AMANDA WEHNES, COURIER CORRESPONDENT

The South Loup football team has improved weekover- week this season, despite being 1-3 so far. The win-loss record isn’t indicative of how much they have grown in the past four weeks, and how much they have improved over last season.

Last Thursday the Bobcats traveled to Dunning to take on the 2021 state runners-up in D2 - the Sandhills/ Thedford Knights. While the final score was 22-32, there are things to celebrate from this matchup.

The Bobcats scored the most points of any team against the Knights so far this season - no other team has busted through their defense to score more than once. The only other team to hold the Knights to fewer than 40 points this season was Hitchcock County. And the Bobcats continue to improve their third-down conversion rate with a season-high of 41%.

In the end, it came down to the Knights defense knowing how to stop the ball. Quarterback Trey Connell was held to 9 passing yards and 132 rushing yards - both below his averages per game so far this season. The Knights also forced 3 turnovers and grabbed 2 interceptions from the Bobcats this game.

The first quarter was all Sandhills/Thedford when they recovered a South Loup fumble to score with 1:18 off the clock. The Bobcats had the football for less than a minute when the Knights forced a punt and held onto the ball for nearly 4 minutes. The Bobcats regained possession of the ball at 5:55 left in the quarter, but were unable to score again.

The Bobcats began the second quarter with a touchdown and 2-point conversion within 2 minutes to tie the game 8-8, but the Knights responded with another touchdown and 2-point conversion just minutes later to take the lead 8-16. Connell had the opportunity to run for a 55-yard touchdown with 6:21 left in the half and the Bobcats trailed 15-16.

The Bobcat defense held the Knights through the rest of the half, even with a scare when Connell left the game with a suspected shoulder injury, to keep the score 15-16 at the half.

The beginning of the third quarter saw Connell return to the game and the Bobcat defense held tight until the Knights scored again with 7:49 left in the quarter to widen their lead 15-24. Penalties hurt the Bobcats in the third quarter, earning three in one play to force a punt back to the Knights and the loss of any more scoring opportunities.

The fourth quarter started with fireworks for South Loup when Connell scored another touchdown and Cache Gracey assisted with the 2-point conversion within the first 90 seconds to bring the score to 22-24. Harper Johnson recovered a fumble by the Knights to open a scoring opportunity just a minute later, but the Knights defense again shut down the Bobcats and took the opportunity to score and seal the win, 22-32.

The Bobcat JV hosted Anselmo-Merna last Monday in Callaway and lost by a score of 14-24. Stats for this game were not available at press time.

The South Loup JV played at Ansley-Litchfield on Monday, but scores were not available. The varsity takes on Dalton- Leyton Friday at 3 p.m. in Callaway for Homecoming.