Trojans get back on track with blowout win at West Holt

ATKINSON —After dropping a hard-fought 24-21 decision to Oakland-Craig on Sept. 22, the Cedar Catholic Trojans remained on the road here on Sept. 29 and added a win on the left side of the ledger with a resounding 51-21 win over the West Holt Huskies to improve to 4-2 on the football season.

“This was a great opportunity for our kids to really go out and show the improvements we made from the previous week,” Cedar Catholic coach, Chad Cattau said. “I would have liked us to play with more emotion early in the game, but we came out and handled ourselves well.”

Despite the sluggish start, Braeden Reifenrath cashed in on a couple of Cedar Catholic drives in the opening quarter, one from two yards out and the other from a yard and after a couple of Bodie Hochstein extra point kicks, the Trojans were up 14-0.

The Huskies broke free on a 45-yard run late in the frame and the teams headed to the second 12 minutes with the score 14-7.

“Defensively we need to work on a few things and get some things ironed out,” Cattau said. “But we showed some signs of improvement from the last game so that’s something we can be happy about.”

Hochstein booted a 29-yard field goal early in the second stanza then Breiton Whitmire took control with a pair of touchdowns, two of his three on the night.

Whitmire plowed in from a yard out then again from five yards away to boost the advantage to 31-7, which is the way the first half ended.

The Trojans picked up where they left off in the second half as Whitmire, who would finish the evening with 165 yards on his 18 carries, sprinted in from the West Holt 27 to make it 37-7.

The Huskies scored on a long pass play, but Reifenrath answered with his third touchdown of the night, a 73-yard gem that made it 44-13.

Brady Hochstein would score on a 25-yard dash to lead off the final period and finish the Cedar Catholic scoring for the night.

The Trojans piled up 357 yards on the ground and Reifenrath completed 11-of-20 of his passes for an additional 131 yards.

“We were once again pretty balanced offensively,” Cattau said. “If we continue to be efficient on the ground and through the air we will be difficult to deal with - we were able to distribute the ball to a variety of kids and that really helps us out.”

Brady Hochstein and Matthew Loecker led the Cedar Catholic defense with 4.5 tackle points each, Keyton Arens added four tackle points.

Jacob Steffen, Logan Eickhoff, Jared Rutar and Haiden Thoene each had a sack in the game.

The Trojans are set to host the Battle Creek Braves Oct. 6 at the Hartington Community Athletic Complex.

The Braves are coming in after their first loss of the season last week to Norfolk Catholic.

“We know this week will be a big challenge for us on both offense and defense,” said Cattau. “”We will need to really play well against Battle Creek to win. These are the games we look forward to because of the great challenges it will present to us.”

Kickoff will be at 7 p.m.

Cedar Catholic (4-2) 14 17 13 7 - 51 West Holt (2-4) 7 0 6 8 - 21 FIRST QUARTER CC: Braeden Reifenrath 2 run, Bodie Hochstein kick. 7-0. CC: Reifenrath 1 run, Hochstein kick. 14-0. WH: Ian Laetsch 45 run, Julio Gallardo kick. 14-7. SECOND QUARTER CC: Hochstein 29 field goal. 17-7. CC: Breiton Whitmire 1 run, Hochstein kick. 24-7. CC: Whitmire 5 run, Hochstein kick. 31-7. THIRD QUARTER CC: Whitmire 27 run, PAT failed. 37-7. WH: Andrew Rentschler 70 pass from Lincoln Konrad, PAT failed. 37-13.

CC: Reifenrath 73 run, Hochstein kick. 44-13. FOURTH QUARTER CC: Brady Hochstein 25 run, Jared Rutar kick. 51-13. WH: Merek Dvorak 29 pass from Konrad, Jamison Slaymaker run. 51-21.

Cedar Catholic West Holt First Downs 24 12 Rushing 43-357 24-43 Passing 11-20-131 11-22-234

PASSING

Cedar - Braeden Reifenrath 11-20-131.

RUSHING

Cedar - Breiton Whitmire 18-165 3TD’s; Braeden Reifenrath 11-75 3TD’s; Ty Thoene 7-70; Brady Hochstein 4-37 1TD; Karsan Albers 2-10; Hunter Bensen 1-0.

RECEIVING

Cedar Jaymison Cattau 5-73; Nolan Becker 1-28; Keyton Arens 3-21; Ty Thoene 1-5; Breiton Whitmire 1-4.

TACKLES

Cedar - Jacob Steffen 1.0 1SACK; Andrew Heimes 1.0; Quinn Hochstein 1.0; Tavious Pinkleman 1.0; Bodie Hochstein 0.5; Hunter Bensen 1.0; Breiton Whitmire 1.5; Nolan Becker 1.5; Hunter Kuchta 1.5; Brady Hochstein 4.5; Maverick Heine 1.0; Keyton Arens 4.0; Mason Baller 0.5; Logan Eickhoff 1 1SACK; Booker Hochstein 1.5; Matthew Loecker 4.5; Ty Thoene 1.0; Jared Rutar 2.5 1SACK; Karsan Albers 1.0; Haiden Thoene 1 1SACK; Ryan Pick 2.5; Grayden Hochstein 1.0.