The South Loup Bobcat football team has much to celebrate as the 2022 season wraps up. A 6-4 record and two rounds of playoff football under their belts, the Bobcats showed great talent, grit, tenacity, and heart this season.

The season started with a loss to Elm Creek 28-54, a game that Head Coach Mat Jageler admitted they were not ready for yet. But after a week to refresh and reframe, the Bobcats came out swinging at home in week 2 against Maywood-Hayes Center, and had the first home win since 2019. The final score was 64-8 and gave the team a new vigor and confidence the Bobcats hadn’t seen in a while.

Week 3 brought a tough game at home against Hitchcock County (who is currently in the state championship quarter finals). Despite having less than half the rushing yards as Hitchcock County, the Bobcats were able to hold the Falcons 24-36.

Going up against last year’s state runners-up, the Bobcats again narrowly lost to Sandhills/Thedford 22-32. The Knights were also knocked out of the playoffs in the second round this season.

The next four regular season games were total blowouts - dominating the field against Leyton at home 50-6; beating Hyannis at home 54-6; winning against Mullen 64-14; and earning a W against Anselmo-Merna 48-14.

Even though they had a long bus ride for the first round of playoffs, the Bobcats wiped the field with last year’s state champions - the Kenesaw Blue Devils 40-6. Even though Kenesaw had control of the ball more often, the South Loup defense kept them to only 11 first downs and 4 of 16 third-down conversions.

The second round of playoffs took the Bobcats northeast to Howells-Dodge, where sadly their season came to an end with a loss to the Jaguars, 12-40. The Jaguars are also in the playoff quarterfinals.

“It was a great season,” said sophomore Ethan Furne. “We went through adversity through the year, playing a few number one teams in the state. But I feel like we really grew as a team and succeeded overall.”

Many Bobcat athletes were ranked in the top 20 in Nebraska 8-man football for their performance this year, according to MaxPreps.com statistical tracking website: Rio Remund - 10th for sacks; Trey Connell 16th for rushing yards, 13th for points scored, 13th for total touchdowns; Ethan Furne - 7th for kickoff returns. Junior Rio Remund summed it up well when asked about this season. “It was a great year after we went 1-15 the last two,” he said. “To finally be back and we hardly lost to anyone, so watch out next year!” Furne echoed that sentiment - “I can’t wait for next year!” The Bobcats are losing four seniors to graduation Lance Jones, Johnathon Lamphear, Kaden Paulsen, and Clay Witthuhn.