No. 1 Bison rout Red Raiders

John J. Mesh/McCook Daily Gazette McCook High School senior quarterback Tony Purvis (5) makes a Sidney Red Raider defender miss during the first quarter of Friday night's game at Weiland Field. Purvis rushed for 88 yards and one touchdown and passes for 47 yards, including a 30-yard TD pass to tight end Jon Swanhorst in a 37-6 romp over Sidney.

The No. 1-ranked McCook Bison football team overpowered the Sidney Red Raiders 37-6 Friday night at Weiland Field.

The Bison improved to 7-0. Sidney dropped to 3-4.

Offensively, McCook rolled up 365 yards rushing and added 47 passing, and the Bison defense limited Sidney to 32 yards rushing and 137 passing.

Craig Fritz rushed for 80 yards and scored on touchdown runs of 11, 3 and 1 yards.

Senior quarterback Tony Purvis ran for a 23-yard TD and threw a 30-yard TD pass to tight end Jon Swanhorst.

Josh Cherry was good on all five of his extra point attempts.

The Bison defense forced Sidney quarterback Alex Williams into a safety when he was called for intentional grounding while he was in the end zone.

The Bison took a 7-0 lead on Fritz' first touchdown run and Cherry's PAT.

In the second quarter, Fritz scored on a 3-yard run and Cherry booted the PAT. Then the Bison picked up 2 points on the safety.

Purvis found a wide open Swanhorst over the middle and the 6-foot-4, 195-pound junior dragged tacklers with him into the end zone.

McCook led at halftime 23-0.

Purvis scored McCook's third quarter TD on a 23-yard run.

Williams put the Red Raiders on the board with a 1-yard run. Sidney was unable to convert the PAT.

Fritz capped the scoring with his third TD -- a 1-yard runwith 6:46 left in the game.

Ryan Bedore led the Bison in rushing with 100 yards on 15 carries. Purvis had 88 yards rushing to go with 47 passing.

Fritz tacked on 80 yards on 15 carries and Sam Frazier rushed for 38 yards on eight carries. Austin Berenberg picked up 20 yards on a carry late in the game.

Sidney wide receiver Paul Hamilton caught five passes for 41 yards. Brandon Smith caught two passes for 41 yards.

Williams completed 11-of-27 passes for 108 yards, but was picked off by Josh Cherry -- his fourth interception of the season. Tyson Narjas was 2-for-11 for 29 yards and was intercepted by Garrett Rippen.

"We played pretty well," said McCook football coach Jeff Gross. "We totally dominated their running game. We had a great game. Coach John Gumb and coach Mo (Jeff Mollring) mixed up the defenses. No. 80 (Hamilton) is a great receiver.

"Ryan Bedore ran hard. We ran the power trap and veer well. I thought we practiced sharp this week, and Tuesday and Wednesday we took it up another notch. We're pleased with the outcome."

On the injury front, McCook's Mason Pohl suffered a cut chin and had his Achilles heel stepped on and Swanhorst rolled his ankle.

Defensive tackle Daniel Schaffert may have suffered a serious knee injury.

Gross praised the work of Nate Berry, Frazier and Jon Bryant on defense.

The Bison will play at Grand Island Northwest next Friday, starting at 7 p.m.

"Next week a win gets us in the playoffs," Gross said. "This was our last game to relax."

M -- Craig Fritz 11 run (Cherry kick)

M -- Fritz 3 run (Cherry kick)

M -- Safety (penalty in end zone)

M -- Jon Swanhorst 30 pass from Tony Purvis (Cherry kick)

S -- Alex Williams 1 run (run failed)

M -- Fritz 1 run (Cherry kick)

Team stats

Individual stats

Rushing

McCook: Bedore 15-100, Purvis 9-88, Fritz 15-80, Frazier 8-38, Bareberg 1-20, Cherry 3-17, N.Berry 3-12, Spector 1-4, Pohl 1-2.

Sidney: Gallway 9-20, Willams 7-16.

Receiving

McCook: Swanhorst 1-30, Cherry 1-12, Kamla 1-5.

Sidney: Hamilton 5-41, Smith 2-44.

Passing

McCook: Purvis 3-8-1-47.

Sidney: Williams 11-27-1-108, Narjes 2-11-1-29.

Defense

McCook: Cherry int, Rippen int.