Cedar Catholic beats Gothenburg 19-6, reaches Class C2 final

No. 3 Cedar Catholic beat No. 7 Gothenburg 19-6 on Friday at Cedar Catholic in Hartington in a Class C2 semifinal. Cedar Catholic entered 11-0 and is 12-0 after the win. Gothenburg entered 9-2 and finished 9-3. Cedar Catholic had routed No. 14 Lincoln Lutheran 69-9 and shut out Boone Central 42-0. Gothenburg had shut out No. 10 Scotus 20-0 and then beaten No. 2 Bergan Catholic 15-7 at Heedum Field on the Midland University campus. Trusted play-by-play is partial. Braden Ehlers' opening touchdown has no clock, and Easton Hochstein's 1-yard run is the only published scoring play with a quarter and a clock. How the game went from 12-6 to 19-6 was not reported in the trusted notes.

After a fumble recovery, Ehlers scored on a 1-yard run to give Gothenburg a 6-0 lead. The clock for that play was not reported. Gothenburg led 6-0 at the end of the first quarter, and Cedar Catholic had turned the ball over twice. Gothenburg still led 6-0 at halftime. At the half, Cedar Catholic had four turnovers and a missed field goal, and Gothenburg had two turnovers.

Hochstein scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 2:36 left in the third quarter, making it Cedar Catholic 12-6. Cedar Catholic later led 19-6 in the fourth quarter. Gus Lammers recovered a Gothenburg fumble to seal the 19-6 win. The 19-6 score stood as the final.

Grady Haberer entered having completed 113 of 160 passes for 2,048 yards, 32 touchdowns and two interceptions. Easton Hochstein entered with 1,068 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns, and he led the defense with 78 tackles. Cooper Hochstein had 33 catches for 762 yards and nine touchdowns. Dillon Floyd had thrown for 1,389 yards and 14 touchdowns, and he had rushed for 693 yards. Braden Ehlers entered with 11 rushing touchdowns and 33 receptions. Callen Johnson had 524 rushing yards and seven touchdowns.

Gothenburg's two losses this season were 14-13 at Ord and 35-28 to Grand Island Central Catholic. Cedar Catholic won 52-6 at Ord on Oct. 23. Both teams also played Scotus: Cedar Catholic won 34-10 in its opener, and Gothenburg won 20-0 in the first round.

Cedar Catholic will face Grand Island Central Catholic in the Class C2 final on Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 10:15 a.m. at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. GICC beat Yutan 21-7 in the other semifinal.

Scoring summary

Published scoring is partial. The only play with a quarter and a clock is listed with the board checkpoints:

First quarter: After a fumble recovery, Braden Ehlers 1-yard touchdown run, Gothenburg 6, Cedar Catholic 0

End of first quarter: Gothenburg 6, Cedar Catholic 0

Halftime: Gothenburg 6, Cedar Catholic 0

Fourth quarter: Cedar Catholic 19, Gothenburg 6

Final: Cedar Catholic 19, Gothenburg 6

Sources

Updates from trusted accounts. Season stats from MaxPreps. Seeds, records and prior playoff results from the NSAA bracket.

Game Center · Class C2 bracket · Semifinal preview