Sabetha 24, Holton 8

All the scoring was in the first half and #2 ranked Sabetha never trailed in their first home game of the year improving to 2-0 on the season. The Bluejay defense, coming off a shutout of Perry Lecompton in week one, denied Holton on a fourth down and short from the three-yard-line then proceeded to hold the ball for the final 7:13 of the game.  Holton had drove 78 yards in 18 plays and took nearly 10 minutes off the second half clock before coming up short on third and three and fourth and one inside the Bluejay five-yard-line.  The Wildcats drop to 0-2 on the season for the first time since 2018. 

Holton went three and out on their opening drive and for the second straight week, their first punt was for negative yardage which gave the opponent a short 27-yard field.  Sabetha opened the scoring with a Chase Frey 16-yard touchdown run for the only score in the first frame. The Cats second drive got a boost from a 36-yard run by Kyler Jackson, but he would leave the game with an injury and not return. And once Holton got within the Jays 30-yard-line, they had a costly penalty on fourth down and would turn the ball over on downs. Sabetha drove 12 plays and got a 25-yard field goal from Nate Menold to go ahead 10-0 early in the second period.  

Holton started their third possession with a 46 yard pass from Eli Hallauer to Abbott Hundley and got their second score of the season with Hallauer bounced outside and scored on a 14-yard run. Andrew Shupe followed with two-point run to pull the Wildcats within 10-8 at the 8:33 mark in the second quarter. Yet, Sabetha added a pair of touchdowns late in the first half with Mitchell Kramer finding Nate Menold on a 13-yard pass and then Collin Menold rushing in from five yards out to make it 24-8.  

Sabetha ran for 267 yards on 44 carries and Kramer was 9-14 passing for 104 yards with Nate Menold, Christian McAfee and Marcus Bauman all having multiple receptions. Colin Menold had 114 yards on 20 carries while Chase Frey racked up 122 yards on 15 totes. Sabetha had both 300 pound senior lineman Josh and Jacob Grimm exit with apparent leg injuries in the second half.

Holton ran for 207 yards on 48 carries and completed the one pass for 46 yards. Hundley led the rushing attack again with 65 yards on 18 carries while Hallauer had 43 yards, Kyler Jackson added 42 and Cael Frazier and Cale Hein each had more than 26 yards on the ground. 

Sabetha will play at Jeff West (1-1) in their final non-district game next week while Holton gets their first home game of the season against Hiawatha (1-1).