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Chase County 2nd at state football
Longhorns fall to
Norfolk Catholic
in C-1 title game
LINCOLN -- Chase County's halftime adjustments were not enough to overcome a powerful Norfolk Catholic team Saturday in the Nebraska Class C-1 State Football Championship game.
Norfolk Catholic won the game 20-13.
The one glaring statistic in the game was Norfolk Catholic's advantage in time of possession. Norfolk Catholic had the ball for 33 minutes and 39 seconds.
The Longhorns only held the ball for 14:21. The advantage was even greater in the first half when Norfolk Catholic held an 18:11 to 5:49 advantage, having the ball for more than three minutes to every one minute Chase County did.
Since you can't score unless you have the ball, this statistic was telling of the game. In the first half, Norfolk Catholic led 13-0.
When Chase County had the ball more in the second half, they outscored their opponent 13-7.
"They're an awfully good team in all phases of the game: offense, defense and special teams," Chase County coach Dan Lenners said of the Knights.
Matthew May led the Longhorns offensively rushing 13 times for 119 yards; 77 of those came on a third-quarter touchdown run.
Norfolk Catholic keyed on May for most of the first half, knowing he was central to Chase County's offensive attack.
While May did not get the chance to do a lot of damage offensively during the first half, he led the game in tackling.
His 18 solo tackles were 11 more than the next closest --teammates Lance Milner and Taylor Wentz -- and his 20.5 total tackles were well above the nearest mark of Milner's nine.
Norfolk Catholic's second series resulted in a forced fumble by May and a recovery by Edward Remm to give the Longhorns the ball.
On the next play, Ben LaCrosse intercepted Darrin Schultz to give the Knights the ball back.
Norfolk Catholic took possession at the 20-yard line and drove to the Longhorn 13 in 14 plays.
The Knights got on the board first when Bryce Miller drilled a 31-yard field goal with seven seconds left in the first quarter.
The Knights started from their own 45-yard line after a Wentz punt and took nine plays to go the 55 yards into the end zone.
Eric Pieper capped off the drive with a 15-yard touchdown run. Miller added the PAT to go up 10-0.
Chase County went three-and-out on its next possession and punted, giving the Knights the ball back. After going four plays and stalling, Norfolk Catholic punted.
The cold November air made catching the punt difficult, and May dropped the punt, allowing Norfolk Catholic's Keaton Knake to recover it at the 11.
The Knights stalled after the Longhorn defense tackled them twice for loss, got a holding call and forced an incomplete pass.
Norfolk Catholic settled for the 29-yard Miller field goal with five seconds left.
This came after a Knight time out and two Longhorn time outs taken to attempt to ice the kicker.
At halftime Norfolk Catholic held the 13-0 advantage.
The second half showed what the Longhorns had worked for since last summer.
"(Seniors) did a lot of extra work this summer, and they got the younger kids excited about this season," Lenners said.
Chase County went three-and-out on its first series, as did the Knights.
Once again, the Longhorns could not handle the Norfolk Catholic punt.
Wentz dropped and recovered his own fumble to maintain possession at the 14-yard line for Chase County.
Two plays later, May ran a trap play up the middle and bounced it outside to the left sideline, running 77 yards for the score.
Gabe Lenners missed the PAT, but the Longhorns were on the board.
The next six possessions resulted in punts, before Norfolk Catholic started a possession at the Chase County 32-yard line.
Seau Simpson took the third play of the drive into the end zone from 20 yards out.
Miller added the kick to give the Knights a 20-13 lead.
Wentz returned the ensuing kickoff 24 yards before fumbling again.
He recovered his own fumble, however, and the Longhorns were in good field position at their own 36-yard line.
Schultz completed a 29-yard pass to Brock Stromberger on the drive's first play.
The next play, Schultz passed to Milner for 34 yards, giving the Longhorns the ball at the one-yard-line.
Scott Munger punched it in, and Lenners made the kick to pull Chase County within a 20-13 game with just more than seven minutes to play.
That was as close as the Longhorns would get, as May was knocked out of bounds two-yards short of converting a fourth down play.
The Knights ran out the clock on the next possession and took home the state title for the second-consecutive year.
"I'm just happy for our kids. I told them to keep their heads up and that next year is next year," Lenners said.
Chase County finishes with a 10-3 record on the year. Norfolk Catholic completed a 13-0 campaign.
After the game, Lenners was complimentary of his players, commenting on their ability to play big against big opponents.
"Our kids just found a way to rise above the occasion, and I'm really proud of them," Lenners said.