Red Raiders rout Gering to secure state playoff berth

Sidney head football coach Todd Ekart was hoping for a fast start by his team on Friday night. His Red Raiders didn't disappoint.

Just 4 minutes and 22 seconds into its season-finale on the road against winless Gering, Sidney had opened up a 22-point lead. Its offense didn't slow any from there as the Red Raiders scored all of their points in the first half en route to a 48-0 victory.

With the win, Sidney improved to 7-2 overall and assured itself a spot in the Nebraska Class B state playoffs. The Red Raiders – as the No. 9 seed – will square off against host and No. 8 seed Seward (7-2) on Friday night at Concordia University, Nebraska. Kickoff is 7 p.m. CDT.

The easy win against struggling Gering allowed Ekart to pull many of his starters early and gave many of the underclassmen on the roster a chance to see considerable playing time.

"We got off to a really fast start tonight, and that was what we were hoping for," Ekart said. "We wanted to get the old guys out and the new guys in. It was big for us to get our starters some rest and have some of the younger kids get some work."

The Red Raiders racked up 479 yards on the ground, including all seven of their touchdowns. In fact, 12 different players carried the ball.

And one of those players was even a bit of a surprise to his own teammates. Senior Chance Anglin returned to action after missing the last four games with a nerve injury in his lower leg.

Anglin ran the ball five times in the first half for 101 yards.

"It was just phenomenal to get Chance back tonight," Ekart said. "He called me about 2:30 (Friday) afternoon, and I thought he was just calling me to ask what time the bus was leaving. He told me the doctor had cleared him and could he bring his stuff and get some reps in.

"I got so excited on the phone that my wife thought something was wrong," Ekart laughed. "He just brings a different feeling to the locker room and the sideline when he's in uniform."

Anglin said it felt good to get back on the field after spending the last month as a "cheerleader" to the team from the sidelines.

"The past few weeks have been killing me," he said. "I just tried to keep everyone up and going strong as best as I could while I was out. The first time I touched the ball tonight, I just wanted to go see what I had in the tank, and it was there. I just want to try to get back to normal this week (at practice) and get back into better shape.

"As a senior, you know each game from here could be your last one. We just want to keep it going through the playoffs."

Freshman Derek Robb led Sidney's ground attack against Gering, carrying the ball six times for 156 yards and three touchdowns. He scored on runs of 55 and 35 yards in the first quarter and 45 yards in the second.

"This was probably the highlight of my year for me," said Robb, who was a workhorse on the freshman and junior varsity teams this season, but had just 11 carries for 47 yards at the varsity level prior to Friday's outburst. "It's a pretty good feeling. I got some really good blocks up front from the line and from the receivers."

Michael Muggli had three carries for 44 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while teammate Jake Heeren picked up 42 yards on four carries and scored the first TD of the game – just six plays and 1:21 into the game.

"We knew we couldn't come in here tonight and overlook anyone," Muggli said. "We just had to come in and play tough. Scoring two touchdowns tonight was fun. Plus, it was great to have Chance back. It's good to see him be able to get out there and get some work in.

"Normally, coach says we have 24 hours to celebrate a win, but it won't even be that after this one," Muggli added. "We'll get at it right after this and start getting ready for state."

Hereen, who sustained a slight shoulder separation in last week's win against Alliance, was pleased to see his team put up 36 points in the opening quarter.

"The starters got a chance to rest tonight, and that's a good thing for the whole team," Hereen said. "And it sure was great to have Chance back out there tonight. With my injury, I wasn't too sure how much I was going to be able to play tonight. I was telling Derek Robb all week at practice to be ready because he might have to step up. He sure did have a big night. It was fun to watch that."

Hunter Secrest, another running back who was hurt in the Alliance win, was held out of the game as a precaution, but Ekart said he'll be ready to go when the state tournament starts,

But even without many of its starters on the field after the first few series, Sidney had no trouble settling the issue before intermission. Junior Josh Austad finished with eight carries for 62 yards and a touchdown, while junior Jack Feddersen and freshmen Coby Haas and Mitch Rolls saw considerable action.

"We're building all sorts of depth," Ekart said. "It was great to get a lot of kids get some reps and see what they can do. That way we won't have a lot of wide eyes later when they get in games in big spots."

Senior quarterback Lane Harvey played the first half before giving way to senior backup Brady Radcliffe.

The Sidney defense limited Gering to 1 yard of rushing offense and just 97 yards through the air. Sophomore Yeager Price, Robb and Haas all had interceptions.

Robb also had eight tackles, including a sack, while senior Brian Rolls (five tackles), senior Jake Sager (four tackles, one sack) and Radcliffe (four tackles) all had big nights. Senior Kevin Jurgensen, senior Kane Taylor and junior Dominic Beyer all recovered fumbles for Sidney. All told, 17 different Red Raiders were credited with tackles in the game.

"Our pursuit on defense was much better tonight," Ekart said. "We worked hard on that at practice during the week. And I loved that the kids played hard until the end and kept that zero up on the scoreboard."