WAHOO, Neb. — Wahoo took advantage of two big mistakes by Wahoo Neumann on Friday night to post a rare victory over the Cavaliers.
A pair of special team miscues led to two third-quarter touchdowns and Wahoo went on to upset Neumann 24-17. It’s believed to be just the second time the Warriors have defeated the Cavaliers and the first time in the nine-year coaching stint of Wahoo’s Chad Fox.
“Our kids played hard,’’ he said. “We found a way to win against a very good football team.’’
The Cavaliers, ranked sixth in Class C-1, had all of the momentum early in the third quarter after scoring a touchdown to tie the game at 10. But that changed when a Warriors punt was fumbled and Wahoo took over at the Cavaliers 29-yard line.
“We knew this game was going to come down to mistakes,’’ Fox said. “They made some, and we were able to capitalize on them.’’
Five plays later, Wahoo regained the lead when junior running back Seth Stewart scampered 15 yards for a touchdown. The situation went from bad to worse for the Cavaliers on their next possession as they lined up to punt near midfield.
The ball was snapped over the head of punter Nathan Pruss and Wahoo took over at the Cavaliers 30. A 22-yard pass from quarterback Sean Lindgren to Christian Hohl and a 4-yard run by Stewart was followed by a 4-yard TD run by Lindgren.
That put the Warriors ahead 24-10 late in the third quarter, and the Cavaliers couldn’t recover. Their next two drives both ended deep in Wahoo territory, but one ended when quarterback Travis Ahrens’ fourth-down pass fell incomplete and the other died on an interception by Joshua Proctor.
Neumann got the ball back with 2:40 left and moved 74 yards in seven plays, scoring with 1:09 remaining when Ahrens crashed over from the 1. But an onside kick was recovered by senior Greg Milliken and the Warriors were able to run out the clock.
Wahoo quarterback Lindgren, who rushed for two touchdowns and threw for 126 yards, said it felt good to finally beat the Warriors’ crosstown rival.
“It hasn’t happened for a long time,’’ he said. “We were coming off a bad game, and we all played as hard as we could.’’
The Warriors suffered their first loss last week in a 38-28 loss against Platteview, but Lindgren said the team wasn’t looking ahead to Friday night’s rivalry game against Neumann.
“I don’t think that happened,’’ he said. “We didn’t overlook Platteview. They just beat us.’’
The Warriors defense served notice early that this game might not end the same as so many before. The Cavaliers faced third-and-goal from the Wahoo 1 in the first quarter, but the Warriors’ Lucas McAtee stopped Ryan Swartz for no gain and an Ahrens pass — rushed because of heavy pressure from Stewart — fell incomplete on fourth down.
“Our defense played great,’’ Lindgren said. “They really picked up the intensity this week.’’
The game was tied 3-3 late in the second quarter, but the Warriors scored 2.1 seconds before halftime when Lindgren ran it in from the 2. It was a risky call by Fox because Wahoo had no timeouts left and a Cavaliers stop would have sent the teams to the locker room still tied.
“This team is coming together,’’ Fox said. “The guys did a really nice job tonight.’’
Wahoo (6-1)...........................0 10 14 0—24
At Wahoo Neumann (5-2)........0 3 7 7—17
W: Ethan Harders FG 27
WN: Joe Schenk FG 32
W: Sean Lindgren 2 run (Harders kick)
WN: Marshall Payer 22 pass from Travis Ahrens (Schenk kick)
W: Seth Stewart 15 run (Harders kick)
W: Lindgren 4 run (Harders kick)
WN: Ahrens 1 run (Schenk kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: W, Greg Milliken 13-60, Seth Stewart 7-28, Lucas McAtee 5-26, Sean Lindgren 11-3, Tyler Kavan 2-1; total 38-98. WN, Travis Ahrens 12-85, Caleb Kuhfahl 9-42, Ryan Swartz 11-31, team 1- -25; total 33-133.
PASSING: W, Sean Lindgren 8-19-0 126. WN, Travis Ahrens 13-27-1 205.
RECEIVING: W, Christian Hohl 3-65, Greg Milliken 3-39, Justin Lewandowski 1-18, Joshua Proctor 1-4. WN, Marshall Payer 6-82, Brett Pospisil 1-47, Nick Chapek 2-30, Nathan Pruss 1-21, Ryan Swartz 1-17, Caleb Kuhfahl 2-8.
Contact the writer:
444-1350, mike.patterson@owh.com
Contact the writer:
444-1350, mike.patterson@owh.com
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
RSS Feeds