Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper

Sidney Smothers Gordon-Rushville, 51-0

Sidney Red Raider football opened it's home schedule for 2018 against the Gordon-Rushville Mustangs, another new opponent Sidney faces due to its' shift to the C-1 conference.

A special presentation was made prior to the game thanks to the pilots and crew of MARC, which flew its Air Rescue helicopter by Weymouth Field at the end of the National Anthem, then landed on the 50 yard line to deliver the game ball for Sidney's home opener.

Faced with another unfamiliar opponent, prior to Friday's game Sidney head coach Chris Koozer talked about what he did know about the Gordon-Rushville Mustangs, and where the Red Raiders needed to focus.

"Gordon-Rushville has some very good athletes, especially their quarterback who has a great arm and their tight end is very athletic", said Koozer.

He added, "Their lines are small, however. We're going to take advantage of that."

Take advantage the Red Raiders did, reeling off 51 points on offense and smothering the Mustangs

with such a dominating defensive performance that Gordon-Rushville did not manage a first down until the waning moments of the fourth period when the junior varsity on both sides had taken over the game.

The game started with Gordon-Rushville on offense, and after losing yards on the first two plays from scrimmage, they fumbled and Sidney took over deep in the Mustangs territory. After converting a first down, Sidney's drive stalled with plays that lost yards and a penalty. Senior quarterback Arik Doty kicked a short field goal to put the Red Raiders on top early in the game, 3-to-0.

"Gordon-Rushville uses a defensive scheme that's a mixture between a 4-4 and a 5-4, so we've tried to prepare for that", coach Koozer said prior to the game.

The Red Raider offense clearly was having some difficulty figuring out the Mustang's defensive scheme in the beginning of the contest,.

But the second quarter started with Sidney deep again in Mustang territory, and Arik Doty rolled out with a passing play, but then kept the ball and weaved his way 17 yards through the Gordon-Rushville secondary to score Sidney's first touchdown of the night. The score was 9-to-0 after a missed point after attempt, and Sidney started to control the game on offense as well as defense from that point forward. After stopping the Mustangs again with a three-and-out, Sidney quickly scored with Doty passing to junior Eli Ahrens for the touchdown, increasing Sidney's lead to 15-to-0 after another missed point after attempt.

Sidney's offense was clicking, and racked up 34 points in the second period after only scoring three in the first, to take a commanding 37-to-0 halftime lead. The Mustangs were unable to make any effective halftime adjustments as Sidney's offense focused on running down the clock, while Gordon-Rushville desperately tried to move the ball.

After the score was 44-to-0 in favor of the Red Raiders, both teams substituted with their junior varsity players for the remainder of the game. Gordon-Rushville was finally able to convert their only first down of the game, but were unable to score against the Sidney. In fact, the Red Raiders weren't finished scoring, as sophomore Beau Wamsley reeled off a dazzling 30 yard touchdown run for Sidney, turning the corner and then using his speed to race to the end zone for the Red Raiders final score of the night. The game ended with Sidney victorious, 51-to-0.

Sidney next faces Mingen at home on Friday.

 

Reader Comments(0)