Hastings College Football // HC Broncos Athletics
HASTINGS – For the first time in eight years, the Watchorn McLaughlin trophy is coming home to Hastings as the football team defeated Midland 37-32 on Saturday afternoon in a wild affair out on Lloyd Wilson Field.
The game started off with a bang as Midland struck right away with a 64-yard touchdown from Jacob Jones to Kalynd Coats for the early 7-0 lead.
The Broncos came right back with a nice 10 play 60-yard drive highlighted by a big time 34-yard reception from Eli Nappe that setup a 36-yard Casper Feijen field goal to make it 7-3 midway through the first quarter.
The teams then traded three and outs over the next few possessions until Hastings moved into plus territory as Carson Kudlacek hit Nappe for 36-yards and again for another 10 down to the Midland 36. After a nice completion to Jaishawn Wright for 11 yards on fourth down, Kudlacek hit Ethan Wilborn for the 23-yard touchdown as he reached over the defender for the catch as HC now led 10-7 late in the first quarter.
From here, it seemed as though we had a defensive battle breaking out as neither team could generate enough offense to find points in the second quarter as the Broncos carried a 10-7 lead into the break.
Then the second half started and the game flipped on its head as Midland scored early on a Jones to Coats 35-yard touchdown to regain the lead at 13-10.
After the Bronco defense stopped the Warriors on fourth down it took just three plays for Hastings to find pay dirt as Kudlacek hit Wright for a 51-yard touchdown strike to put Hastings back on top at 16-13.
After the Bronco defense got a huge fourth down stop when Gavin White forced his way into the backfield dropping Jacob Jones for a three yard loss. Hastings took the ball over and marched down to the Midland 10 where Will Austin took the end around and found the end zone to put HC up 23-13 late in the third.
Hastings would get the ball back as Kudlacek would get his third passing touchdown hitting Wilborn for a 32-yard strike to put the Broncos up 30-13 early in the fourth. Unfortunately, the Warriors would put up one heck of a fight scoring on its next possession with a one yard plunge from Jones to make it 30-19 with 12:07 still to play.
Hastings was forced to punt on its next possession but the Bronco defense forced a fumble that Fareed Soluade scooped up and he rambled 76-yards to the house for the touchdown and the 37-19 lead with 11:00 to play.
The Warriors would get back-to-back touchdowns to make it 37-32 and got the ball back with plenty of time and a chance to take the lead with just 1:41 to go.
Midland picked up one first down and then attempted a long pass down the middle of the field but Colton Marsh was there to deflect the pass and then on the way to the ground he managed to catch it for a game ending interception with just :40 to go. Hastings was able to take one knee to run out the clock as this ended Midland seven game winning streak over the Broncos.
Kudlacek had another outstanding performance going 25-for-43 for 333 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for 49 yards. Nappe had a career high 140 yards receiving on eight receptions while Wilborn had three catches for 67-yards and two touchdowns. Wilborn sits third in school history with 10 touchdown receptions this season.
Jayden Roberts led the team with 11 tackles while Soluade added 10 tackles including the 74-yard fumble return for a touchdown.
Hastings is now 5-5 (4-5) on the year and will be back in action Saturday Nov. 11 hitting the road to take on Doane with kickoff set for 1:00 pm in Crete, NE.