St. Cecilia Speed, Aerial Show too much for Kearney Catholic

Cooper Butler (L-#4) and Carson Kudlacek (R-#14) were shining stars for Hasting St. Cecilia tonight during their 49-7 victory over Kearney Catholic.

DUNCAN FIELD, HASTINGS, NE

Hastings St. Cecilia’s lethal opening half passing combination of Carson Kudlacek to Cooper Butler was as good as it gets, as the Bluehawks overwhelmed a young Kearney Catholic team 49-7 on a gorgeous Homecoming night.

The deadly St. Cecilia Kudlacek to Butler hookup struck early for a pair of 1st quarter touchdowns covering 36 and 63 yards to set the tone for this one as the Black clad Bluehawks coasted to a 27-0 halftime advantage and never looked back.

Cooper Butler, who does a little bit of everything on both sides of the football, displayed some his overall superior skills on the 63 yard scoring catch, plucking a slightly overthrown ball out of the air, followed by a brief incredible juggling act before cutting back across the field for a 50 plus yard sprint after catching the pass.

Butler, who also flashed blinding speed and great hands, had 6 receptions for 149 yards and a pair of touchdowns through the air well before halftime. The 175 pound senior did not even have to catch a pass in the 2nd half to still record what would be some outstanding full game statline for most players.

And Carson Kudlacek! The senior gunslinger completed his first 7 passes, 5 of which went to Butler for 172 yards, and that pair of scoring strikes to Cooper.

When the game was in the books, Kudlacek, who had completed 63% of his passes for 1,296 yards with 17 touchdowns coming in, had connected on 16 of his 20 passing attempts for 295 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Meanwhile, the St. Cecilia defense, led by the onrushing headhunter himself, Brady Rutt (#52), was squelching anything and everything the Kearney Catholic offense attempted in the 1st half.

Big 230 pound Caden Krikac (#56) was not the least hospitable to the Stars from his linebacker position either.

That coupled with the defensive backfield play of Butler and speedy Chase Evans,

helped hold the visiting Stars to 19 rushing yards and 42 through the air in the opening half.

Carson Kudlacek continued his aerial show in the second half, this time turning to another speed demon, Jenson Anderson. The St. Cecilia flyer (#3) caught three passes for 70 yards, including a slick 52 yard touchdown reception.

Jenson Anderson’s top end, lightning speed was really on display after Kearney Catholic finally put one on the board with a nifty touchdown pass of their own with 3:11 left in the contest.

On the ensuing kickoff, Jenson, one of Class C-2’ most feared return men, fielded the kickoff on his own 13, turned on the Anderson jets and sprinted untouched, 87 yards for the score right down the middle of the pristine Duncan Field grass.

Now, back to that Kearney Catholic touchdown toss.

Freshman quarterback Dominic Nowak, a smallish 5-9, 135 pounder, came in to start the second half for Coach Rashawn Harvey, completing 5 of 11 passes for 70 yards and that sweet 52 yard scoring strike to Stars running back Tyson Redinger.

Nowak really impressed me with his arm. The dude can flat out fling it a country mile and will be a force the next three years for Kearney Catholic should, starter Carson Murphy suffer an injury.

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It was all Bluehawks in this one tonight. Carson Kudlacek 295 yards through the air and 59 yards on 9 carries on the ground led the way for St.Cecilia. Cooper Butler was efficient on the ground with his 40 yards on 7 carries with a touchdown. Junior Quinn Rosnoe was close behind with 36 yards on 9 totes with two short touchdown plunges.

I had St. Cecilia for an unofficial 417 total yards. The Bluehawks “D” unofficially held Kearney Catholic to 160 total yards, 110 of that coming through the air.

The only drawback I saw tonight for St. Cecilia was the multitude of penalties, some of which were of the 15 yard variety, probably characteristic of a Hastings St. Cecilia/Kearney Catholic battle, although the Bluehawks have not met the Stars on the gridiron since they opened the 2011 season with a 24-14 victory over the Stars, their only game with a Class C-1 team that season.

St. Cecilia improves to 6-0 with the win and will travel to Wood River to meet the surprising 5-1 Eagles next Friday. Wood River defeated GICC 34-7 Friday night in GI.

Kearney Catholic dips to 3-3 and will have a home game against 5-1 Ord, who had to rally to defeat an ever improving Amherst team 41-10. The Chants actually trailed Amherst 10-6 at one point in the game.

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

Kearney Catholic (3-3).......0……..0…….0……..7…………7

Hastings St. Cecilia (6-0)...13…….14……8……..14………49

1st Qtr………………………………………………………………………………….KC-StC

StC-Cooper Butler 36 pass from Carson Kudlacek..PAT-Kudlacek kick (7:25)..0….7

StC-Cooper Butler 63 pass from Kudlacek…PAT-kick failed (2:58).......0..13

2nd Qtr

StC-Copper Butler 1 run..PAT-Kudlacek kick..(10:18)........0…20

StC-Quinn Rosno 1 run…PAT-Kudlacek kick (1:56)...........0…27

3rd Qtr.

StC-Jenson Anderson 51 pass from Kudlacek…PAT-Kudlacek run (8:52)....0..35

4th Qtr.

StC--Quinn Rosno 2 run..PAT-Jayden Almond kick (4:50).............0…42

KC-Tyson Redinger 52 pass fr Dominic Nowak PAT-Jace Reifenrath kick (3:11)..7-42

StC-Jenson Anderson 87 kick return…PAT-Jayden Almond kick (4:01)..7...49