Longhorns fall to rival Ogallala

    Chase County found its way to the end zone for a season-high 34 points against Ogallala Friday, but the Indians offense racked up 64 points to take a win over the Longhorns.
    CCS allowed Ogallala to drive to the five-yard line on the game’s opening possession. The Longhorns stood strong on fourth and goal and forced a turnover on downs.
    A CCS fumble left Ogallala knocking on the door and the Indians quickly scored.
    Chase County was quick to respond two plays later when Ryan Bernhardt found Kade Anderson wide open behind the Ogallala defense for a 70-yard touchdown pass.
    After trading punts, the Indians scored on its next two possessions.
    With time winding down in the first half, Carter Leibbrandt picked off an Ogallala pass. CCS turned fourth and 13 on Ogallala’s 20-yard line into six points with a touchdown pass to Luis Co.
    The Indians made the best with what little time remained, breaking free for a 62-yard touchdown run that left CCS trailing 12-30 at halftime.
    The teams traded touchdowns on their opening drives of the second half, including Bernhardt scooting into the end zone on a five-yard run.
    CCS fell behind 20-50 before tacking on eight more points when Bernhardt hit Anderson for a 30-yard touchdown reception to cap off an eight-play drive.
    Bernhardt scored once more on a 15-yard run, but the touchdown was sandwiched between two more touchdowns by Ogallala.
    Bernhardt completed 10-19 passes in the game, including three for touchdowns, while rushing for 37 yards.
    Coach Nate Gaswick said Ogallala loaded the box with seven run defenders and essentially dared CCS to go to the air.
    “We added a wrinkle or two this week to help attack their secondary and put them in challenging spots,” Gaswick said, but added, he hadn’t planned on throwing as much as CCS did.
    Anderson had eight catches for 196 yards and two touchdowns.
    Dawson Mollendor had a team-high 90 yards rushing.     Gaswick was pleased with the improvement in the Longhorns’ offense. He said it appeared the defense didn’t make the same jump, especially second-level defenders.
    As with the previous week in Sidney, the Longhorns saw plenty of action after whistles blew.
    “For the second week in a row our athletes were challenged by an opponent who chose to make poor decisions after the whistles. Sidney and Ogallala both had players ejected due to excessive unsportsmanlike penalties,” Gaswick said.
    With a lot of young players on the field, Gaswick said he was proud CCS coaches didn’t see retaliation to these actions and athletes kept level heads.
    “It is humbling to witness a team composed primarily of underclassmen showing higher levels of class than what our opponents have been demonstrating,” Gaswick added.
Up next
    The Longhorns return home for this week’s game, a matchup with 2-1 Mitchell.
    Mitchell will be the final Class C1 opponent for CCS before heading into district competition.
    Gaswick said Mitchell will bring plenty of size to the game and, while comparable in lineman size to Chadron, will be a run-oriented team with the ability to throw.
    Kickoff Friday is 6 p.m.

Stats at a glance
Team Totals    CCS    OHS
Total Plays     66     61
Total Yards     361     545
Passing Yards     223     125
Rushing Yards     138    420
First Downs     17     21
Third Down Efficiency     5-12    7-9
Fourth Down Efficiency     1-2    0-1
Turnovers     3     2
Fumbles Lost     3     1
Interceptions Thrown     0    1
Penalties     9-59     7-26
Tackles (tackles-assists-TFL)—Dawson Mollendor. 5-7-1; Ryan Bernhardt, 3-0-0; Kade Anderson, 2-2-0; Jaret Peterson, 4-6-0; Jesus Medina, 2-1-0; Easton Fries, 2-1-0; James McArthur, 1-2-1; Zach Herbert, 1-3-0; Juan Ruiz, 1-3-0; Bradley Speaker, 1-0-0; Tristan Jablonski, 1-0-0; Luis Co, 0-5-0; Carter Leibbrandt, 0-4-0; Cooper Dillan, 1-7-0; Sean Heerman, 0-2-0; Cody Duffy, 0-1-0.
Rushing (attempts-yards-TD)—Mollendor, 7-90-0; Bernhardt, 20-37-1; McArthur, 5-10-0; Malachi Christensen, 1-4-0; Anderson, 1- -7-0.
Passing (completions-attempts-yards-TD-INT)—Bernhardt, 10-19-221-3-0; Christensen, 1-1-2-0-0.
Receiving (receptions-yards-TD)—Anderson, 8-196-2; Co, 1-20-1; Leibbrandt, 1-5-0; Hervert 1-2-0.
Scoring
First Quarter
OHS: 3 Yd run (Two-Point Conversion)
CCS: Anderson 70 Yd pass from Bernhardt (Failed Conversion)
Second Quarter
OHS: 30 Yd pass (Failed Conversion)
OHS: 9 Yd run (Two-Point Conversion)
CCS: Co 20 Yd pass from Bernhardt (Failed Conversion)
OHS: 62 Yd run (Two-Point Conversion)
Third Quarter
OHS: 3 Yd run (Kick No Good)
CCS: Bernhardt 5 Yd run (Bernhardt Run)
OHS: 2 Yd run (Failed Conversion)
OHS: 5 Yd run (Two-Point Conversion)
Fourth Quarter
CCS: Anderson 30 Yd pass from Bernhardt (Bernhardt Run)
OHS: 15 Yd run (Failed Conversion)
CCS: Bernhartdt 15 Yd run (Failed Conversion)
OHS: 24 Yd run (Two-Point Conversion)
Score by quarters:
CCS    6    6    8    14—34
OHS    8    22    20    14—64