Monarchs roll over Tigers, roll into C2 playoffs
Maybe it was what you'd expect when a team riding a four-game winning streak, headed to the playoffs with something to prove, took on a 1-7 team headed into a long off-season.
Aquinas Catholic locked up the District 2 title and advanced to the Class C2 playoffs with a 51-7 win over Tekamah-Herman at David City's Municipal Stadium on Oct. 25. The game marked the regular season finale for both schools.
Aquinas was aided by a big play to start each half. It's first touch in each resulted in a special teams touchdown, both from fleet-footed return man Kailer Pohl. His 67-yard punt return in the first quarter was matched by an 86-yard kickoff return to open the second half. Pohl also caught two passes for 28 yards, including a 22-yard TD strike; and completed a 22-yard pass while serving as a backup quarterback late in the game.
Pohl's touchdown catch, the first play of the second quarter, opened a 20-0 burst by the home team that covered the first seven minutes of the second quarter. All 22 plays from scrimmage by both teams were run inside Tekamah-Herman's 35-yard line.
Trailing 34-0, the Tigers mounted a scoring drive late in the half.
Freshman quarterback Kash Kellogg engineered a 72-yard, 10-play drive, capped by a 27-yard scoring to Parke Loftis. The junior end made a nice adjustment to the football inside the 5-yard line before tumbling over a would-be tackler into the end zone.
Kellogg was 4-of-5 through the air during the drive, good for 66 yards and the score.
Facing difficult field position most of the night, the Tiger defense came up with a late stop, holding Aquinas out of the end zone in the fourth quarter on four plays inside their own 10, three of them from inside the 2. The stand led to the final points of the game, Gregory Sisco's 23-yard field goal.
That's when the Tigers got their offense going again. With about five minutes left on the running clock, Kellogg piloted his team from the Tiger 33 to the Aquinas 20.
The Tigers' final play may have been indicative of the whole season. With less than a minute left, Kellogg completed a pass to senior end Jessen Booth inside the Aquinas 10. Struggling for the end zone on what likely was the final play of his football career, Booth lost a fumble at the 7-yard line.
For the night, Kellogg went 15-27 for 157 yards and the touchdown. He also was intercepted twice, both times in the second half. Loftis caught seven passes for 95 yards and the score. Booth added 31 yards on four catches.
The aerial explosion made up for the lack of a running game. Aquinas' swarming defense limited the Tigers to minus-16 rushing yards on 17 attempts.
Booth also had a solid night on defense. His six tackles gave him 34 on the year, fifth best on the team.
Alex Braniff, Wade Lytle and Roger Wright each recorded eight tackles for the Tigers. Braniff finished as the team's leader with 83 total stops. Loftis added seven tackles while Gabe Stock checked in with five.
The game was the last in Tiger colors for Tekamah-Herman's eight seniors: Spencer Pagels, Griffin Breckenridge, Dylan Petersen, Booth, Braniff, Cole Booth, Stock and Levi Blackford.
Despite being the District 2 champions, Aquinas could muster no better than a 14 seed in the state playoffs. The Monarchs carried their 6-3 mark into a playoff game last Friday at third-seeded Battle Creek. The Braves handed Aquinas one of their three losses, a 28-13 decision at David City on Sept. 6. Aquinas also is smarting from losses to Raymond Central, the number-nine seed in the C2 playoff bracket; and Columbus Scotus, the 13-seed in the C1 playoffs.
District 3 champion and defending state champion Norfolk Catholic has the top seed in the C2 bracket. That district is home to a fourth of the playoff field, including qualifiers Battle Creek, Hartington Cedar Catholic and Oakland-Craig. Despite landing fourth in their district, O-C had the number-10 seed, but had to visit Cedar Catholic last Friday. The game is a rematch from an Oct. 18 contest when Cedar defeated the Knights 28-23 in Oakland.
