NCC Prevails 41-14 In Second Round of Class 1A Playoffs, Drops Curtain On 9-3 Season, Plus Patty Goering Photos

 It took NCC 8 minutes and 59 seconds to march the football 74 yards for their first touchdown, which speaks well for our defense, while taking its toll on our “Both Ways” guys.  In that offensive sequence we missed a golden opportunity for an interception which would have curtailed the drive and put early game momentum in a white Brossart jersey, but it was not to be.   An NCC fumble during that same timeframe bounced their way, and we missed out on anther NCC turnover opportunity.  While either of these potential turnovers would not have changed the outcome, they could have given us early game momentum, which might have allowed us to be more contentious.

Back to back interceptions, directly contributed to the next two NCC scores.   The Mustangs trailed 14-0 at the first quarter stop, and 20-0 early on in the second quarter.  It was at that point that Cam Mandel won a 75 yard foot race and put the Mustangs on the board for the first time in the history of our five game rivalry, and when Max Runge did his thing, we trailed 20-7.  Unfortunately, that was as close as we would come as the Breds answered on two more ground assaults, making it 35-7 Breds at the half.

Taking possession to start the second half we marched the piggy from our own 35 yard line to the Breds 16 before the drive stalled out, and we turned it over to NCC on downs.  Neither team scored in the third quarter.   The Breds scored early in the fourth quarter making it 41-7, and an errant PAT attempt which hit the goalpost, spared us a running-clock.  Cam Mandel scored the final touchdown of his high school career with 6:30 remaining in our season on a 7 yard run, and with the Runge “and-one”, the final score was 41-14.  For their efforts Cam Mandel is named the Offensive Player of he Game, and Joe Schroeder is his Defensive counterpart.

The Mustangs close the book on a highly successful 9-3 season in Coach Adam Kozerski’s inaugural year as our head coach.