Local football teams ready to hit the field
HARTINGTON — The Cedar Catholic Trojans return six offensive starters and seven defensive starters from a team that finished the 2023 season 6-4.
Head coach Chad Cattau, in his 23rd season at the helm of the Trojan football fortunes, said despite a very tough schedule, his team could improve upon that record this year.
“We have a chance to be improved over last year because of the reps that a lot of kids got throughout last season,” Cattau said. “We have a lot of competition for spots all over the field on both sides of the ball and and on special teams.”
The coach, who is 150 career wins at the school, listed 19 players that are likely to see the field this fall including the returning starters and letter winners.
Leading the list of returners are Braeden Reifenrath and Jaymison Cattau.
Reifenrath has been the quarterback for the Trojans for the past three years including the run to Lincoln for the Class C2 Championship game back in 2022.
Cattau is a returning All-State selection and has drawn a lot of recruiting interest coming into his final season at Cedar Catholic.
Seniors, Matthew Loecker, Keyton Arens, Nolan Becker, Jacob Steffen, Ryan Pick and Jack Christensen return from last year and Coach Cattau singled out Steffen and Pick for possible All-State accolades this season.
Returning underclassmen include juniors, Breiton Whitmire, Jared Rutar, Brady Hochstein, Hunter Kuchta and Sam Wiebelhaus along with sophomores, Hunter Bensen, Bodie Hochstein, Easton Hochstein , Will Steffen and Haiden Thoene.
The Cedar Catholic schedule is a literal landmine as it includes a season-opener on the road at Albion to take on 2023 C1 champion Boone Central on Aug. 30, which joined the C2 ranks this season.
Back-to-back home games with Wayne and Fremont Archbishop Bergan follow on Sept. 6 and Sept 13.
The Fremont Bergan game is also Homecoming and will be part of a double-header that day with Hartington- Newcastle, which is also planning Homecoming for Sept. 13.
The Trojans then have a pair of road trips to Tekamah-Herman on Sept 20 and West Point-Beemer on Sept. 27.
The Trojans will open October at home against Battle Creek before trips to Ponca and Oakland to take on the Indians and Knights.
Cedar Catholic will finish the regular season with the annual showdown with Norfolk Catholic.
Cattau really likes the way his team has been practicing, so far.
“The competition for playing time is really driving our kids each and every day to work hard so they can earn spots on the field on Friday nights,” said Cattau. “We should also have some depth at a lot of positions so that will help force kids to work hard for playing time.”