The Hartington-Newcastle Wildcats will square off against the Crofton Warriors at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams are strolling into their matchups after big wins in their previous 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 breezed by Niobrara/Verdigre on the road to the tune of 70-6. 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. Another player making a difference was Cole Rosener, who gained 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 matches 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 win. That 26 point margin sets a new team best for the Warriors this season.
Hartington-Newcastle's victory bumped their record up to 4-0. As for Crofton, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 3-1.
Hartington-Newcastle might still be hurting after the 58-38 loss they got from Crofton when the teams last played 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.
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