Thayer Central Blanks Shelby-Rising City 44-0 To Advance To Next Round

Coming into the playoffs the Thayer Central Titans were slated to be a number four seed in Class D-1 as they had finished the regular season with a 7-1 record.On Thursday, October 20, Thayer Central was hosting Shelby-Rising who came in with a record of 5-3. Thayer Central this year has just under 400 total yards a game as the Titans average 390.4 total yards a game, with 351.3 yards averaged on the ground offensively.A defense with one game as a blemish, but aside from that have been terrorizing opponent’s offenses. Regardless of the substitutions, on the field are eight Titans who have proven time and time again they know how to fly to the ball, but among the eight are a destructive duo consisting of Gunner Mumford and Cameron Schulte who find themselves among the top defensive players in the state of Nebraska and nation.Cameron Schulte sits in the top 10 of the State of Nebraska at 10th with 7.5 sacks in the season, has 82 tackles with 10 tackles for loss. Gunner Mumford finds himself among stiff competition for tackling as he sits at number six in the state of Nebraska and number nine among the nation at tackles with 130 total in the season with five other players from Nebraska being in the top ten as well. The last two weeks, Thayer Central had been without their second leading rusher with Sam Souerdyke being out due to an ankle injury and for extra-precautions Thayer Central decided to do it one more game.However, the offense hasn’t missed a beat as teammates such as Triston Wells has taken the opportunity in stride by having two incredible games. The last two games had Wells not only doubled his carries with 35, but doubled his yards and touchdowns as well by having 240 yards on the ground averaging seven yards each carry and had five rushing touchdowns.Leading the rushing attack for eight games was senior Jordan Mariska who ranked number nine in the state of Nebraska by the effort for eight straight games as Mariska has rushed over 100 yards, ending the regular season with 1,297. His best game of the season was 251 yards on 21 carries for three rushing touchdowns, and in the season had been averaging 162.1 yards a game with 9.2 yards averaged each carry.The Titans knew their strengths and looked to utilize them in every conceivable way because in the time of playoffs, surviving to move on the next round is thriving.By the time the clock ran out, Thayer Central completed the shut out to win 44-0 to move forward into the playoffs. It was in the second quarter where the offensive burst pushed Thayer Central to run away with it, but the first score in the first quarter was where it all started.After a great pitch play that sprung Jordan Mariska inside Thayer’s own 20. Triston Wells was given a carry, but a perfectly placed punch got the ball free for Shelby-Rising City to takeover at the 7:12 mark. Five minutes later and Thayer Central would regain the ball and Wells would make up for that cough up earlier by breaking some tackles on his way into the end-zone for his one rushing touchdown in the game.Wells had finished with 20 carries to lead the team and had 89 yards on the ground. Mariska, though no rushing touchdowns, had made it nine straight games with over a 100 yards as he ran for 133 yards on 15 carries with an 8.9 average that helped place the Titans in favorable spots on the field. Will Heitmann made the most of the opportunities as his two carries went for five yards and had two rushing touchdowns.Heitmann finished with five touchdowns on the night as two were on the ground, and as he completed four of his eight passes, with one pass connecting to Jayden Hissong for 36 yards. The other three passes were touchdowns as he connected with Grant Wiedel three different times in the second quarter with their last connection coming with four seconds left in the half. There was no scoring in the second half but Thayer Central’s defense was on display for all playoffs team to see.Gunner Mumford the only Titan to reach double digits in tackles ended the night with 21 tackles, two for a loss, eight were solo and 13 assisted. Just missing the double digits mark was Cameron Schulte and Nate Burd as each finished with nine tackles, and Schulte having one sack in the game as well along with Brady Degenhardt contributing a strong seven tackles as well.Degenhardt, Cole Vorderstrasse, Grant Wiedel and Triston Wells also helped with the aerial coverage as each would have one pass deflection and Wells lead the team with two on the night.All around the Titans had shown they’re arriving to the peak of the play at the right time in the playoffs and look to keep moving on with this historic run as Thayer Central will be back under the Friday night lights on Oct. 27 back home as they will be hosting Nebraska Christian.

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