HARTINGTON —Cedar Catholic opened the 2009 playoffs with a 28-0 first-round win over Thayer Central here Thursday.
The Trojans will now travel to Ravenna for second-round action next Wednesday.
Ravenna defeated Kearney Catholic 28-0 Thursday to advance into second-round action.
Cedar showed Thayer Central they meant business right from the start of Thursday’s contest.
Cedar Catholic’s Keenan Sudbeck took the opening kick, dodged past a few Titan defenders and then out-ran the rest of the Thayer Central team as he dashed down the right sideline for the 86-yard TD run.
The Trojans held the Titans to three-and-out the first time the Titans got their hands on the ball.
When Cedar got the ball back, Chad Koch took the first play from scrimmage and dashed up field on a 14-yard gainer.
Cedar 21 0 0 7 – 28
Thayer Central 0 0 0 0 – 0

HARTINGTON – The Hartington Wildcats, buoyed by a five-game winning streak to open the season, qualified Friday for the post-season despite a loss to the Winside Wildcats.
Hartington started the year off at 5-0, but ended the regular season with a three-game losing streak. The Wildcats advance to post season for the second straight year and for the third time in school history.
HPS, the 15th seed in the East Bracket, will travel to Howells Thursday to take on the defending state champions.

HARTINGTON – It’s official.
Cedar Catholic will host Thayer Central in the first round of the playoffs Thursday.
Thayer Central, which finished the regular season at 6-3, is located in Hebron, south of York. Because of the Titans long travel time, the game will be held at 4 p.m. at Russ Hochstein Field.
Cedar drew the fifth seed in the West.
If Cedar wins the first round game, then the Trojans would most likely travel to Ravenna for the second round.
Cedar is one of five teams from District C2-5 to qualify for the playoffs – the most from any District.
Here is a complete look at the official pairings for C2, D1 and D2 released Saturday by the NSAA.

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HARTINGTON — One game. Two wins.
Cedar Catholic came out on top against two different foes Thursday night to advance to the playoffs for the 18th rime in school history,
The Trojans defeated Mother Nature’s 35-degree temperatures, 30-mile an hour winds and three-quarters of an inch of rain en route to a 19-0 win over Homer here Friday.
Neither team could make any headway against Mother Nature in the opening quarter.
As the first frame wound down, Cedar punted to Homer, then covered the ball when the Knights mis-handled the punt.
Nine plays later Cedar took advantage of the short field with a five-yard Chad Koch touchdown run up the middle. Todd Bottolfsen split the uprights to make it 7-0.
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EMERSON — The Hartington Wildcats ran into a pretty stiff defense Friday.
The Cats struggled against Emerson-Hubbard, falling 43-14 in the District football contest.
The loss drops Hartington to 5-2 on the year. Hartington must now win in its regular season finale Friday if the Cats are to qualify for the state football playoffs for the second straight year.
The Pirates dominated the line of scrimmage in Friday’s contest, rolling together 17 first downs, while holding the Cats to just five on the night. The home team also held a 398-74 advantage in the ground. game.
Hartington Coach Scott Miller said his team struggled in the first half, but looked better in the second half.
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HARTINGTON —The Ponca Indians snapped a losing streak Friday that stretched back 44 years.
The Indians earned a hard-fought 36-25 win over Cedar Catholic to remain undefeated on the year and snatch the District title from the defending champion Trojans.
Friday’s game was truly a battle of football titans as Ponca, rated second in the state in all four major high school football polls, went toe to toe with Cedar, which was rated third in all four of the polls.
The first time the Indians touched the ball Friday, they showed exactly how they planned to defeat the Trojans as Jared Curry bulled his way over the right tackle and rambled 12 yards for an easy first down. He then showed he could gain yardage up the middle, as well, as he crashed through the center of the Cedar defense on the second play from scrimmage and rambled for eight more yards. Four plays later the Indians showd they weren’t afraid to gamble as they went for the first down on fourth-and-one at the Cedar 43.
The Indians moved the sticks on the play and continued to move the sticks as they put together a 15-play clock-eating drive to score with 5:29 left in the first quarter. The Indians found paydirt when Curry took the pitch and beat back the Cedar defense on his way to the endzone. The extra point kick sailed wide right and the Indians held a 6-0 lead.
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WYNOT — The Wynot Lady Blue Devils wrapped up the regular season this week with one of the best records in school history.
The Lady Devils moved to 16-1 with four wins last week.

Wynot closed out the regular season with a game against 4-13 Osmond on Tuesday.
The Lewis and Clark Conference Tournament begins next Monday with the Lady Devils as the top seed and hosting Emerson-Hubbard in first-round action.
On Oct. 13, the Lady Devils defeated Coleridge 25-14, 25-12, 25-22. Ashley Schmidt paced the team at the service line with four ace serves, while Sarah Schulte led Wynot at the net with 11 kills.
Wynot earned a three-set win over Wausa on Thursday. The Lady Devils had to go into overtime in the third set before they could shake the pesky Lady Vikings.
The Blue Devils were not as sharp as the could have been, said Coach Tammi Wieseler.
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HARTINGTON — Hartington Public School has a big task ahead of itself this week.
The Wildcats face District champion Winside on Friday. The Cats must earn the upset win over Winside in order to advance to the Class D1 high school football playoffs for the second straight year.
Despite a 5-2 record, Hartington is currently 36th in Nebraska School Activities Association power points. Only the top 32 teams make it into the post-season.
Hartington Coach Scott Miller said Winside is the best team the Wildcats will face all season.
“The biggest challenge we face is that we need to get our kids in the best mental frame of mind to win the game,” Miller said.
The Wildcats have spent a lot of time preparing for this contest, Miller said.
“We watched a lot of film on Saturday and Monday,” Miller said.
Hartington defeated Winside 24-12 last year to win the District crown, but Winside had owned Hartington before that, winning seven straight up to that point.
Before Hartington’s 2008 win the Cats had not defeated Winside since an 18-8 win over the Red Cats in 1999.
In the past 50 years, Winside holds a 29-11-1 record in the series.
The biggest Winside win in that span came in a 55-6 decision over Hartngton in 1990. Hartington’s biggest win over Winside was a 34-7 win in 1980.

HARTINGTON — Law enforcement officers are still investigating two area break-ins.
A theft at Steffen Drug, Hartington, took place some time around 3 a.m., Oct 14.
A 911 call came into the Cedar County Sheriff’s office at 6:40 a,m. Wednesday reporting the front door at Lonnie’s Bar and Grill, Coleridge, was broken.
Law enforcement officials are not saying if the break-ins are related, but in both cases, entrance was gained by throwing an object through the front door of the establishments.
Cash, checks, controlled substances and Sudafed were taken from the local drug store, said co-owner Brenda Steffen. Family members spent much of Wednesday doing inventory to determine exactly what was stolen.
“They knew what they were looking for – they went to the back and took controlled substances,” said Steffen. “All of the Sudafed is gone.”
It appeared the robbers had tried to get through the back door first and then went to the front of the building and threw a brick through the door.
Cash and cigarettes were missing from Lonnie’s. No other details on that break-in were known at press time.
Law enforcement officials refused comment, saying the case is still under investigation.

HARTINGTON — Hart-ington School Board members took a long look Monday at the Attendance Policy currently in place at the school.
The policy could cause problems because of the high incidence of flu this year, Board members were told.
Dr. Connie Micek from the Avera Sacred Heart Medical Clinic had visited with school administration about the school’s Attendance Policy.
Dr. Micek is concerned the school’s policy may encourage sick kids to attend school, according to Principal Russ Flamig.
“We have been hit by the flu – we have had 20 or more kids gone from school,” said Flamig. “People are being told it could take seven days to get over the H1Ni flu. A change in the policy should be long term – not just this year with the H1Ni flu.”
Board member Doug Miller wants to look at changing the policy.
“If they are sick for a number of days we should not punish them for staying home when they are sick,” said Miller.
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