The Sidney Sun-Telegraph - Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper

Going a step up and competing against the Class B Scottsbluff Bearcats figured to be a challenge for the struggling Red Raiders, but the Scottsbluff squad left nothing to chance and scored early and often in a 59-to-0 rout of Sidney on Friday at Weymouth Field.

"They were who they thought they were, fast, physical, and very well coached. Sometimes you can surprise a good team like the Bearcats, but it wasn't meant to be Friday night", said Sidney Head Coach Chris Koozer.

Scottsbluff immediately showed why they're the number two ranked team in Class B, and after dominating previous opponents like Gering, Sterling, and Hastings, the Bearcats blasted out 359 rushing yards and seven touchdowns against the Red Raiders. By the end of the first quarter the Bearcats had run up a 35-to-0 lead and never looked back. Scottsbluff moves to 6-and-0 and looks unbeatable at this point in the season.

Conversely, the Red Raiders are at a point with only three games left in the regular season where they need to execute in all three phases of the game and win out if they're going to have any chance of continuing into the post season.

"Ogallala is similar in many ways to Chadron, and if we could've minimized the mistakes and mental errors in that game, we could have beaten them" said Koozer.

"They're a passing team with a very good 6'4" senior quarterback, and we'll have to get pressure on him to be successful", said Koozer, adding, "plus they have an outstanding running back who transferred to Ogallala this year and we're going to have to contain him."

Ogallala stands at 5-and-1, with their only loss coming against a strong Kearney Catholic team.

"The good thing to take away from the Scottsbluff game is that we kept the penalties to a minimum for the second game in a row, and our guys, especially our young guys, showed no quit at all when the game got out of hand."

Koozer knows his team will have to execute and play within themselves to have a shot at taking down Ogallala.

"We can't make mistakes and we have to focus on making things happen for us rather than waiting to take advantage of things that come our way. We also have to focus on generating turnovers. Incredibly at this point in the season we have yet to grab an interception", said Koozer.

Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Weymouth Field on Friday.