Several HOPL football teams moved to 3-1 in week four, but Cunningham's Nick Huhman had the biggest week of them all with seven touchdown passes in a Wildcat win.
South Barber
The Chieftains took a 2-1 record into Friday’s match-up with 2-1 Stafford. The similarities ended there as South Barber crushed their HOPL-foe 54-8, allowing just 89 yards of total offense.
The Chieftains put up plenty of offense. Sophomore Peyton Yandel contributed the most, running for four scores and throwing for two more with 268 total yards of offense. That effort included 167 rushing yards on eight carries, including a 72-yard score. Yandel also threw for 101 more yards on 5-of-8 passing. Sophomore Dylan Allison also had a nice night with 90 yards and two scores on nine carries. Senior Jace Thurman led the receivers with two receptions, both touchdowns, for 68 yards, including a 40-yard touchdown. Defensively, senior Connor Black led the way with 15 tackles.
Cunningham
Eight-man football is famous for inflated statistics. Usually, those numbers come via the ground. Friday night, Wildcat quarterback Nick Huhman put up some wild numbers with his arm. The senior completed 10 passes, seven of them for scores, in a 56-20 thumping of Argonia. Cunningham improves to 2-2 overall.
The Wildcat backs combined for 237 yards on 36 carries, but Huhman stole the show. He finished the night with all seven Cunningham touchdowns on 10-of-13 passes for 179 yards. He also averaged more than 10 yards a carry with 65 yards on six attempts. Michael Westerman led the rushing attack with 97 yards on 15 carries. Jordan Schaller also had a big night with five catches for 96 yards. Four of those receptions went for scores. Dylan Moran added three catches, two for touchdowns, and 54 yards. Conor Hamilton caught the other touchdown, finishing with 29 yards on two receptions.
Pretty Prairie
Two Fridays ago, the Bulldogs lost big to eight-man power Baileyville B&B. Last Friday, Pretty Prairie got back on the right side of a lopsided score with a 60-26 HOPL win against Norwich. The Bulldogs wasted no time, building a 40-0 lead in the first quarter.
Senior Justin Haflich scored the first touchdown from two yards out. Alex Mains then hit Trey Tallant for an 18-yard strike and a 16-0 lead. Then came the big plays. Mains’ next touchdown pass went 50 yards to Stetson Broce. Then Keifer George broke a 61-yard run. Finally, Mains again found Tallant, this time for 15 yards, to complete the 40-point quarter. George and Mains added touchdown runs of 39 and 18 yards, respectively. Trevor Webster also got in the books with a one-yard touchdown run.
Fairfield
The Falcons picked up a big win Friday night, handing South Central its first loss in a 42-38 thriller. Not that it was easy. South Central led 6-0 after one quarter and 18-8 at the half. Fairfield shaved off two points of the lead in the third quarter before outscoring the Timberwolves 20-8 in the final quarter to complete the comeback. The Falcons improve to 3-1 on the year.
Junior quarterback Ryan Ewy was the offensive leader on the night with three touchdowns, two coming by way of the rush. He finished with 87 yards on 10 carries, and added another 113 yards and touchdown on 3-of-8 passing. Sophomore Cannon Burns led the Falcons with 96 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, and Wayne Schoenecker scored the other rushing touchdown, finishing his night with 49 yards on 15 carries. Brennyn Pankratz caught two passes, including the touchdown, for 75 yards.
Skyline
A winless Thunderbird team looked for its first win the hard way Friday night. Skyline welcomed in No. 5 Otis-Bison, a perennial power coming off its first loss of the season at Hoxie. After hanging close with the Cougars for a quarter, Otis-Bison rattled off 50 unanswered points in the middle quarters en route to a 58-20 win.
Skyline scored in the first quarter and trailed only 8-6 before the scoring outburst. The T-Birds added two touchdowns in the fourth quarter for a more respectable score. The offense scored two of the three touchdowns with 170 total yards. Cole Patterson connected with Sam Howell for a five-yard score in the first quarter. Dustin Weber, who led the team with 58 yards on 17 carries, scored from two yards out in the fourth quarter. Brandon Baird added 56 rushing yards on 20 tries, and completed all three pass attempts for 22 yards. Sophomore Chanler Simar had the big play of the game, intercepting a Brandon Keller pass and returning it 59 yards for the final score of the game.
Stafford
Friday’s match-up looked good on paper. Stafford and South Barber each took 2-1 records into the game, but home team prevailed in a big way, taking down the Trojans 54-8. Stafford falls to 2-2 on the year.
The Trojans managed just 89 yards of total offense, including minus one yards in the passing game where sophomore quarterback Austin Ceniti completed 1-of-3 passes. The rushing attack fared little better with 90 total yards on 28 tries. Tristin Paulsen led a trio of runners with 43 yards on 10 carries. Ethan Johnson added 34 yards on eight carries, and Ceniti took 10 carries for 13 yards. Defensively, Johnson led the way with 10 tackles.
