Sports

Nebraska’s playoff system this year has been a beneficial sort for the Sutton Mustangs and Harvard Cardinals in 2019. Both teams punched their tickets to the state championship games in their respective classes.

Sutton will battle for the Class C-2 title, pitting them against Oakland-Craig next Tuesday in Memorial Stadium at 2:45 p.m.

Harvard travels to Foster Field and the Ron & Carol Cope Stadium at the University of Nebraska-Kearney this Friday night, where they will take on the Mustangs of McCool Junction at 7 p.m., for the Class D-6 state championship

I happened to do a little research regarding both football teams, and took a look into the recent history of both programs.

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Sutton’s football team opened the C-2 state playoffs with what many people thought could be a dangerous first round challenge in the Yutan Chieftains.

In 2017, the Chieftains went into the C-2 state playoffs as the No. 16 seed and ran the table to claim the C-2 state title.

This year, after a year away from the playoffs for Yutan, the very same scenario stood, as the Mustangs, the top seed in the post-season, hosted the No. 16 seed Chieftains.

A determined and powerful running game, however, made sure that history wouldn’t repeat itself, as the Mustangs, behind a strong stable of backfield mates, rolled up 462 rushing yards on 52 carries and crushed Yutan, 46-7, to advance to the quarterfinal round of the playoffs.

Mustangs rush for 462 yards against Yutan; Cardinals gain 524 total yards against Spalding Academy

Harvard, for the second time this season, hosted Spalding Academy Shamrocks and with the repeat, the Cardinals sailed to a win, 64-28.

The two teams opened the football season Aug. 30 with an almost identical Harvard win, 62-26.

The first half was dominated by the Cardinals, with the first quarter alone recording six Harvard touchdowns and one Shamrock pass to the end zone.

A pass from Noah Okraska to Ben Okraska kicked off the evening at the 9:20 mark. Just 15 seconds later, David Reazola would find Noah in the end zone for another touchdown, with the Cards leading 16-0.

Reazola and Noah lead their teammates in passing, as Reazola completed 10 of 13 for 164 yards, while Noah completed two of five for 25 yards.

Spalding Academy wouldn’t respond with a score of their own until the 2:23 mark of the first quarter with a pass TD.

One week after a threeset win by the Sandy Creek volleyball team over Sutton in the first round of the Southern Nebraska Conference volleyball tournament, the Sutton Fillies turned the tides and upended Sandy Creek in the opening round of the C2-8 Sub-District tournament at Adams Central High School this past Monday, downing the Cougars 25-21, 25-7, 25-20, taking Sutton to a 14-17 record, while Sandy Creek closed out the 2019 season at 2-27.

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Harvard football players had another week off due to a forfeit by Hampton Friday, Oct. 25.

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Dominant line play by Sandy Creek’s big boys up front helped lead the Cougars to their first three-win season since 2015 Friday night.

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Sandy Creek junior Brayton Jarosik finished in the top half of 96 other competitors during the state cross country meet in Kearney, Friday, Oct. 25.

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