Grand Island Central Catholic beats Yutan 21-7, returns to Class C2 final

No. 1 Grand Island Central Catholic beat No. 5 Yutan 21-7 on Friday at Grand Island Central Catholic in a Class C2 semifinal. GICC entered 11-0 and is 12-0 after the win. Yutan entered 10-1. GICC had beaten Malcolm 28-7 in the quarterfinals. Yutan had shut out Wilber-Clatonia 42-0 and won 41-24 at Ord. Trusted play-by-play covers all four scoring plays, though coverage is marked partial. Yutan's touchdown scorer was not identified.

GICC drove down the field on the opening possession before stalling, and the ensuing field-goal attempt was blocked. Maxton Holling later broke four tackles on a 28-yard touchdown run with 14 seconds left in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead. On the last play of the quarter, Kaleb Fenner's first big run moved Yutan into GICC territory. Midway through the second quarter, still 7-0, Yutan had turned the ball over on downs inside the GICC 30 on both of its drives.

Jackson Gangwish then hit Braylon Wolfe for a 19-yard touchdown pass with 3:25 left in the second, doubling the lead to 14-0. Owen Price's fourth-down sack ended another Yutan drive inside the 30, and GICC led 14-0 at halftime. Fenner spent the last Yutan drive of the half on the sideline without a helmet, and wide receiver Ryan Maguire, who had three catches for 49 yards, was shaken up on his last catch. Both were back on the field in the second half. Each team went three-and-out to open the third quarter, and it was still 14-0 with 8:21 left in the third.

Yutan scored on fourth-and-goal with 10:01 left in the fourth. The officials ruled it a touchdown after deliberating, cutting the lead to 14-7. A roughing-the-punter penalty then kept a GICC drive alive, and on the next play Gangwish went 46 yards for a touchdown with 8:29 left, making it 21-7. GICC later got another fourth-down stop with its back to the wall around 4:30 of the fourth. The 21-7 score stood as the final.

Gangwish entered having completed 98 of 148 passes for 1,663 yards and 23 touchdowns, and he had rushed for 758 yards and 19 scores. Wolfe had 33 catches for 407 yards. Fenner had 1,408 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns in nine games.

GICC will face the Gothenburg/Cedar Catholic winner in the Class C2 final on Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 10:15 a.m. at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.

Scoring summary

Published scoring plays (coverage marked partial):

Sources

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

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