurel-Concord-Coleridge really controlled the line of scrimmage all night, which made running the ball very difficult,” HNHS head coach Cory Uldrich said. “When we struggled to run, we were forced into passing situations that LCC knew were coming, which allowed their defensive linemen to come hard after the passer.”
LCC put the wood to the Wildcats early, building a 38-8 halftime advantage thanks to a pair of Evan Haisch scoring runs and two touchdown passes by Evan Schmitt.
The Wildcats got on the board in the second frame when Jake Peitz snuck behind the Bear defense and hauled in a Riley Sudbeck pass for a 66-yard TD play.
LCC continued to dominate in the second half, as Haisch, Lucas Rasmussen and Evan Schmitt all scored rushing touchdowns, capping a night where the Bears outgained the Wildcats 412-180 in total offense and had a 3-to-1 advantage (21-7) in first downs.
Haisch finished the night with a 141 yards on 20 carries, three of them touchdowns. Schmitt had 88 yards on six tries, Dylan Taylor had 46 on four tries, Ohlrich had 27 on three carries and Sutton Ehlers had 23 on three attempts.
The Cats scored again in the final frame on a two-yard Kobe Heitman run.
Despite the setback, the Wildcats did have a couple of bright spots, Uldrich said.
“We had nice performances from Riley Sudbeck in the passing game, and Jake Peitz and Turner Dendinger with their receiving,” Uldrich said.
Uldrich said the Bears keyed on senior back Kobe Heitman, taking a very good weapon away from the Cats.
“LCC really bottled up Kobe Heitman, and we’re going to have to find ways to get other contributions that allow us to use him more effectively,” Uldrich said.
LCC head coach Pat Arens agreed that his Bears played like their mascot.
“We need to be physical and run the ball and did that,” Arens said. “Our defense played a really good game, minus two big pass plays, they controlled things up front.”
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