Ground game too much for Sidney

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. – Sidney High School knew rival Scottsbluff would bring a potent running game to their district showdown on Friday night.

Stopping it, however, would be another story.

The Bearcats rolled up 408 yards on the ground and pulled away in the second half to post a convincing 46-14 victory over Sidney in front of a packed house at Bearcat Stadium.

Sidney slipped to 4-3 and now finds itself in a precarious spot on the bubble for a Class B state tournament berth. Scottsbluff improved to 4-3 and has the inside track for the district title and an automatic state berth.

"We just have to learn from it," said Sidney first-year head coach Chris Koozer. "Every situation is a learning experience and this was a tough one to learn from."

Brad Johnston paced Scottsbluff's rushing attack, reeling off 206 yards and three touchdowns on 20 attempts. He averaged a little more than 10 yards per carry and often picked up six or seven yards before the first Sidney defender touched him.

"Scottsbluff is a tough team, but we didn't read our keys well at all and that hurt us," Koozer said. "Scottsbluff got a good win tonight. There are only certain ways to defend what they do. We tried like five different ways and we just couldn't slow them down."

The Bearcats got off to a fast start against the Red Raiders, scoring a pair of touchdowns on their first five offensive plays.

Sidney punted after three plays on its first possession, and the Bearcats' offense quickly took over from there.

Johnston scored from one yard out to cap a four-play, 52-yard drive that needed just 56 seconds. Following another Sidney punt, Scottsbluff quarterback Traceton Halley found Trevor Garcia for a 65-yard scoring strike that put the Bearcats ahead 12-0 just 5:16 into the game.

The Red Raiders struck next when quarterback Brady Radcliffe hit Derek Robb on a crossing route for a 17-yard touchdown. Arik Doty kicked the conversion and Sidney had cut the deficit to 12-7.

Scottsbluff struck first in the second quarter when Garcia carried the ball into the end zone from 29 yards out. The PAT was good and the Bearcats were ahead 19-7 with 11:11 to play until halftime.

Again, Sidney rallied back. Robb found pay dirt again, scoring on a 54-yard run about a minute later. Doty's PAT made it 19-14 and Sidney appeared that it had weathered the storm.

Instead, the Red Raiders wouldn't scratch the scoreboard again during the evening.

Johnston scored again for Scottsbluff about three minutes before intermission to post his squad to a 26-14 advantage at halftime. In the second half, Scottsbluff outscored the Red Raiders 20-0 to put things out of reach.

"We seemed like we could drive on them," Radcliffe said. "It wasn't easy, but we were able to work our way down the field. Then we'd have a turnover or a couple of penalties, and that would stall things. We may not have come out with a victory, but we should have scored a few more times on them and at least made it closer."

Scottsbluff struck for another TD in the third quarter and two more in the final stanza.

Besides Johnston's 200-yard effort, Garcia tallied 68 yards on six carries, Halley had 67 yards on six tries and Ben Heggem added 67 yards on three rushes.

Halley threw the ball just six times in the contest, completing two for 74 yards and the one TD. He also had one interception.

Robb led Sidney's ground attack with 150 yards on 18 attempts. Radcliffe was 8 of 24 passing for 99 yards. He had one TD and one interception. Tyler Wintholz led all receivers with three catches for 43 yards.

Sidney returns home this Friday for its Homecoming game against Alliance (3-4). Kickoff is 7 p.m.

"Now we just need to bounce back and beat Alliance and Gering and hope to get in (the state tournament)," Radcliffe said. "We're better than our record shows."