Football Preview: Hartington-Newcastle Wildcats vs. Crofton Warriors
The Hartington-Newcastle Wildcats will take on the Crofton Warriors at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Crofton is hoping to do what Niobrara/Verdigre couldn't on Friday: put an end to Hartington-Newcastle's winning streak, which now stands at four games. Hartington-Newcastle claimed a resounding 70-6 win over Niobrara/Verdigre on the road. Fans of the Wildcats have seen this all before: every one of the games they've played this season has ended in a blowout of 20+ points.
Cole Heimes was his usual excellent self, rushing for 135 yards and three touchdowns on only 13 carries, while also throwing for 224 yards and four touchdowns while completing 80% of his passes. He is on a roll when it comes to rushing touchdowns, as he's now punched in two or more in the last four games he's played dating back to last season. Cole Rosener was another key player, gaining 154 total yards and four touchdowns.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Hartington-Newcastle was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 242 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 152 rushing yards in ten consecutive matchups dating back to last season.
Hartington-Newcastle's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged four passes before it was all said and done. It was truly a group effort as Heimes, Keatyn Arens, Kayne Gratzfeld, and Gratzfeld picked up one apiece.
Meanwhile, Crofton made easy work of Bloomfield on Friday and carried off a 32-6 victory. That 26 point margin sets a new team best for the Warriors this season.
Hartington-Newcastle's win bumped their record up to 4-0. As for Crofton, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 3-1.
Hartington-Newcastle suffered a grim 58-38 defeat to Crofton in their previous meeting back in September of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Crofton's Jace Panning, who rushed for 163 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 8.2 yards per carry, and also picked up 44 receiving yards and a touchdown. Now that Hartington-Newcastle knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
