The Central City High School football team hit the road last Friday as they were searching for their first win of the season. Across the field was the Cozad Haymakers who also were looking for their first win of the season after having opened the season with a lost to the McCook Bison.

Central City set the tone early and quickly things took a turn for Cozad who once again found themselves trampled by a stampede of Bison. For Central City the fast start helped carry them to a big 49-14 win and now will help them keep building as they continue through a tough schedule.

“It was a fun first victory for us and we are excited to get back to work and keep,” says Bison head coach Troy Huebert. I think it is a confidence booster. We knew after week one that we were a good football team but we had to keep working to prove it. We have to keep building now after getting the first one at Cozad.”

They now will shift their attention to a Holdrege team that also sits 1-1 on the season following a loss to Adams Central last week. The Bison will be looking for some homecoming magic as they look to build a winning record early in the season.

“Holdrege is very improved,” says Coach Huebert. “They had a new coach come in last year and he is doing some really good stuff with that program. There offense is really dynamic and they have a really good quarterback who is a three-year starter. We’ve already seen a really good quarterback week one with Ord and this guy is every bit as good. That’s going to be our focus, we have to slow him down and contain him. Offensively we have to keep executing and keep working at getting better.”

Central City will be looking to start fast just as they did this past Friday. Following a 45-minute weather delay, Ashton Gragg fielded the opening kickoff and quickly lateralled the ball to Tyler Carroll who carried it 89 yards for the games first touchdown. The Bison defense played well and later Derek Pfeifer added another touchdown with a 17-yard run. Cozad was able to find some momentum in the opening quarter as they scored on a 33-yard pass, but the Bison led 14-7 after the first quarter.

In the second quarter it was time for Kenai Kearney to shine as he lowered his shoulder and bulldozed his way into the endzone and Central City took a 20-7 lead. Tyler Carroll later took the ball around the edge on a four-yard touchdown run to give the Bison a 29-7 lead. The rest of the game was also full of exciting moments like a Garrett Stull blocked punt that rolled though the back of the endzone for a safety. The outstanding play led to a 36-yard touchdown pass from Pfeifer to Carroll and later Ayden Zikmund scored on a Pfeifer touchdown pass. Cozad was able to score once more in the fourth quarter, but Corbin Kyes plowed his way in for a touchdown to give the Bison a 49-14 victory on the road.

The Bison got the best of the Haymakers in nearly every category on Friday night including rushing for an impressive 209 yards while holding Cozad to 93 yards on the ground. Derek Pfeifer threw one interception, but was solid beyond that completing 17 of his 22 pass attempts for 185 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The senior quarterback also rushed for 108 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. The game served as a welcome party for freshman Corbin Kyes who carried the ball ten times for 60 yards and a touchdown while senior Dylan Pfeifer rushed for 25 yards on four carries. Ashton Gragg led all receivers with six receptions for 68 yards while Tyler Carroll was impressive en route to 158 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns. Ayden Zikmund hauled in four passes for 48 yards and a touchdown while Kenai Kearney caught two passes and also rushed for a touchdown.

On the defensive side of the ball there was plenty of great play from players like Clark Brown who led the team with six total tackles including one tackle for a loss while Jacob Kucera also recorded six tackles. Nathaneil Heins recorded five tackles while Cole Brandes, Colter Lueders and Grant Nielsen each had three. Garrett Stull had a big game with a blocked punt and a sack.

Around the C1-5: Aurora (2-0) The Huskies once again make a claim to be the team to beat in C-1 as they rattle off a big 34-13 victory over a solid Boone Central team that many look at as a playoff contender. Another big test is on the horizon as Aurora takes on an Ashland-Greenwood team who has looked impressive in their own right with big wins over Columbus Lakeview and Wahoo.

Adams Central (2-0) The Patriots were locked in a battle with Holdrege heading into the locker room with a 9-7 lead at halftime. The second half was a different story as they beat the Dusters down thanks to solid running from Hyatt Collins who finished the game with 113 yards rushing and three touchdowns in the 30-7 victory. Now they take on a Gothenburg team still searching for their first win.

Fairbury (2-0) The haters will point out that overall, the Jeffs have a favorable schedule, but a blowout win speaks loudly at the same time. Fairbury raced out to a 49-0 halftime lead as they cruised to a 56-7 victory over Falls City thanks in part to four Jax Biehl passing touchdowns, two of them thrown to fellow senior Jackson Martin. The Jeffs have another opportunity to impress as they face Schuyler this week who is still searching for that first win.

St. Paul (1-1) The Wildcats looked good in the opening week, but the offense failed to get much started this past week against Minden who breezed to a 23-0 victory after building a 16-0 lead at halftime. Bryce Knapp completed 10 of his 18 passes for 101 yards and an interception while the Wildcats only were able to rush for 70 yards. Things could be tough this week as they face a Columbus Scotus team who is coming off of a loss to Pierce.

There was plenty to be excited about as the Central City Bison hit the road to take on Cozad in the second week of the 2022 season. The Bison continued to show a more physical style of play as compared to recent years and part of that physicality is brought by Kenai Kearney (34) who here gets a block from Colter Lueders (51) as he looks to stiff arm a Cozad defender. The game got off to a fast start as track star Tyler Carroll (2) took a reverse on the opening kickoff and didn’t look back as the fastest man in Bison Nation even gave the sprinter’s head nod as he crossed the goal line. The play of the night belonged to senior Garrett Stull who came out of nowhere to block a Cozad punt that rolled into and out of the endzone to give the Bison a safety and the ball back as they won 49-14.