Sports

Friday’s homecoming battle with the Warriors of Lincoln Lutheran was chocked full of twists and turns, as the Mustangs, for the second straight week, hit the field without all-state quarterback Cade Wiseman, who is rebounding from a shoulder injury.

The game itself would see the high octane passing attack of the Warriors lead them to an early 10-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. A 28-7 run by the Mustangs surged Sutton to a 34-17 lead by the end of the third period, before Lincoln Lutheran dug in and challenged the Mustang defense for 14 fourth-quarter points, as Sutton held on for a 42-31 win in the shootout to improve to 3-1 on the season.

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Fresh off a tough one point, 13-12 loss to Wilber-Clatonia, the Sutton Mustangs took to the road this past Friday night to get back in the saddle and get the 2020 season back on track, despite doing so without senior quarterback Cade Wiseman, who injured his left shoulder in the loss to the Wolverines.

Of the Mustangs’ five touchdowns in the win, three came from the Sutton offense and two from it’s stingy defense, which allowed just 109 total yard for the Jeffs. Fairbury could only muster up 68 yards on the ground and 41 through the air.

In contrast, Sutton’s offensive attack rolled up 232 rushing yards, while back-up quarterback Myles Jones connected on two of three passes for 19 yards.

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A trip to St. Edward High School this past Friday night was just what the doctor ordered for the Harvard Cardinals, as a pair of season-opening losses to two of the top six-man teams in Nebraska in the opening weeks had left Harvard with an 0-2 mark.

But an astonishing defensive effort by the Cardinals, which allowed only 12 total yards of offense by the Beavers, combined with a steady running game for Harvard, powered the Cardinals to the much needed 38-0 win going into the Cardinals bye week for the 2020 season.

The Cardinals wasted very little time in priming the offensive power, as after nearly four minutes of scoreless football, the Cardinals blistered the St. Edward defense for 24 points in the final 6:09 of the first period.

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The Sutton Fillies picked up two dominating wins in the first two rounds of the Friend Invite this past Saturday, Sept. 12, as the Fillies cruised past the host Bulldogs 25-8, 25-11 in the opener

Sutton then advanced to the championship finals with a big 25-16, 25-15 win over Lawrence-Nelson, before the Timberwolves of Exeter-Milligan handed the Fillies a second loss to the T-Wolves, falling in the finals 25-20, 25-16.

Sutton ran their season mark to 6-4 with the tournament run.

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The Bruning-Davenport/ Shickley girls got the better of two Clay County volleyball teams on Sept. 1, as the Eagles downed Sandy Creek 25-21, 26-24, in the opening match of a triangular with Sandy Creek and Sutton, before taking down Sutton 25-22, 25-23 in the second match of the night.

Sutton would then hold off a challenge from the Cougars in the nightcap, as the Fillies claimed a 25-17, 25-18 win, improving the Fillies to 1-2 on the season, with Sandy Creek falling to 0-3 after the action in the Cougars Den.

In the nightcap, Sutton used an 18-9 kill advantage over the Cougars to seal the Fillies’ first win of the season.

Kylie Baumert gained six of the Fillies’ 18 kills, with Lily McCroden gaining four and Kate Griess, three.

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Coming off a tough 23-15 home loss at the hands of the Gibbon Buffaloes on Aug. 28, a game in which Sandy Creek suffered numerous turnovers, the Cougars’ third game of the year, a road test at Hershey High School, gave Sandy Creek the opportunity to claw their way back from the tough loss to Gibbon and get back into forward motion.

It looked tough in the opening two quarters, as after a scoreless first quarter, the home-standing Panthers scored two second-quarter touchdowns to put the Cougars back to the wall heading into the halftime break.

The tides, however, were about to change in an enormous way for the Cougars as second half action was all Sandy Creek.

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Within the first few minutes of Friday’s game between Sandy Creek and Gibbon, the Buffaloes found an opening and added a touchdown to the scoreboard.

A series of open areas and five interceptions helped fuel Gibbon toward a 23-15 win over the Cougars.

The Buffaloes took firm control of the first quarter, scoring on a 65-yard run and a 13-yard fumble return for a touchdown to set Gibbon up with a 13-0 lead after the first period.

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In what many expected to be a close challenge for the Sutton football team, that sentiment proved right, as Friday night’s season opener on the Mustangs home turf proved to be a chess match, as the Mustangs and the Grand Island Central Catholic Crusaders put up a defensive battle through much of the night.

Sutton, who took an 8-0 lead halfway through the first quarter on a threeyard run by junior Paxton Olson, would see that eight-point advantage hold up through three complete quarters, and 32 seconds of the fourth quarter before the Mustangs could create some distance.

Sutton, who for much of the game spent the night on the GICC side of the field threatened once in the second quarter, but was held short of the end zone on a fourth-down play from the four yard line early in the second period.

Harvard’s volleyball team repeated its season-opening win over Spalding Academy, having previously earned a straight-sets win over the Shamrocks in 2019.

In three sets, the Cardinals dominated the net, 25-8, 25-13, and 25-12.

Senior Morgan Juranek had a huge night in kills with 18, as fellow seniors Paisley Longoria and Alyssa Julich earned seven and six, respectively. In total, Harvard had 35 kills as a team, while converting just under 88 percent of their hitting attempts, as the Cards were 65-74 as a team.

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In the early going, it looked a little concerning for the Sandy Creek football team, as their trip to Schuyler last Friday night opened with the host Warriors posting the first two scores. But in the end, after the Cougars shook the cobwebs loose, Sandy Creek was no match for the guys in green, outscoring Schuyler 37-6 in the final 28 minutes to post a 37-20 win over the Warriors to push the Cougars record to 1-0.

Schuyler quarterback Dennis Martinez sliced through the Sandy Creek defensive for a 58-yard touchdown run just four minutes into the start of the game to lift Schuyler to an early 7-0 lead.

Sandy Creek struggled to get their offensive power going in the first 20 minutes of this battle, missing on several fourth down conversions and dropping a few key pass plays that would have kept Cougar drives alive and well.