HARTINGTON - Randolph remains undefeated with a 32-7 win over Hartington-Newcastle to play spoiler on Homecoming. The Cardinals are now 4-0 while HNS earned its first loss of the season, falling to 3-1.

It took a while for either team to score, with Randolph getting on the board first with a three yard run from Noah Scott. This score came one play after Scott took a pitch around the corner for a 47 yard run. Wildcat safety Lincoln McPhilips made a touchdown saving tackle at the three yard line, but Scott found his way in to the end zone on the next play.

The two point conversion attempt was no good, giving Randolph a 6-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

“We just went back to basics,” said Randolph head coach Mark Lech. “We’ve been doing a lot of different stuff, but we said no we want to go back to power football.”

The Cardinals hard nose running style to start the game, opened up the passing game for Carter Schnoor to drop a pass over the safety’s head to  Alex Schmit for a 22 yard touchdown at the beginning of the second quarter.  Again the two point conversion attempt would be no good, and Randolph lengthened the lead to 12-0.

HNS would finally get on the board on a 25 yard run by Ethan Koch to go into the half down 12-7. Koch finished the night with 27 carries for 193 yards and a score.

““We run [Ethan] a lot inside, and we are not very big, so for us to run the ball as well as we do with Ethan inside says a lot about our guys up front,” said HNS coach Corey Uldrich. “They have improved and gotten better because Randolph is pretty good inside.”

HNS would gain more yards on the night than Randolph, but the Wildcat struggled on late down conversions, going 3/14 on third down and 1/7 on fourth down attempts. Meanwhile, Randolph went 6/13 on third and 1/4 on fourth down.

In the first three week’s Hartington-Newcastle maintained a balanced offense with a passing attack that forced defenses to respect the throwing arms of Shaye Morten and Turner Korth. This week the two quarterbacks split time under center, both with little success.

Pressure from the Cardinal defense and a few Wildcat drops hurt the passing attack and allowed Randolph to stack the box. In al, HNS finished the night with 18 passing yards.

The Cardinals offense showed balance, with two touchdowns through the air and three on the ground. Schnoor connected with Schmit for a second passing touchdown on the night, and the quarterback would score one with his feet as well. Scott, the tailback also ended the night with two scores on the ground.

“This is probably the first time that we played a team with a fullback and inside running attack that was good enough for us to really have some attention,” said Uldrich. “I think we put so much attention on taking away Schmit and the running game and then Scott also running up the middle that we sometimes got our eyes inside and they took it outside. They are athletic, quick, they are everything we thought they were.”

This game began District play for each team, and Randolph walked out with an edge in the standings.

“It’s huge. Our district is really good and we have had multiple teams that are 3-0 playing tonight so we know it’s not going to get any easier.”

The Cardinals travel to Wynot on Friday, and the Wildcats will also hit the road, heading to Allen.

 

Randolph 6 14 0 12 32

HNS 0 7 0 0 7

 

Team Stats R H

Total Off. 305 337

Passing Yds 81 18

Rushing Yds 224 319

Penalty Yds 2-20 10-84

First Downs 21 19

 

PASSING

Hartington-Newcastle - Turner Korth, 3-7 15 yards; Shaye Morten, 1-6 3 yards; Kobe Heitman, 0-1. Randolph - Carter Schnoor, 5-10 81 yards 2 TD.

RUHSING

Hartington-Newcastle - Ethan Koch, 27-193 1 TD; Turner Korth, 12-87; Kobe Heitman, 10-61; Shaye Morten, 4- -22. Randolph - Noah Scott, 25-115 2 TD; Carter Schnoor, 11-60 1 TD; Alex Schmit, 13-49.

RECEIVING

Hartington-Newcastle - Lincoln McPhillips, 4-18. Randolph - Noah Scott, 3-49; Alex Schmit, 2-32 2 TD.

TACKLES

Hartington-Newcastle - Turner Korth, 16; Kobe Heitman, 14; Shaye Morten, 10; Lincoln McPhillips, 8; Morgan Koch, 7; Ethan Koch, 6; Dylan Dendinger, 4; Austin Burcham, 4; Jake Peitz, 3; Carson Sudbeck, 1. Randolph - Avery Bermel, 16; Cadein Villwok, 12; Justin Haselhorst, 11; Noah Scott, 9; Brandon Bloomquist, 8;  Alex Schmit, 7; Carter Schnoor, 5; Keaton Backhaus, 4; Colby Wather, 3.