Strong Middle Quarters lift Cross County past Clarkson/Leigh, 45-12.

STROMSBURG, NE

Cross County’s offense put up double digits in each of the middle two quarters, their defense prevented Patriots All-State candidate Eli Hayes from breaking the long one, and the Cougars pulled off an impressive 45-12 win over Clarkson-Leigh in the opening round of the Class D-1 playoffs.

Hayes, who broke loose for an electrifying 65 yard scoring scamper during the regular season 42-22 loss to the Cougars, was held out of the endzone tonight despite rushing for 99 yards.

Hayes, who checks in at just 5-8 and 135 pounds, is one of 8-Man football's most exciting players and certainly caught the pregame attention of Cross County head coach Hayden DeLano. But the Cougars were dialed in for this baby, but still had to withstand a ground gobbling opening quarter drive by Clarkson-Leigh.

Matter of fact, the Patriots ate up the first seven minutes, thirty one seconds of that 1st quarter before a holding penalty and some stingy defense finally halted the Clarkson-Leigh march at the Cross County 26 yard line.

After that stop, it took exactly one play and 13 seconds for the Cougars to strike, as speedy Haiden Hild pulled off a Tommy Frazier/Fiesta Bowl-type 50 yard touchdown run. Clarkson-Leigh appeared to have Hild stopped after a 10 yard gain, only to see the 6-1, 180 pound senior shake loose and take it to the house with a handful of empty-handed Patriot defenders looking on.

Hild scored again on a 4 yard sweep around his right side at the 9:14 mark of the 2nd quarter and the Cougars seemed in control with a 14-0 lead, but the Patriots put one in the endzone at the 1:44 mark before halftime on a sequence that prompted Hayden DeLano to address his forces to get more physical during a halftime speech.

Here’s how that Clarkson-Leigh scoring drive went down.

The Patriots began another time consuming drive following that second Haiden Hild touchdown, but just when it seemed like DeLano’s defense had the Patriots stopped, they were flagged for a 15 yard facemask infraction that moved the ball from the Clarkson-Leigh 33 to the Cross County 30.

The Patriots continued to gobble up more clock before finally scoring on a Kyle Kasik 8 yard run at the 1:44 mark to make it a 14-6 game.

Then came a SEQUENCE on the ensuing kickoff I felt changed the momentum of the football game for good. Here’s how it unfolded.

BANG! Haiden Hild fields the kickoff around the Cougar 25 and returns it across midfield to the Clarkson-Leigh 39. BANG! The Patriots are called for a 15 yard facemask penalty and suddenly the Cougars have the ball at the Clarkson-Leigh 21 yard line.

BANG! Carter Seim takes the direct snap and blows up a few Patriot defenders on his way to a 21 yard touchdown run. Haiden Hild follows a crushing Cory Hollinger block for the double PAT and Cross County is up 22-6.

And…...the previous sequence that took me an entire paragraph to explain, took just 16 seconds in real time to unfold and Cross County had themselves a 22-6 halftime lead.

Hold on though. The SEQUENCE that changed the flow of the game wasn’t over just yet. It did, however, take just 11 seconds into the 3rd quarter to complete, when Shayden Lundstrom fielded the 2nd half kickoff, went full bore, and raced 61 yards for a touchdown. Carter Seim added the double PAT on a run and……SEQUENCE Complete. The Cross County lead is suddenly 30-6 in a total span of 27 SECONDS stretching from the end of the second quarter to eleven ticks deep into the third stanza.

Cross County lengthened it’s lead to 38-6 when Lundstrom lofted a pass that was fielded by sure-handed All-Stater Cory Hollinger from 17 yards out.

Eli Hayes tossed an 18 yard strike to Carter Hanel early in the 4th quarter before Carter Seim broke loose on a 27 yard touchdown run at the 5:04 mark of the money quarter, completing the scoring

The Cross County rushing game was led by the bruising running of Seim, who powered his way to 161 yards on 18 totes and 2 scores. Haiden Hild added 86 more rushing. The superb Eli Hayes ended the evening with an unofficial 99 yards on 25 carries and completed 5 of 10 passes for 70 yards and a touchdown for Clarkson-Leigh.

The Patriots, after battling injuries much of the 2021 campaign, still finished a very respectable 5-4, while Cross County continues on with an 8-1 mark and, following the statewide re-seeding process by the NSAA, draws the #10 seed, and will travel to Weeping Water to face the 9-0 and #7 seed Indians next Friday.

……………………………..........1…….2…….3…….4……..Final

Clarkson-Leigh (5-4)........0……..6…….0…….0………12

Cross County (8-1)..........8…….14……16……7………45

……………………………………………………………………………CL-CC

1st Qtr.

CC - Haiden Hild 50 run…………PAT-Carter Seim run (3:41) - 0 - 8

2nd Qtr.

CC - Haiden Hild 4 run…………..PAT-kick failed (9:14) - 0 - 14

CL - Kyle Kasik 8 run……………..PAT-pass failed (1:44) - 6 - 14

CC - Carter Seim 21 run………….PAT-Hild run (1:28) - 6 - 22

3rd Qtr

CC - Shayden Lundstrom 61 kick return……….PAT-Seim run (11:49) 6 - 30

CC - Cory Hollinger 17 pass from Lundstrom..PAT-Seim run (1:25) 6 - 38

4th Qtr

CL - Carter Hanel 18 pass from Eli Hayes……..PAT-pass failed (8:43) 12 - 38

CC - Carter Seim 27 run………….PAT-Jacob Manzaneres kick (5:04) 12 - 45

Individual Statistics

Passing: Cross County; Shayden Lundstrom 1-1 for 17, 1 TD. Clarkson-Leigh; Eli Hayes 5-10 for 70, (1 TD)

Rushing: Cross County; Carter Seim, 161-18, 2 TDs, Haiden Hild, 86-9, 2 TDs, Toby Waller, 19-3, Brayden Schmidtburger, 9-1, Izaac Dickey, 2-1. Clarkson-Leigh; Hayes, 99-25, Kasik, 19-9, (1 TD)

Receiving:

Cross County; Cory Hollinger 1-17 (1 TD). Clarkson-Leigh; Kasik 4-52, Hanel 1-18 (1 TD)

Tackles:

Cross County: Hollinger 9-6-15 (1 TFL), Damon Mickey 6-4-10, Lundstrom 4-1-5, Alex Noyd 3-5-8, Hild 2-1-3, Colby Bolton 2-5-7 (TFL, Sack), Ethan Brehm 1-2-3. Clarkson-Leigh; N/A

Team Totals……………..CC…...CL

Total Plays……………....41…….62

Total Yards……………...308....237

Passing Yards…………..17…….70

Rushing Yards…….…...291…..167

First Downs…………..…14…...12

Turnovers………………...0…….0

Fumbles Lost…………….0…….0

Interceptions……………..0…….0

Penalties………………10-65…8-65