The Wildcats were defeated for the first time this season last Friday. Head coach Gary Hager talks about the factors that led to their loss to Paxton and looks ahead to this week’s game at Loomis. Also, hear why the Lady Wildcats’ challenging start to the season could pay dividends for them later on. It’s all here in this week’s Wallace Wildcat Sports Update!
The North Platte Bulldogs are looking for their first win of the season as Lincoln East comes to town tonight. The Spartans are 1-1. North Platte has faced Lincoln East once in Bernie Madison’s tenure – a 13-12 loss at Beechner Field back in 2009. For North Platte to get off the schneid they must take better care of the ball – they turned the ball over five more times in their 43-14 loss to Lincoln Pius X last year. ESPN Radio 1410 has the call of this game, with pregame coverage at 6:30 and the kickoff at 7 PM.
The St. Patrick’s Irish defense will give up some points this season eventually – they just haven’t yet. It’s two games, and two whitewashes for the stout Irish D. Tonight they face a new challenge in the wide-open Bayard passing attack. The Tigers are 0-1 after losing their opener 28-7 to Cambridge.
The Panthers dominated the trenches on both sides in their season opening win over Kimball, shutting out the Longhorns and outrushing them 285-3. Tonight the Panthers head back out on the road to take on Southern Valley. The Eagles dropped their season opener to Doniphan-Trumbull last week.
A big win was followed by a big loss for the Wildcats, who fell 52-14 to Arapahoe last week. This week Maxwell tries to get back to basics offensively, re-establishing their identity in the ground game. They’ll also hope their experienced defense can bounce back in a big way as Elm Creek comes to town. Elm Creek held off Ansley-Litchfield in their opener last week.
The Brady program has gotten used to winning the past few seasons, but this year they’ve known nothing but defeat so far, losing their first two games. They are hopeful to get back on track as they host Amherst. Amherst held off Loomis 20-19 in their first game.
Wallace has pounded their first two foes, but tonight’s game won’t be anywhere near as easy. The Paxton Tigers come to town for what might be the marquee matchup in the area this week. Paxton ripped Hayes Center 56-6 in their debut, then took last week off, so they’ll be expecting their toughest challenge of the season to date as well.
The Wildcat football team has won, and won big, in their first two games. But head coach Gary Hager knows the road gets tougher from this point forward. He talks about his team’s upcoming matchup against Paxton. And Lady Wildcat volleyball is still looking for their first victory, but they’ve been very close in some tough matches so far. Hear all about it in this week’s Wallace Wildcat Sports Update!
The North Platte Bulldogs (0-2) again struggled with turnovers, and Lincoln Pius X made them pay. Two interception returns for touchdowns helped the Thunderbolts to rout the Bulldogs 43-14 in Lincoln. The Bulldogs turned the ball over five times in the game, giving them 11 giveaways so far this season. Tyson Chromy rushed for 115 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown run, to pace the North Platte offense.
Once again, the Irish (2-0) did it with defense. And this time around their offense erupted, too. St. Pat’s opened their home schedule with a convincing 44-0 victory over Bridgeport. That’s two straight shutouts for the Irish, meaning anything the offense is producing is gravy – and there was plenty of gravy last night.
Hershey got their season started with a shutout victory at Kimball, 23-0. They became the second Lincoln County team to shut out the Longhorns on their home field to start this season after St. Patrick’s did it last week.
Maxwell dropped to 1-1 on the season with a 52-14 loss at Arapahoe.
Wallace cruised to a 72-0 win over Creek Valley. The Wildcats have outscored their first two opponents by a combined 138-6.
Sutherland received a rude welcome to eight-man football from perennial power Overton, who defeated the Sailors 65-0.
The Eagles are still looking for their first win after a lopsided loss to Bertrand, 60-14.
Other scores of area interest:
Class C-1
Adams Central 17, Cozad 0
Gothenburg 41, Mitchell 0
Class C-2
Perkins County 40, Dundy County-Stratton 14
Class D-1
Burwell 39, South Loup 21
Class D-2
Hayes Center 22, Eustis-Farnam 20, OT
Medicine Valley 41, Elwood 34
North Central 44, Sandhills/Thedford 14
Six-man
Arthur County 51, Hyannis 20
Sioux County 54, Maywood 13
Wauneta-Palisade 50, Minatare 8
For what is believed to be the first time ever, North Platte takes on Lincoln Pius X tonight at Aldrich Field in Lincoln. Both teams are coming off opening losses – North Platte fell to Norfolk 27-6 while Pius X lost to Kearney 27-13. North Platte will hope to take better care of the football after turning the ball over six times in their opener. The Thunderbolts operate a power running attack and a versatile defense led by standout safeties Rex Raetz and Graham Ressiguie. (LISTEN LIVE to Bulldog football tonight on ESPN Radio 1410. Pregame coverage starts at 6:30 with the kickoff at 7.)
The Irish defense manhandled Kimball in their opening 28-0 win last week. Now they’ll look to show out for their home fans for the first time this year as Bridgeport comes calling. The visiting Bulldogs are also 1-0, having knocked off Dundy County-Stratton 18-0 last week.
The Hershey Panthers make their 2012 debut tonight as they trek to the panhandle to face Kimball. The Panthers have a senior class that is aiming to make a third straight playoff appearance for the first time in the program’s history. Their strength is in the offensive and defensive line, led by mountainous senior Logan Brown.
After knocking off rival Brady 28-16 last week, the Wildcats are faced with what should be another tough test tonight as they visit Arapahoe. The Warriors routed Franklin 48-13 in their opener last week and possess a fast-paced pistol offense which will hope to crack Maxwell’s experienced defense.
Wallace had an easy time with South Platte in their season opener last week, winning 68-6. Another one-sided affair could be on the docket for the Wildcats tonight as they travel to face Creek Valley. The Storm were beaten 72-14 by Potter-Dix last week. Wallace’s dual-threat quarterback John Marquart could be in for another big day.
The Sailors have dropped down to eight-man football this season, and will have a small and youthful roster to take their first cracks at the game this season. Tonight they host Overton, as good a program as there has been in eight man football in recent years. Overton is fresh off a 42-0 shutout of SMC last week.
New season, new seniors, same old St. Patrick’s Irish. A devastating defensive performance led the Irish to a 28-0 victory over Kimball in their season opener. St. Pat’s eased to the win with several new faces getting their first starting opportunities.
This round belongs to the Wildcats. Maxwell defeated Brady 28-16 in their rivalry matchup in Maxwell. That makes it two straight wins for the Wildcats and two out of three since the rivalry was renewed after a brief hiatus.
The Wallace Wildcats did not kindly welcome South Platte back to eight-man football. It was a total rout in Wallace as the Wildcats hammered the visitors 68-6. For one night at least, Wallace’s offense lived up to it’s high-powered potential and made for a fun night for the home crowd.
The Swedes jumped out in front early and held on late for a 17-12 victory at Ogallala. That makes it two straight wins for the Swedes over the Indians, following their quadruple-OT win in the playoffs last year. Though Gothenburg doesn’t have much returning experience this year, their new players appear to have settled in nicely.
Other scores of area interest:
Arthur County 49, Maywood 14
Overton 42, SMC 0
Paxton 56, Hayes Center 6
South Loup 32, Anselmo-Merna 12
Stuart 24, Sandhills/Thedford 6
The Bulldogs will try and win their opener for the third consecutive season as they welcome Norfolk to Bauer Field at Memorial Stadium. The visiting Panthers are coming off a 4-5 season that saw them fail to miss the playoffs. They return several starters including standout junior QB Taylor Reedy. North Platte is breaking in a new signal-caller in Dylan Mlady. The southpaw made a handful of appearances last season for the Bulldogs. Norfolk’s last visit to North Platte was last season, a game won by the Panthers 41-6. ESPN Radio 1410 will have all the action, with the pregame show getting underway at 6:30 and the kickoff at 7.
The St. Patrick’s Irish head out to the Panhandle for a matchup against Class C1 Kimball. Both teams reached the postseason last year, with the Irish just missing out on a trip to the state title game with a semifinal loss for the second straight season. Several new faces in the backfield will debut as starters for St. Pat’s, including quarterback Sean Keenan.
A fierce Lincoln County rivalry resumes as Maxwell hosts Brady. Both teams reached the playoffs last year, but it was Maxwell who had the year-long bragging rights after topping the Eagles 16-6 in the season opener. Maxwell returns seven defensive starters that will be challenged by Brady’s returning starter at quarterback, Zach Mann.
In Wallace, the Wildcats welcome South Platte back to eight-man football. The visitors had played six-man before seeing their numbers increase enough to warrant a move back to the eight-man game. Wallace’s potent offense features do-everything playmaker Landon Swedberg and two returning starters on the line.
The Wildcat boys basketball team has won two in a row. Here’s our weekly check-in with the Wallace athletes.
The girls subdistrict basketball tournaments for the C and D classes opened with the play-in games yesterday. Tonight, the Hershey Panthers start play in the C1-11 subdistrict. The Lady Panthers finished the regular season with a 15-6 record and are the top seed in the subdistrict. They play Ogallala at 5:30 tonight in Lexington. Q-Country 107.3 FM has the action with pregame coverage starting at 5:15.
The St. Patrick’s Lady Irish are the top seed in the C2-11 subdistrict after compiling a 19-2 regular season mark. They play Alma in Holdrege at 6 PM tonight. You can hear the game on ESPN Radio 1410, with pregame coverage getting underway at 5:45.
Also in action tonight are Brady, the top seed in the D2-9 subdistrict, Wallace in the D2-10 subdistrict, and Sutherland and Maxwell in the D1-12 subdistrict.
Wallace took on Brady in hoops action on Tuesday night… here’s how it went down.
