Sandhills/Thedford and SEM Advance to State Championship Games

Sandhills/Thedford advanced to the Class D2 state championship football game with a 33-18 win over South Loup Friday night in Dunning. Coming into the game, Sandhills/Thedford’s only loss of the season was to South Loup in the regular season. The rematch was a tough physical affair. South Loup jumped out early scoring on their first offensive play of the game when Trey Connell hit Cache Gracey on a 64 yard touchdown pass to go up 6-0. The Bobcats extended the lead to 12-0 when Trey Connell scored on a 7 yard touchdown run with 2:08 left in the first quarter. The score stayed that way until S/T’s Maurice Robinson intercepted a Trey Connell pass and returned it for a touchdown to make the score 12-6 with 2:38 left in the first half. South Loup would not take long to respond as on the next offensive play Trey Connell broke loose for a 33 yard run and then scored on the next play from 6 yards out to put the Bobcats back up by 12. With 2:15 left in the half, the Knights put together a pivotal drive before the half marching 65 yards and scoring on a 3 yard touchdown run by Kyle Cox with 16 seconds left in the 2nd quarter to make the score 18-12 at halftime. The tone for the second half was set by the Sandhills/Thedford defense. With 7:07 left in the third quarter, Kyle Cox scooped up a South Loup fumble and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 18-18. The Knights took their first lead of the game with 33 seconds remaining in the third quarter when Brady Dahlberg made good on a 30 yard field goal attempt to make the score 21-18. S/T stretched the lead to nine after a 26 yard touchdown run by Kyle Cox with 3:11 left in the game. Following another interception by Maurice Robinson, the Knights put the game away when Kyle Cox broke loose for a 47 yard touchdown run to make the final score 33-18 as the Sandhills/Thedford defense was able to hold South Loup’s potent offense scoreless in the second half. Sandhills/Thedford improves to 11-1 on the season and will play Wynot for the D2 state championship on November 20th in Lincoln at Memorial Stadium. Wynot defeated Howells Dodge in the other D2 semifinal 22-14. South Loup concludes its season at 11-1 overall.

In other state semifinal action on Friday night, the SEM Mustangs advanced to the six man football state championship game with a 44-14 win over Wilcox Hildreth. SEM will face Hay Springs in the championship game. Hay Springs defeated defending state champion Parkview Christian 65-41. The six man championship will be played on November 17th at UNK’s Cope Stadium in Kearney.