McCook hands Sidney first loss of the year

There were just a few seconds left in the game, but Sidney High's football team still had a chance to remain unbeaten and pull off a big win on the road against McCook (4-0). Its fate rested on the foot of Jake Heeren and the field goal unit.

The Red Raiders trailed the Bison 20-19 and faced fourth down and three from McCook's 13-yard line with just 20 seconds remaining in Friday night's battle between two of the top Class B teams in the state. McCook made a strong push and blocked Heeren's game-winning, 30-yard field goal attempt and handed Sidney its first loss of the season.

The Red Raiders had marched 67 yards down the field in about four minutes on the strength of a few clutch passes from quarterback Lane Harvey. Sidney head coach Todd Ekart called a timeout. He decided to send out Sidney's field goal team for the game-winning try.

Ekart said he was confident in his choice to kick and in his kicker.

"Jake had been kicking well this week and we thought that he had a great chance to make the kick," Ekart said. "Unfortunately, we had a missed block and one of their guys made a huge play for them and blocked it."

After the game, a team of dejected Red Raider players huddled around Ekart in the west end zone. Ekart told his players that they had nothing to hang their heads about. Sidney played hard and a took the No. 6 team in Nebraska to the edge on the road.

Sidney played without senior offensive and defensive lineman Jake Sager. He sat out the game with a torn PCL, an injury he sustained in the third quarter of the Hastings game a week earlier.

However, Ekart said he was pleased with how other guys filled in.

"It's just a next-guy-up philosophy," Ekart said. "If your name is called we expect you to be prepared and ready to go. The guys we stuck in the game were prepared and did a good job against a very tough team."

The Red Raiders started with a little trickery on the first play of the night.

Harvey pitched the ball to senior running back Chance Anglin, who launched a 32-yard pass completion to junior wideout Tyler Wintholz. But the drive didn't last much longer, and for a majority of the first half, the Sidney offense had a difficult time moving the ball deep into McCook territory. Its first three possessions resulted in a turnover on downs and two Heeren punts.

Meanwhile McCook was able to score on its first possession of the game. Junior quarterback Caleb Sheets found 6-foot, 3-inch junior receiver Jarod Bryant along the sideline for a 28-yard touchdown pass. That play capped off an eight-play, 67-yard drive and McCook took a 7-0 lead with 5:37 into the first quarter.

McCook eventually increased its lead to 10-0 on a 39-yard field goal by sophomore kicker Chandler Witt.

Sidney would respond in its next series. Starting with the ball on their own 20, Anglin and Harvey pieced together a 10-play, 80-yard drive that spanned 3:45. Both Harvey and Anglin had hands in big plays, and with 45 seconds left in the half, Harvey hit Wintholz in the back of the end zone. The ensuing two-point conversion failed and Sidney trailed 10-6 at half.

Wintholz finished the game with 142 yards on seven catches and the touchdown. He praised his coaching staff and teammates for putting him in position to make big plays.

"I'm able to make those plays because the coaches call the right stuff," Wintholz said. "My team keeps me fired up and they know what potential I have and they want me to go get it."

The Red Raider defense and special teams did an excellent job of holding the Bison to just 10 first-half points. Heeren was able to flip the field on each one of his punts, as he averaged 51 yards per punt on three kicks during the game.

On its first series of the second half, McCook continued to lean on its strong running attack spearheaded by seniors Trever Matson and Spencer Powell. It drove to the Red Raiders' 17 before Anglin came up with a big interception in the end zone.

Sidney took over on its own 20 and began to move the ball well. After getting the ball to midfield, Anglin took over from there. On a handoff to the outside, he broke two tackles, gained the edge and outran everyone down the sideline for a 50-yard TD run to give Sidney a 12-10 lead. The two-point conversion failed.

Anglin totaled 125 yards rushing and a score on 17 carries, as well as 68 yards passing in the game.

McCook got the ball back and quickly coughed it up again. Powell fumbled the ball on the Bison 44-yard line and senior free safety Garrett Deer jumped on the ball and the Sidney section of the stands exploded.

Sidney got into a fourth down and seven at the McCook 42 and went for it. Again, the Raiders turned to a halfback pass and Anglin found Wintholz downfield for a 36-yard pass play that moved Sidney to the McCook 6-yard line. Junior back Hunter Secrest finished the drive with a pair of runs and the score. Sidney opted to kick the extra point this time, staking it to a 19-10 lead with 1:53 left in the third quarter.

"I owe all of my running success to my line," said Secrest, who finished with 31 yards on 11 carries. "They work hard and help me excel."

Less than three minutes into the fourth quarter, the Bison found the end zone on a Sheets 3-yard TD run. The extra point brought McCook within two points at 19-17.

Sidney was forced to punt on its next possession, but Heeren booted one almost 60 yards that McCook returned to its own 30. But a late hit call against Sidney tacked on 15 yards to the return and the Bison started their series on their own 45. They marched down the field behind their steady running game and Witt nailed a 22-yard field goal to give McCook the lead, 20-19, with 4:18 left in the game.

Sidney (3-1) will head home to face the Lexington Minutemen (3-1) this Friday on Senior Night at 6 p.m.