Kickoff time

— Mike Renning Cedar County News HARTINGTON — The Cedar Catholic Trojans have a lot to replace for the 2022 season, but they also have a lot of replacements.

Most notably, the Trojans need to replace a three-year starter at quarterback with the graduation of Tate Thoene.

They still have a 22-year head coach in Chad Cattau, who will be there to guide them through that transition.

After an 8-3 season last year, Cattau looks to add some wins to his 133-73 career record - entirely at Cedar Catholic.

“This group has been very focused on improving themselves each and every day,” Cattau said. “They have competed hard each and every day in the weight room during the off season.”

The Trojans return 24 letter winners to help fill in the blanks left by graduation from the 8-3 playoff team.

“We also seem to really get along well and we are very supportive of one another which can carry you a long way during the season,” the coach said. “We have a good nucleus returning from last year’s team so we are excited to see what we can accomplish this season.”

Grant Arens, Jaxson Bernecker and Jay Steffen are three of the returning players Cattau and the Trojans expect to be the leaders of this year’s squad.

“We need to continue to develop our leadership roles throughout the off season and this coming season,” Cattau said. “We have some quiet leaders which is great to have, but we need to have some kids step into the vocal leadership role.”

Arens is a senior and should step into one of those roles.

“Grant is an excellent athlete and it shows all the time on the field,” his coach said. “He is a lock down defender, a sure-handed wide receiver and an elite returner for us.” Bernecker is 6-foot-5 and will be a tight end and an outside linebacker.

“Jaxson is also a sure-handed receiver,” Cattau said. “With his size he is a tough match up for most defenders to play against. He is also a very good blocker and defensively, he is always where he is supposed to be and rarely makes a mental mistake.”

Steffen will anchor the line and is coming off of an ACL injury which sidelined him for much of 2021.

“He was on his way to being an all-state player prior to his injury,” Cattau said. “He has worked very hard to get back to 100% for this season. He is a great blocking tackle for us and real run-stopper on defense he uses his strength and speed to his advantage on both sides of the ball.”

Another thing the coach likes about this team is its depth.

“We have decent depth at most positions,” Cattau said. “That has helped us create daily competition for playing time and opportunities. The kids know if they aren’t putting in quality time, they won’t be given the opportunity to play on Friday nights.”

As usual, the Trojan schedule is formidable at best.

It includes five teams the coach considers the top in Class C2 in Aquinas Catholic, Yutan, Oakland-Craig, Battle Creek and Norfolk Catholic.

Add in Tekamah-Herman, Logan View/Scribner-Snyder, West Holt and Ponca and you have a lot of pot holes at least and possibly land mines.

The opener, against Tekamah-Herman is at home on Aug. 26 then Aquinas comes to town to open September.

Road games at Yutan and LV/ SS get the Trojans to the middle of September then Oakland-Craig visits Hartington on Sept. 23.

West Holt at home, a trip to Battle Creek and Ponca back home lead up to the finale with Norfolk Catholic in Norfolk on Oct. 21.