Sidney knocks off district foe Alliance on road

The way things were going when Sidney's Tyler Wintholz broke up a two-point conversion late in the third quarter, it looked as though it would mark the final margin of victory.

But as the Raiders offense continued to roll and the defense stiffened when it mattered most, two points was as close as the Alliance Bulldogs (3-4, 0-1) could get the rest of the way. The Raiders (4-3, 1-0) went on to stop their district opponents with a 52-42 victory on the Bulldog's home turf Friday night.

The win puts to an end a three-game slide by the Raiders and lands them in a tie for first place at the head of the District B8 standings. As district play began with Sidney and Alliance, so it did too with Scottsbluff and Gering. The Bearcats (5-2, 1-0) got the best of B8s other Bulldogs (2-5, 0-1) 42-12 at Bearcat stadium.

District play continues next week with Scottsbluff hosting Alliance while the Raiders will travel to Gering. Both match ups are set for a 7 p.m. kickoff. With both the Raiders and Bearcats favored next week, Sidney's game with Scottsbluff on Oct. 25, at Weymouth Field could be for the district crown.

But as the Raiders Chance Anglin said after the Alliance win, "We've got Gering next week. One game at a time."

As for Anglin he led Sidney's 399-yard rushing output with 193 yards on 23 carries. Anglin's evening brings him within the shadow of a 1,000 yard season. After seven games he has racked up 979 yards on 149 carries.

Also with a big night was Logan Lewis who ran for his sixth 100-yard game of the season. His season total has now reached 1,189 yards on 219 carries. Both Lewis and Anglin scored three touchdowns. Quarterback Lane Harvey picked up 43 yards on the ground in addition to throwing a 38-yard touchdown pass to Lucas Rosenbaum. Michael Deaver rushed for 26 yards on just four carries.

"It was great. We've been on a losing streak so its great to get back to winning," said Harvey. "Especially against Alliance. There's nothing better than beating Alliance at their own place."

It's the first time since Sidney has beaten Alliance since Oct. 23, 2009. That 28-7 win was also at their place.

Absent for the Raiders was offensive and defensive lineman Jake Sager, who was attending a long-ago planned conference in Washington, D.C.

After Alliance's Cody Robinson scampered for a 53-yard touchdown run with 3:20 left in the third quarter, it looked as though the game would come down to who could execute the the two-point conversion most often. After all, each team scored on both its third-frame possessions.

Robinson's long run brought the Bulldogs to within two at 36-34. So when Wintholz preserved the Raider lead by breaking up Josh Matulka's conversion pass, the play loomed very large.

The Raiders answered Robinson with one more third-quarter possession. They proceeded on a 66-yard, 11-play march that required just under three minutes to complete. Lewis started it with an 11-yard run. Anglin ended it with a jaunt of eight yards.

The Lewis-Anglin tandem was given the ball on eight of the drive's 11 plays. Harvey picked up eight yards up the middle over two plays. Four more yards were earned the hard way, as Deaver somehow managed to stay on his feet for four yards after being met at the line of scrimmage. But Deaver's feet kept going as three enemy tacklers tried to wrestle him down as so many a cowboys would a steer.

"We practiced all the plays we were going to run all week," said Raider center Michael Sukup. "During the week we tried different fronts so we were ready for everything."

When Anglin added the conversion, Sidney had a two-score (44-34) advantage heading into the final 12 minites. Despite the see-saw affair, some big defensive plays by Sidney helped define the final quarter.

Tucker Wintholz brought his teammates to a roar when he ran over Robinson near the Raider sideline on a second-and-nine play. Shortly thereafter Dylan Haas and Jake Heeren forced a punt by flattening Alliance back Brody Brennan four-yards behind the line-of-scrimmage. Heeren had two tackles for a loss in the game.

Sidney freshman Peyton Hill led the defense with 10 tackles. Tucker Wintholz had five other takedowns in addition to the Brennan wipe out. Dylan Haas had eight tackles including seven solo.

Before Alliance's next possession, Rosenbaum had the Bulldogs pinned deep in their own territory with a 40-yard punt covered by Nick Conger at the four. Sidney's Kevin Jurgensen stopped Robinson's attempt to get out of the hole on fourth-and-two at their own 12. When Sidney took over on the next play, Lewis wasted no time scoring the Raiders final touchdown. The score gave Sidney a 52-34 advantage with 3:40 to play.

On Rosenbaum's ensuig kickoff, Brady Radcliffe gave Alliance a long field by bringing down Trevor Kamerzell with a nice tackle on the 24. Kammerzell, however, would make up for lost ground on the drive to follow. He was on the receiving end of four Josh Matulka passes for 50 yards. Kamerzell eventually scored the game's final touchdown on what was officially a 17-yard run - though he actually caught a pass in the left flat behind the line before making his dash to paydirt.

Raiders center Michael Sukup came off the field midway through the fourth quarter in obvious pain. He was replaced on the field by sophomore Cody Hofrock. Though quarterback-center exchanges are sometimes a problem in these situations, the Raiders had no issues. Shorty before the final seconds ticked off, Raiders Head Coach Todd Ekart was pounding Hofrock on the shoulder pads for his solid play.

"I don't expect to miss any time," Sukup said of the minor injury. I'll talk to the trainers on Tuesday and go from there."

Though Sidney's first district game of 2013 was not secure until the final quarter, the Raiders never trailed. Lewis opened the scoring on the game's first offensive drive. The Lewis one-yard run capped a 70-yard drive that took seven plays and 2:15 off the clock.

Anglin opened up his big night by scampering 17 yards on the contest's first play. The biggest play, however, was a 31-yard pass from Harvey to Rosenbaum. The Raiders were also helped by an Alliance penalty on third down. Harvey picked up up a first down when his hard count drew the Bulldogs offsides.

"It's something we've worked on all year," Harvey said of the hard count. "We have to be disciplined to make it work. It helped us a ton tonight. I think we got six or seven false starts against them."

And the Raiders were disciplined. While Harvey's hard count cost the Bulldogs several times in critical situations, the Raiders never flinched.

With time running out in the first quarter, Alliance tied the game at 8-8 with a Jason Berglund 35-yard run. Despite a five-yard penalty on the coversion try, Matulka found Berglund open for the two points.

The Raiders took back the lead 14-8 on their first possession of the second quarter. Anglin did most of the running with 65 yards on just three carries. Three other runs netted four yards. Sophomore Hunter Secrest's first carry of the season was stopped for a short loss.

As the end of the first half loomed, there were a total of four touchdowns in a span of 2:46. Each team scored twice. Anglin opened the flurry on a 1-yard dash to the outside. He also ran in the conversion for a 22-8 lead with 3:08 left.

Alliance responded via the arm of Matulka. He completed three passes during a 63-yard sprint to paydirt. When the bonus-points try failed, Sidney still held a 22-14 advantage with 2:11 to go in the half.

Sidney came back with a three-play drive of its own. An incomplete pass was followed by a six-yard Anglin bolt and a 38-yard scoring pass from Harvey-to-Rosenbaum. The drive took but 20 seconds.

That left plenty of time for Alliance. A 27-yard Robinson romp preceded Matulka's 11-yard touchdown pass to Kamerzell with 22 ticks left on the first-half clock. Austin Davidson ran the two points over the line for a 30-22 Sidney lead after 24 minutes.

After the long Homecoming halftime, Cody Frerichs greeted the Bulldogs on its first second-half play by bringing Robinson down three yards behind the line-of-scrimmage. On the following play, a comittee of Heeren, Tucker Wintholz and Deaver stopped the Bulldogs fullback for no gain. Unfortunately, Robinson made up for it on third down with a 25 yard rush to the Sidney side of the field.

The Dogs eventually scored on the drive with Matulka going the final yard. When Matulka overthrew his receiver for the conversion, Sidney maintained its slight two-point advantage at 30-28.

The Raiders answered on its next drive by going 71 yards in just over three minutes. Lewis was the final ball handler of the procession as he went in from the 12 for a 36-28 Raider edge. The Robinson 53 yarder with the Tyler Wintholz extra-point stop followed.