Some pregame reading as Chadron gets set to host Chase County
By Con Marshall
After improving its record to 5-0 last Friday night at Ogallala, Chadron High football will host a team from that general direction this Friday when the Chase County Longhorns from Imperial come calling. Kickoff will be at 6 p.m.
The Longhorns have a 3-2 record after romping past Alliance 49-0 a week ago. Their other wins have been 33-6 over Yuma. Colo., in the season-opener and 41-0 over Gordon-Rushville on Sept. 13.
In between, Chase County lost to two Dawson County teams: Gothenburg won 36-7 and Cozad prevailed 46-24.
While the Cardinals and the Longhorns have not played one another the past two seasons, Chadron leads the all-time series 10-8. The Cards blanked Chase County 26-0 and 42-0 the last two times they met in 2020 and 2021. The previous two years, the Longhorns won 12-8 in 2018 and 38-12 in ’19.
Chase County has some athletes. The Longhorns have won the boys’ Class C State Track and Field Championship the past two years. However, the football team received a major setback early this season when Thomas Reeves suffered a severe knee injury.
He is the school’s top returning sprinter. He won both the 100 and 200 meters at the Class C-9 District Meet last spring and had rushed for 769 yards, caught passes for 305 yards and scored 16 touchdowns last year when the football team had a 7-3 record in Class C-2.
The Alliance score would indicate that others have taken up some of the slack.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals have rolled along. They have outscored their five opponents by a 178-40 margin, despite giving up two touchdowns for the first time this autumn during the 34-14 win at Ogallala.
The Lincoln Journal Star has again ranked the Cardinals fourth among Class C-1 teams, behind, in order, only Wahoo, Ashland-Greenwood and Sidney.
After rushing for 301 yards on 31 carries against Ogallala for his third 300-plus yard game this season, senior running back Quinn Bailey continues to lead Nebraska in rushing yards with 1,420 on 170 carries. He also ranks fourth nationally according to MaxPreps.
Second to Bailey on the state’s rushing list is Connor Booth of Wahoo Neumann with 1,192 yards. No other 11-man ball carrier in the state has eclipsed 1,000 yards through the first five games. After scoring all five touchdowns at Ogallala, Bailey also is Nebraska’s scoring leader with 142 points.
Nationally, Alvin Henderson of Elba, Ala., is both the rushing and scoring leader with 1,958 yards and 212 points.