Spartans take 36-20 win over Bobcats

CALLAWAY - Friday, Oct. 8, the South Loup Bobcats played host to the Ansley-Litchfield Spartans for the second-to-last regular season matchup. Coming into the game, the 0-6 Bobcats knew that the 4-2 Spartans would be a tough go but were ready for the challenge. In the end, though, Ansley-Litchfield took the win, 3620.

South Loup senior captain Jake Halstead said after the game, “We are showing our hard work and talent every game we play. We just have to come together and minimize our mistakes in order to play a full game.”

Ansley-Litchfield head coach Kurt Kulhanek said, “I felt the game went pretty much as expected. I knew South Loup would be tough and competitive as always and that they wouldn’t just give us the game. Moving forward, we just have to clean up our mistakes and get focused on the task at hand for the future.”

On the offensive side of the ball, senior Cooper Slingsby led the Spartan offense with 28 carries for 162 yards and two touchdowns. Behind Slingsby, senior Sam Loy added on 16 rushes for 68 yards and a touchdown.

When asked about the game, Slingsby said, “I thought we played well for the most part and ran the ball hard. We still need to keep improving week-by-week but there is a lot of positives to take away from this game”

For South Loup, Trey Connell completed 7 of 15 passes for 119 yards and also had two rushing touchdowns. Harper Johnson added on 10 rushes for 61 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore Cache Gracey also pulled in five catches for 80 yards.

Defensively, Ansley-Litchfield was led by senior Caden Holm who tallied nine tackles with two tackles for loss. Behind Holm was fellow senior Sam Loy accumulated seven tackles.

The South Loup defense was led by sophomore Rio Remund who accumulated 15 tackles throughout the game with three tackles for loss. Junior Lance Jones also had a great defensive game, tallying 14 tackles.

Bobcat assistant coach Andy Schwarz said, “As a team, we are starting to take a lot of steps in a positive direction. We put ourselves in a position where we could have had a chance to win the game if we limited mistakes. Moving into next week we will focus on limiting mistakes and hopefully end the season on a good note.”

Loleta Connell At left, #9 senior Cooper Slingby adds to the total yardage for the Spartans as he is brought down by Bobcat senior #44 Jake Halstead and sophomore #45 Rio Remund. Also pictured on the play are Spartans #15 Gavin Cole, #3 Sam Loy and #60 Karter Moore.

Donna Holbyn Bittner Below, Ansley-Litchfield’s #17 Caden Holm and full back #5 Sam Loy block the Bobcat defensive line giving a path to the end zone for #9 Cooper Slingsby who scored the first touchdown of the game.