The smell of football was in the air on Friday Night in Chadron as the Chadron Cardinals hosted preseason top 10 ranked Broken Bow Indians. The Cardinals under the power of an experienced defense upset the Indians 28-8.
Broken Bow got the opening kickoff and took it to the house but two flags caused it to be called back. The Cardinal defense came out and showed that they were unaffected by the called back touchdown forcing a three and out.
A drive or two later Chadron got the first points on the board off a 75 yard sophomore to sophomore touchdown pass that gave quarterback Tobin Landen his first career touchdown pass. The two point conversion was no good. The score at the end of the first quarter was 6-0 Chadron.
The second quarter was a grind out affair and it took Broken Bow until late in the second quarter to record their first, first down of the game. While the Chadron defense was rolling so was senior Quinn Bailey who scored his first touchdown of the season on a 10 yard carry.
The second half was the Quinn Bailey show as he chewed up yards, defenders and the clock as he got a 39 yard touchdown run, part of his 193 yard day.
Broken Bow did break through with a 78 yard kickoff return touchdown by Coy Wardyn that made things interesting. Chadron forced a turnover on downs after a three and out but got the ball at their own two yard line.
The first play was a carry back to the line of scrimmage then the play that changed the entire landscape of the night happened. Landen got a low snap and reached down and appeared to put his knee on the ground when he touched the ball resulting in a safety. The officials talk and ruled an inadvertent whistle and ruled that Landen’s knee was not on the ground. A subsequent unsportsmanlike conduct penalty gave the Cardinals a first down and the rest was history as a Bailey touchdown capped the 28-8 win.
Chadron is 1-0 on the season and heads east to Valentine next Friday. Broken Bown is 0-1 and hosts Ogallala. We will have the game next Friday with pregame set at 5:30.