Varsity Football vs Walthill Friday, September 8, 2023
The Niobrara-Verdigre Cougar football team traveled to Walthill this past Friday afternoon to play the final non-district game of the 2023 season. The Cougars beat the Blujays in convincing fashion 54-14 moving their season record to 3-0.
The Cougars for the third straight week started the game slowly… this time on the defensive side of the ball. The N-V defense uncharacteristically allowed Walthill to score on their first two possessions of the game before the Cougars’ said, “enough is enough” and held the Blujays scoreless the rest of the game. Meanwhile on offense, N-V started strong and never looked back as the Cougars would not have to punt the entire game. The first TD was scored on a 20 yard Cody Wickersham (Cash Wickersham PAT pass to Wyatt Shabram). Then four TDs were scored in the 2nd quarter… Cash Wickersham 1 yard run; Cody Wickersham 7 yard run, Cash Wickersham 4 yard run, and Cash Wickersham 2 yard run. The Cougars must work on 2-point conversion plays as the PAT plays failed on all four TD’s in the 2nd quarter.
Halftime score N-V 32 Walthill 14.
The second half saw the Cougar offense and special teams attack with multiple weapons, while a smart, disciplined defense held the Blujays to 41 yards total offense in the half. TD’s were scored by… Brady Koehn 25 yard punt return, Kellen Vesely 20 yard run, and Arlan Lammers 29 yard run. The JV players would take over in the 4th quarter and play quite well! The running clock was also in effect during the 4th quarter.
Final score N-V 54 Walthill 14.
It was an excellent game with a lot of players receiving quality playing time! The Niobrara-Verdigre football team will play this Friday, Sept. 15th at 7:00 pm in Verdigre vs. the Ainsworth Bulldogs in a clash of top 5 ranked teams in Class D2. This game will mark the beginning of district play for the 2023 football season. It is also Homecoming 2023. The next JV football game will be Monday, Sept. 18 at Summerland. Kickoff for that JV game is set for 6:30 pm. GO COUGARS!
| WALTHILL |
W 54-14 |
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| OFFENSE | ||||||||||||
| player | car. | rushing yards | passing | pass yards | recept | rec. yards | TD's | PAT-2 | SAFETY | |||
| Kellen Vesely | 3 | 25 | 1 | |||||||||
| Brady Koehn | 14 | 63 | 1 | |||||||||
| Wyatt Shabram | 4 | 82 | 1 | |||||||||
| Cody Wickersham | 11 | 56 | 2 | |||||||||
| Arlan Lammers | 2 | 35 | 1 | |||||||||
| Coy Wickersham | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||||||||
| Cash Wickersham | 9 | 69 | 5--11 1pat 1int | 88 | 3 | 1 | ||||||
| Kash Nielsen | 1--1 1pat | 3 | ||||||||||
| Landyn Frank | 1 | 3 | 1 | |||||||||
| totals | 248 | 91 | ||||||||||
| 20 first downs | ||||||||||||
| 0 fumbles / 1 int | ||||||||||||
| 4 penalties 29 yds |
(Walthill… 12 penalties 85 yds) |
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| top blocking scores: |
1. Wyatt Shabram 90% |
2. Reid Teadtke 85% |
3. Isaac Pavlik 83% |
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| DEFENSE | fum. | blocked | ||||||||||
| unassisted | assisted | tackle pts | TFL | sacks | ints. | Rec. | kicks | punts | avg | |||
| Wade Pritchett | 0 | 1 | 1 |
(1 KO 29 yds) |
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| Kellen Vesely | 2 | 1 | 5 | |||||||||
| Brady Koehn | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
(2 ret 54 yds 1 PR TD) |
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| Wyatt Shabram | 2 | 0 | 4 | |||||||||
| Cody Wickersham | 2 | 3 | 7 | |||||||||
| Colt Adema | 0 | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
| Anthony Smith | 0 | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
| Arlan Lammers | 4 | 6 | 14 | 1.5 | ||||||||
| Coy Wickersham | 1 | 3 | 5 | (2 KO ret 37 yds) | (1 FF) |
(6 KO 32.8 yd avg) |
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| Layten Moody | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | ||||||||
| Leon Coffman | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Cash Wickersham | 6 | 3 | 15 | (1 FF) | ||||||||
| Kash Nielsen | 2 | 5 | 9 | 1 | ||||||||
| Jordon Ingebo | 1 | 1 | 3 |
(2 KO 42.5 yd avg 1 TB) |
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| Jase Kotrous | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Landyn Frank | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Jacob Motacek | 11 | 5 | 27 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Allison Sucha | 0 | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
| Jaxson Bauer | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Praeson Klug | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| Isaac Pavlik | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0.5 | ||||||||
| Edward Drobny | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
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Defense Allowed -- 134 rush yds + 68 pass yds = 202 total |
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| 9 first downs | ||||||||||||
| forced 1 fumble / 1 int | ||||||||||||
| SPECIAL TEAMS | ||||||||||||
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allowed 8 ret for 12.13 yd avg per ret. |
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9 kick-offs for 34.6 yd avg. (1 TB) |
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4 returns for 22.75 yd avg (KO & punt) |
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(1 punt return for 25 yd TD) |
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