Con Marshall
Despite dropping its final two games of the season, the Chadron High football team’s 7-2 record included enough power points to host a home game in the first round of the Class C-1 playoffs on Friday. The Cardinals will meet the Lincoln Christian Crusaders at 4 p.m.
It’s the 34th time the Cards have been in the playoffs dating back to 1977, when Chadron was among the first Panhandle teams to earn a spot in the statewide post-season action. This will be Lincoln Christian’s 11th playoff competition, all since 2002. The school opened in 1953.
The Crusaders also have a 7-2 record. The Cardinals are the eighth seed in the 16-team bracket, meaning they got the final home game to launch the playoffs. Lincoln Christian is the ninth seed and will make the 450-mile trip. Assistant Coach Josh Hiatt, a former member of the Chadron State football team, said a stop at Carhenge near Alliance will help break up the journey.
Like Chadron’s, both of the Crusaders’ losses this fall were by narrow margins. Auburn won the third game of the season 22-14 and Central City edged them 52-50 on Oct. 4. Both of those teams finished the season 8-1. Central City was sixth and Auburn seventh in the Lincoln Journal Star’s top 10 rankings last week. Chadron was fifth and Lincoln Christian debuted at No. 10.
Christian has a 30-man roster that includes only five seniors, but they run the ball well with what Chadron Coach Michael Sandstrom calls a “double-wing veer offense” similar to what Gothenburg and Ogallala use. The Crusaders are averaging 342 yards rushing and only 47 yards passing.
Even with Quinn Bailey running for an amazing 2,184 yards this fall, the Cardinals’ 288 yards per game on the ground doesn’t match the Lincoln team’s average. The Cards are averaging 72.3 yards passing.
The Crusaders’ primary ball carrier is senior Asa Wegrzyn, who is listed at 5-foot-8, 165 pounds, about the same height and a few pounds lighter than Bailey. After rushing for just 143 yards and scoring only four touchdowns last year, according to Huskerland Prep, Wegrzyn has carried the ball 199 times for 1,416 yards and scored 23 touchdowns this fall.
Wegrzyn is sixth among Nebraska 11-man rushing leaders. Bailey is second on the state list after Wahoo Neumann’s Conor Booth romped for 381 yards and scored all eight touchdowns during the Cavaliers’ 48-27 win over Raymond Central on Friday night. Booth is now credited with 2,414 yards this season.
Another capable ball carrier for the Crusaders is 5-7, 160-pound senior Dominick Roth, one of the wingbacks who has rushed for 758 yards and averaged 12.2 yards per carry. In his pre-season report to Huskerland Prep, Christian Coach Kurt Earl, who is in his ninth season at the school, called Roth “pound for pound the best player we have,”
The Crusaders’ leading linemen include senior Jonathan Thompson, 5-8, 210, and junior Moses Dove, 6-0, 240. The quarterback is senior Truman Paulson, 6-0, 180, also a capable runner.
The winner of the Chadron-Lincoln Christian game is apt to play Sidney the following Friday, Nov. 8. The undefeated Red Raiders are C-1’s top seed and are playing No. 16 seed Omaha Roncalli, which has a 5-4 record, in that playoff contest Friday.
Wahoo and Columbus Lakeview are the other 9-0 teams in the bracket. Besides Central City and Auburn, three more teams–Boys Town, O’Neill and Ashland-Greenwood–are 8-1.