By Con Marshall
The Chadron High football team will play its third game in four weeks at home Friday night when the Gothenburg Swedes visit. Kickoff is at 6 o’clock.
The teams are not long-time rivals. They’ve only met nine times. Gothenburg has won five of those games.
The last two games have been donnybrooks. First things first: The Swedes won two years ago 35-29 at home when, on fourth and seven, quarterback Wes Geikin connected with Jake Burge on a 37-yard pass with 50 seconds remaining. It happened about a minute after the Cards had tied the count 28-28 on a 65-yard aerial from quarterback Broc Berry to Malichi Swallow.
In addition, Chadron’s Quinn Bailey returned the opening kickoff 94 yards. The Swedes’ Tra Russell galloped 78 yards with the second half kickoff to put his team ahead 21-14.
Last year’s game, also played in Chadron, was another barnburner. There was just one punt.
The only touchdown in the first half was on a 74-yard pass from Berry to Gage Wild. After that, both Gothenburg’s Evan Johnson and Chadron’s Quinn Bailey scored three times. Just a sophomore, Johnson had a 63-yard run to the end zone and caught TD passes of seven and 10 yards in the fourth quarter.
Since the Swedes had missed an extra point after Johnson’s long run, the Cards led 21-20 with about 5 ½ minutes remaining, then went 74 yards in 12 plays, 11 of them direct snaps to Bailey, and he scored on a 25-yard run with 25 seconds left for a 28-20 triumph.
Gothenburg visits with a 2-1 record after beating Ogallala 35-22 and Chase County 36-7, but losing to Adams Central 10-7 last Friday night. The Cards are 3-0 after scoring 122 points and giving up just one touchdown in each of their victories.