Cedar Catholic tosses a shutout at Tekameh

TEKAMAH — The Cedar Catholic Trojans hopped on the bus and traveled to Tekamah Sept. 20 to take on the Tekamah-Herman Tigers in a Class C2 football tilt.

The bus ride home should have been enjoyable as the Trojans rolled over the Tigers 41-0 to improve to 3-1 on the season and leave Tekamah-Herman at 0-4.

“I thought we came out with a lot of emotion and really got on them early,” Cedar catholic coach, Chad Cattau said. “We got backed up with a penalty on the first drive but we were able to get a first down and then go down and score. that really helped give us some momentum.”

The Trojans were solid on the ground the entire night and the passing game is starting to find a spark as Cedar moves forward in the season.

“Our offense showed good balance throughout the game,” the coach said. “We effectively threw the ball and ran it as well. We need to make sure we continue to have that balance going forward so we are more dangerous on that side of the ball.”

“That side of the ball” produced nearly 300 yards rushing the ball and quarterback Braeden Reifenrath was a tidy 7-for-16 through the air and tossed a couple of touchdown passes.

It was the Trojan defense which carried the banner, pitching the shutout for the first time this season. Cedar has only allowed four touchdowns in four games.

“Defensively, we were able to really limit what they were able to do because of the pressure our interior guys were able to apply,” said Cattau. “Tekamah-Herman had lot of issues having consistent success on the ground and that was a big positive for us.”

In addition to stopping the opposing offense, the Cedar ‘D’ got in the scoring act against the Tigers when Keyton Arens stepped in front of a Tekamah-Herman aerial and returned it the other direction for a Cedar Catholic score.

“We always want to try and get points from either our special teams or defense and this is the first time we have been able to do that this year.”

Easton Hochstein was the leading tackler for the Trojan defense with six total including one behind the Tiger line of scrimmage.

Matthew Loecker had five tackles, Arens had a tackle for loss and the interception return, Hunter Bensen had a tackle for loss as did Will Steffen, Jared Rutar, and Haiden Thoene.

Ryan Pick and Jack Christensen had two tackles behind the line of scrimmage each. Hudson Dendinger recovered a fumble.

Offensively, Breiton Whitmire made the most of his seven carries, running for 126 yards and a couple of scores, Micah Cattau hauled the ball seven times for 44 yards, Reifenrath carried it six times for 60 yards and Brady Hochstein touched the ball five times for 30 yards and crossed the goal line once.

Jaymison Cattau hauled in five Reifenrath passes for 30 yard and a touchdown while Hunter Bensen caught one for a 16-yard score.

“The other nice thing about a game like this is we got everyone into the game,” Cattau said. “It was good to get them some playing time and the younger kids did a good job of keeping them off the scoreboard and moving the ball a little here and there.”

The Trojans will continue on the road this week when they travel to West Point to take on West Point-Beemer.

The Cadets are also 3-1 and shutout North Bend Central 50-0 last week. Their lone loss was a 40-6 setback to Bishop Neumann back in week three.

PASSING Cedar: Braeden Reifenrath 7-16 78 2 TD. RECEIVING: Cedar: Jaymison Cattau 5-30 1TD; Breiton Whitmire 1-14; Hunter Bensen 1-16 1TD; Easton Hochstein 1-13. RUSHING Cedar: Braeden Reifenrath 6-60; Breiton Whitmire 7-126 2TD; Micah Cattau 7-44; Hunter Bensen 2-2; Brady Hochstein 5-30 1TD; Easton Hochstein 4-20. TACKLES Cedar: Matthew Loecker 5; Keyton Arens 1 1TFL 1INT 1TD; Jaymison Cattau 2; Booker Hochstein 3; Micah Cattau 3; Bodie Hochstein 3; Wes Pinkelman 1; Quinn Hochstein 1; Hunter Bensen 2 1TFL; Cooper Hochstein 2; Brady Hochstein 3; Langston Christensen 4; Joey Steffen 2; Easton Hochstein 6 1TFL; Kighter Wortmann 1; Nolan Heimes 1; Michael Schroeder 2; Josh Pinkelman 1; Jacob Steffen 2; Dylan Leise 1; Will Steffen 2 1TFL; Jared Rutar 2 1TFL; Mason Thoene 2; Gus Lammers 1; Ryan Pick 2 2TFL; Jack Christensen 2 2TFL; Marek Heimes 1; Haiden Thoene 2 1TFL; Hudson Dendinger 1FR.