LCC Bears blow past Hartington-Newcastle
HARTINGTON — The visiting Laurel-Concord-Coleridge Bears won the battle for control of the line of scrimmage Friday.
Their victory in the trenches allowed the Bears to steamroll to a 60-16 win over Hartington-Newcastle here Friday.
“Laurel-Concord-Coleridge really controlled the line of scrimmage all night, which made running the ball very difficult,” HNHS head coach Cory Uldrich said. “When we struggled to run, we were forced into passing situations that LCC knew were coming, which allowed their defensive linemen to come hard after the passer.”
LCC put the wood to the Wildcats early, building a 38-8 halftime advantage thanks to a pair of Evan Haisch scoring runs and two touchdown passes by Evan Schmitt.
The Wildcats got on the board in the second frame when Jake Peitz snuck behind the Bear defense and connected with Riley Sudbeck on a 66-yard TD pass.
LCC continued to dominate in the second half, as Haisch, Lucas Rasmussen and Evan Schmitt all scored rushing touchdowns, capping a night where the Bears outgained the Wildcats 412-180 in total offense and had a 3-to-1 advantage (21-7) in first downs.
Six different Bears scored on the night and the LCC offense racked up more than 400 yards in total offense on their way to the decisive win.
Haisch finished the night with a 141 yards on 20 carries, three of them touchdowns. Schmitt had 88 yards on six tries, Dylan Taylor had 46 on four tries, Ohlrich had 27 on three carries and Sutton Ehlers had 23 on three attempts.
Uldrich said the Bears keyed on senior back Kobe Heitman, taking a very good weapon away from the Cats.
“LCC really bottled up Kobe Heitman, and we’re going to have to find ways to get other contributions that allow us to use him more effectively,” Uldrich said.
LCC head coach Pat Arens agreed that his Bears played like their mascot.
“We need to be physical and run the ball and did that,” Arens said. “Our defense played a really good game, minus two big pass plays, they controlled things up front.”
The 4-1 Bears are scheduled to host Plainview on Friday at Haskell Field.
HNS 0 8 8 0 —16
LCC 14 24 14 8—60
HNS LCC
Rushing -9 344
Passing 180 68
Total yds 171 412
PASSING HNS - Riley Sudbeck, 9-17-180. LCC - Evan Schmitt, 6-9-68
RUSHING HNS - Kobe Heitman, 10-26; Lane Heimes, 1- -3; Jude Krei, 2 - -10; Riley Sudbeck, 10- -22. LCC - Evan Haisch, 20-141; Evan Schmitt, 6-88; Dylan Taylor, 4-46; Ohlrich, 3-27; Sutton Ehlers, 3-23.
RECEIVING HNS - Turner Dendinger, 2-88; Jake Peitz, 3-79; Kobe Heitman, 4-13. LCC - Sutton Ehlers, 2-40; Deagan Puppe, 2-16; Evan Haisch, 2-12.
TACKLES HNS - Shay Dickes, 17; Kobe Heitman, 8; John Lauer, 8; Lane Heimes, 7; Jake Peitz, 6; Kale Korth, 6; Seth Pinkelman, 4; Daniel Steffen, 4; Reece Morten, 3; Turner Dendinger, 1; Jude Krei, 1; Mason Buschkamp, 1; Seth Schaecher, 1. LCC - Sutton Ehlers, 7; Evan Haisch, 6; Puppe, 6; Cael Hartung, 6; Austin Hall, 5.
Scoring Summary
LCC — Evan Haisch 30 run (Haisch run)
LCC — Deagan Puppe 11 pass from Evan Schmitt (PAT failed)
LCC — Haisch 9 run (Nolan Ohlrich run)
LCC — Sutton Ehlers 28 pass from Schmitt (Haisch run)
H-N — 66 pass (Kobe Heitman run)
LCC — Ohlrich 3 run (Ehlers run)
LCC — Haisch 16 run (PAT failed)
LCC — Lucas Rasmussen 4 (Ohlrich pass from Schmitt)
H-N — Heitman 2 run (PAT good)
LCC — Schmitt 63 run (Rasmussen run)
HNHS will try to bounce back 7 p.m. Thursday at Lutheran Northeast.
“We will get back a few pieces we had missing last week, which will help us up front,” Uldrich said. “But overall, we must get more physical and more competitive as a group. Lutheran High Northeast will present a very similar challenge for us that LCC did. They are big and physical up front, and they’ll want to run the ball both inside and outside. They spread the ball out very effectively, so it’s difficult to key in on one or two ball carriers.”
LCC hosts Plainview 7 p.m. Friday.
“I expect a rested and hungry team this week in a well-coached Plainview team,” Arens said. “They are an athletic team with experience. It will be a good game for us.”
Arens is not satisfied with where his team is despite a strong run of play so far.
We are a good team, but if we want to be a great team, we need to get better at doing our job on every play, and not take one-off,” Arens said. “We just need to take care of business one week at a time and we will be just fine.”
Despite the defeat, Uldrich is liking the progress with his younger players.
“We were able to give a lot of very young kids playing time this past week, and I think they are going to be better for it as we move forward,” he said. “I think our depth is going to be improved as we continue through the year, but we must find some consistent play at every position to be more competitive.”
Having lost two games to COVID-19 shutdowns, the Wildcats will need to do some heavy lifting to get into the playoffs as Uldrich thinks two wins in the last three games may be needed to get to the postseason.
“With the two games off our schedule that don’t count for the playoffs, a 2-3 record very well could get into the playoffs,” Uldrich said. “We’re going to need to shore up some play in our offensive line, and we’re going to need some players to step up defensively and make some tackles if we want to make the postseason.”
Wynot hopes take a hit
Due to COVID-19 positive test results, the Wynot Blue Devils rivalry matchup against Wausa was canceled and they also will see this weekend’s scheduled contest against unbeaten Allen wiped off the slate.
Wynot (3-1) were quickly becoming a top D2 team and wins last weekend and potentially Friday against an excellent Wynot team could have made its hopes of being among the elite a reality.
“We had all the players take their equipment home with them so they could clean but also so they could put it on for conditioning at home so they hopefully won’t get sore when we get back to football,” Wynot head coach Steve Heimes said. “We have made workouts online for them to do while they are at home. They are all supposed to be watching film on HUDL on ourselves and future opponents so we can be ready when we get back to football. There is not much else we can do besides prepare and clean.”
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