Kings of ‘The Hill’ Sandy Creek to rematch with Stanton, this time for the Class D-1 state title
For the first time in program history, the Sandy Creek Cougars will be headed to Lincoln’s Memorial Stadium to play for the Class D-1 State Football Championship, following a crushing 63-8 victory over the Lourdes Central Catholic Knights of Nebraska City Friday, Nov. 15, to remain a perfect 12-0 going into the title tilt with the Stanton Mustangs.
In the first quarter, Sandy Creek was not their usual fast-paced selves, with head coach Andrew Kuta chalking that up to Lourdes Central Catholic, by saying, “They had a game plan of slowing us down and executed it very well in the first quarter.”
However, from the second quarter on it was all Sandy Creek, as they would come up with a few stops and couple of turnovers.
Kuta recalled his team’s effort after the game saying “With the turnovers and having the short field advantage, our guys executed and took advantage of those things really well.”
The Cougars jumped out to a 6-0 lead with a Connor Rempe two-yard touchdown with 6:18 left in the first quarter.
Lourdes Central Catholic answered in the beginning of the second quarter with a touchdown of their own, and took the lead with the twopoint conversion to make it 8-6.
The Cougars were not fazed by the Knights scoring effort, as on the next offensive possession, senior Ethan Shaw took over and would find the end zone from 16-yards out to retake the lead 12-6.
On a fourth down play for Lourdes on their ensuing drive following the Shaw score, sophomore Wes Biltoft came up with an interception and emotions were high at that point for both teams, but Sandy Creek would get a personal foul on the Biltoft theft, to back the Cougars up 15 yards to take over at their own 30-yard line.
The penalty, however, didn’t phase the Sandy Creek offense, as Shaw would go 50 yards on the ground for a score, with Shaw connecting with freshman Kamerin Sealey for the two-point conversion to make it 20-8, Sandy Creek.
The Cougars’ next defensive possession was big as well. With a bad snap by the Knights, the Cougars claimed a safety to produce a 22-8 Cougar lead, and retained the offensive possession, following a Lourdes’ free kick to the Cougars. Sandy Creek took full advantage of the Knight’s miscue, as senior Connor Rempe scored from nine-yards out, with Shaw finding Sealey for the two-point conversion to give the Cougars a 30-8 lead with 1:30 to go in the first half.
Out of the halftime break, Lourdes struggled offensively, as the Knights fumbled a snap with junior Alston Clark recovering the loose ball for the Cougars.
A couple of plays later Rempe used his speed, agility, and strength to run it in for a touchdown from 27-yards out, with Sealey adding another two-point conversion to extend the SC lead to 38-8.
The ensuing kickoff would be a short one by the Cougars, with Lourdes Central Catholic unable to handle the squib kick, with Biltoft falling on the ball, giving Sandy Creek the ball back.
Shaw found Biltoft for the 11-yard touchdown pass, making the score 44-8.
Senior Jack Watts came up with a big sack for the Cougars on the Knights’ next drive, forcing a fourth down with Sandy Creek gaining decent field position following the Lourdes punt.
This time it would be Ben Sullivan’s turn to find the end zone, as the senior fullback scored from 20 yards out to make the score 50-8 with 6:41 to go in the third.
Sandy Creek then recovered another kickoff, this time it was freshman Wyatt Livgren, as the Cougars gained possession at Lourdes Central Catholic 30-yard line.
Livgren then found an open hole and turned the jets to find the end zone from 20 yards out. The added extra point kick from Rempe gave Sandy Creek a 57-8 lead with 5:02 to go in the third.
Sandy Creek found the end zone one more time on a Sealey one-yard run to give Sandy Creek the 63-8 victory.
After the game, Kuta shared what it means to be headed to Lincoln for the first time in program history to play for a state championship.
“I am really proud of these seniors and what they did, the buy in, and the effort they’ve put in. These seniors have come from being 3-6 as freshmen, and a lot of them playing and experiencing that, to now getting to go battle it out for the state championship game.”
THE COUGARS BY THE NUMBERS
Sandy Creek totaled 426 yards of offense against the Knights, with 352 coming on the ground and 74 through the air.
Shaw was 5-12 passing for 74 yards, while throwing one touchdown pass. The senior signal caller also led the running attack with 179 yards on 18 carries and two touchdowns. Rempe had six carries for 54 yards and three touchdowns.
‘I am really proud of these seniors and what they did, the buy in, and the effort they’ve put in.’
Andrew Kuta
SC Head Football Coach Livgren added seven carries for 43 yards and one score, while Sullivan had three carries for 35 yards and one touchdown. Sealey had six carries for 34 yards and one touchdown, and Wyatt Hemberger had one carry for seven yards.
Sandy Creek’s tackle charts were led by Rempe with nine tackles, while Shaw finished with six, with the big dudes anchoring the defensive line, as Hudson Devlin and Jack Watts both made five tackles. Watts also had the only recorded quarterback sack of the game.
Adding to the defensive effort were Jacob Petr, Biltoft, Sealey, and Coen Eitzmann with four stops each.
Rempe, Livgren, and Biltoft had one fumble recovery each, while Biltoft nabbed the only interception for Sandy Creek.
Score by Quarters
Sandy Creek.......................6 24 27 0 -63 Lourdes Central Catholic....0 8 0 0 -8 SC LCC Rush Att-Yds.............. 5-12-74 Pass Comp-Att-Yds.....41-352 Total Offense................ 426
