Sandy Creek secures overall #1 seed in playoffs with a 57-8 win to remain unbeaten
Sandy Creek finished with a perfect regular season for the second straight year with their final victory Thursday over Southern 57-8. The Cougars started the game out fast, as Connor Rempe would take the opening kickoff 68 yards for a touchdown, and Ethan Shaw’s two-point conversion was good to make it a quick 8-0.
The Cougars’ defense forced a punt and would start at mid field, where Ben Sullivan had a big run to set up a Shaw 18-yard touchdown pass to Wes Biltoft. The twopoint conversion from Jack Watts to Hudson Devlin was good to make it 16-0 Cougars with 9:31 to go in the first.
On the Cougars’ next defensive possession, Coen Eitzmann and Devlin forced a fumble with Biltoft falling on it, allowing Sandy Creek to take over at the 35-yard line.
On two plays by the Cougars, Sullivan found the end zone with a 28-yard run to make it 22-0, Cougars, with 3:38 to go in the first.
The Cougars forced another stop a couple of plays later, when Shaw found Sealey in the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown pass. Shaw then found Jacob Petr for the two-point conversion to make it 30-0 at the start of the second quarter.
Sandy Creek forced a punt and Rempe had a big return for 20 yards to the 35-yard line. A couple of penalties moved the Cougars back but that didn’t stop the Cougars, as Shaw found Sealey in the back of the end zone for a 29yard touchdown pass. Rempe’s PAT was good to make it 37-0, Cougars, with 8:39 to go in the second.
Sandy Creek forced a fourth down where Devlin would get to the quarterback for a sack, with the Cougars taking it over at their own 10-yard line.
The Cougars marched down the field and at the five-yard line, Shaw kept it for a touchdown to make it 43-0 with 3:06 to go in the half.
Then out of the half, in the third quarter, Southern would score to make it 43-8, Cougars, but that wouldn’t faze the Cougars as they would go and score with Sealey finding Jack Clark from 15 yards out to make it 49-8 with 4:05 to go in the third quarter.
The Cougars forced one last stop on defense and went down and scored with Sealey 29-yard run; Wyatt Livgren earned the two-point conversion to make the final 57-8, Cougars.
THE COUGARS BYTHE NUMBERS
The Cougars’ offensive stats had 359 total yards with 242 rushing, and 117 yards passing. Shaw would go five of eight passing for 102 yards with three touchdowns, and Sealey went one for one with 15 yards and one touchdown.
Sullivan was the leading rusher with six carries for 89 yards and one touchdown, Shaw had nine carries for 87 yards and one touchdown; Sealey had six carries for 44 yards and one touchdown; and Livgren had four carries for 22 yards.
Sealey was the leading receiver with two catches for 49 yards and two touchdowns; Biltoft had two catches for 45 yards and one touchdown; Jack Clark had one catch for 15 yards and one touchdown; and Petr had one catch for eight yards.
On defense, the Cougars had three sacks, one forced fumble, and 91 total tackles.
Eitzmann had 12 tackles, Biltoft, Wyatt Hemberger, Alex Watts, and Devlin had eight tackles each, Josh Spray had seven, Livgren had six, Jackson Gerdes had five, Rempe, Sealey, and Christian Shaw had four, Shaw, Petr, and Jack Clark had three, Christian Lorena-Parks had two, and Sullivan, Jonas Amos, and Jaxen Heath had one.
Devlin led the Cougars in sacks with two and Eitzmann had one. Devlin would also have the only forced fumble for the Cougars.
THISWEEK
Sandy Creek hosts the Niobrara-Verdigre Cougars in the first round of the Class D-1 state playoffs. Sandy Creek is the overall top seed in Class D-1, while Niobrara-Verdigre slips into the post-season as the 16th seed in the West division.
Kickoff between the two Cougar teams is set for 3 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 24.
More information related to the opening-round game appears in a special playoff section in this week’s Clay County News.
Score by Quarters
Sandy Creek............................... 30 13 6 8 -57 Southern (Wymore)................... 0 0 8 0 -8 SC Southern Rush Att-Yds........................25-242 N/A Pass Comp-Att-Yds............ 6-9-117 N/A Total Offense..........................359 N/A
