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HARTINGTON — Cedar Catholic trailed for over 35 minutes of Friday’s 48-minute contest, but eventually turned back a stubborn Oakland-Craig team at Russ Hochstein Field, 22-16 to move on to the quarterfinals of the C2 playoffs.
It was the Trojans second win over the Knights, Cedar won in Oakland 28-23 back on Oct. 18.
“We had a great week of preparation for the game and had a lot of kids contribute to this win, even if they didn’t get in the game on Friday night,” Trojan coach, Chad Cattau said. “It takes a lot of effort from our scout team kids to run a different team’s offense and defense every week and I thought those kids really stepped up this week. They are the behind the scenes kids that really put in the work to make sure the team is successful on Friday nights.”
It was a Braeden Reifenrath run from 15 yards out that put the Trojans in front with 7:30 left in the final 12 minutes and after Reifenrath hit Jaymison Cattau on a conversion pass, Cedar Catholic earned its first lead of the game by the final score.
“Our discipline and leadership really showed up in the second half as we continued to make big plays on both sides of the bal l,” the coach said. “We had so many kids step up and play the best games they have all year and that is a great sign moving forwar d.”
The Trojan defense held the Knights’ potent air attack at arm’s length the rest of the way.
“I am always nervous facing spread teams because it’s not an offense we see a lot,” Cattau said. “But our assistant coaches and players did a great job all week getting ready for what we woul d see and how we wanted to defend in the different formations and passing concepts. There were a lot of adjustments made during the game and the players all responded to them and made the necessary plays.”
Earlier in the game, the Knights grabbed the lead in the first quarter.
Breiton Whitmire, who finished with 112 yards rushing on the night, scored on a 15-yard run and a Bodie Hochstein kick left the Trojans trailing 8-7.
Oakland-Craig would score with no time on the clock before the intermission and took a 16-7 lead to the halftime huddle.
The teams knocked heads for most of the third frame before Reifenrath blasted in from the one, another Hochstein kick made it 16-14 in favor of the Knights heading into the fourth.
Cedar claimed the lead when Reifenrath broke through on a 15 yard run to paydirt, Jaymison Cattau then hauled in a Reifenrath pass to make it 22-16 with just over seven minutes left in the game.
Keyton Arens had a good night on both sides of the ball, collecting six Reifenrath aerials for 116 yards on offense and recorded 10 tackles on the Cedar Catholic defense.
Jaymison Cattau had a couple of tackles behind the line of scrimmage and had a sack.
Bodie Hochstein not only kicked, he had nine tackles, intercepted a pass and recovered a Knight fumble.
Reifenrath finished the contest completing 9-of-11 passes for 166 yards.
Cedar travels to Wahoo Nov. 8 to take on 9-1 Bishop Neumann.
The Cavaliers defeated Lincoln Lutheran 49-7 in the opening round and is the No. 2 seed in Class C2.
Oakland-Craig (6-4) 8 8 0 0 - 16 Cedar Catholic (8-2) 0 7 7 8 - 22 FIRST QUARTER
O-C: Corbin Guill 63 pass from Braylon Anderson, Anderson run, 2:26. 0-8.
SECOND QUARTER
CC: Breiton Whitmire 15 run, Bodie Hochstein kick, 11:55. 7-8. O-C: Anderson 1 run, Anderson run, 0:00. 7-16.
THIRD QUARTER
CC: Braeden Reifenrath 1 run, Hochstein
kick, 0:55. 14-16.
FOURTH QUARTER
CC: Reifenrath 15 run, Jaymison Cattau pass from Reifenrath, 7:30. 22-16.
Passing: Braeden Reifenrath 9-11 166; Micah Cattau 0-1.
Rushing: Braeden Reifenrath 8-49 2TD; Breiton Whitmire 11-112 1TD; Micah Cattau 3-2; Bodie Hochstein 1-14; Hunter Bensen 1-10; Brady Hochstein 10-67.
Receiving: Keyton Arens 6-116; Jaymison Cattau 2-12; Nolan Becker 2-41.
Tackles: Matthew Loecker 5; Keyton Arens 10; Jaymison Cattau 5 2TFL 1 SAC; Braeden Reifenrath 2; Breiton Whitmire 5; Micah Cattau 7; Bodie Hochstein 9 1INT 1FR; Hunter Bensen 5 1TFL 1 SAC; Brady Hochstein 9 2SAC; Hunter Kuchta 2; Langston Christensen 1; Easton Hochstein 11; Jared Rutar 2; Ryan Pick 6 1SAC.
