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HARTINGTON - Hartington-Newcastle coach Rusty Fuller knew his team would have it’s hand’s full when they welcomed Exeter-Milligan/Friend here to Russ Hochstein Field on Oct. 24 for the opening round of the Class D1 Football Playoffs.
And Fuller was right about his assessment of the Bobcats, he just didn’t know he would be facing them without his key weapon for most of the game.
The Wildcats fell 50-20 to end the season at 7-2.
Hartington-Newcastle’s “Mr. Swiss Army Knife,” Cole Heimes, had a hamstring problem early in the game and looked on as his team battled valiantly but ended up on the wrong side of the scoreboard.
“We had some younger kids step up here and that is very promising,” Fuller said. “It was just a shame to see it end this way, but I was very proud of this team and what we accomplished all season.”
The game started just as expected with Heimes running the ball in from 18 yards out to give the Wildcats their first lead. After he ran in the conversion, Hartington-Newcastle was up 8-0 early in the opening 12 minutes.
It took the Bobcats a little over a minute to answer as Mikey Bartu, who would finish with 264 yards rushing, scored the first of his five touchdowns on the night, this one from the HNS 10 and after a successful conversion the game was knotted up at 8-8.
The EMF defense got into the scoring next when it scooped up a Wildcat fumble and took it in from the seven to make it 14-8.
Cole Rosener had an answer for Hartington- Newcastle as he took the ensuing kickoff after the Bobcat score and sprinted 60 yards to the end zone to even the score again.
Neither team would score in the second quarter and the teams went to the halftime break still deadlocked at 14-14.
Bartu and company got things going in the third frame as the EMF running back had scoring runs of 41 yards, eight yards, six yards and seven yards to realistically put the game on ice as the frame ended with the Bobcats in front, 44-14.
Rosner crossed the goal line with just over five minutes left in the game to get to the 50-20 final after EMF had scored earlier in the fourth.
“EMF had a great team and that Bartu kid was really good, so hats off to them,” Fuller said. “We got beat by a good team with playoff experience.”
Brayden Lammers and Ashton Wakeley led the Wildcat defense with 14 and 12 tackles respectively. Wakeley had two tackles behind the line of scrimmage and Lammers had one.
Jason Heimes had 11 tackles with one for a loss, Ayden Rosener had 10 tackles with two behind the line. Carter Kelly registered nine stops with one for a loss and Aiden Collier recorded seven with one for a loss.
“Our seniors were tremendous leaders and laid a foundation for our younger kids to build from,” said Fuller. “The future is bright for the Wildcat football team and I couldn’t be more proud of their efforts this year.”
EMF (5-4) 14 0 30 6 - 50 H-N (7-2) 14 0 0 6 - 20 FIRST QUARTER H-N: Cole Heimes 18 run, Heimes run, 10:14. 8-0. EMF: Mikey Bartu 10 run, run good, 9:12. 8-8. EMF: Zach Vossler 7-yard fumble return, conversion no good, 2:27. 8-14. H-N: Cole Rosener 60 kickoff return, conversion no good, 2:14. 14-14. THIRD QUARTER EMF: Bartu 41 run, Bartu run, 11:14. 14-22. EMF: Bartu 8 run, Z. Vossler pass from Mason Vossler, 8:31. 14-30. EMF: Bartu 6 run, AJ Mueller run, 3:13. 14-38. EMF: Bartu 7 run, conversion no good, :04. 14-44. FOURTH QUARTER EMF: M. Vossler 1 run, conversion no good, 11:10. 14-50. H-N: Rosener 4 run, conversion no good, 5:05. 20-50. Hartington-Newcastle Individual Passing: Austin Sudbeck 4-11 16; Cole Heimes 1-3 33. Hartington-Newcastle Individual Rushing: Austin Sudbeck 12-21; Cole Heimes 5-33 1TD; Cole Rosener 5-4 1TD. Hartington-Newcastle Individual Receiving: Cole Rosener 4-43; Carter Kelly 1-6. Hartington-Newcastle Individual Tackles: Ty Opfer 5; Kayne Gratzfeld 2; Cole Heimes 2; Ayden Rosener 10 2TFL; Cole Rosener 7; Carter Kelly 9 1TFL; Brayden Lammers 14 1TFL; Josiah Christensen 1; Cole Bensen 3; Jason Heimes 11 1TFL; Ashton Wakeley 12 2TFL; Aiden Collier 7 1TFL; Kyptin Collier 3; Lincoln Grutsch 3; Landon Clark 1; Logan Opfer 2.
