Football Blanks Waldorf, 42-0
(Hastings, NE) – The Broncos got back in the win column on Saturday, shutting out the Waldorf Warriors, 42-0, on Saturday. The win marked the first shutout win for the Broncos since Aug. 27, 2022, when Hastings defeated Trinity International, 28-0, and first conference shutout since 2011.
(Hastings, NE) – The Broncos got back in the win column on Saturday, shutting out the Waldorf Warriors, 42-0, on Saturday. The win marked the first shutout win for the Broncos since Aug. 27, 2022, when Hastings defeated Trinity International, 28-0, and first conference shutout since 2011.
The Broncos struck first on a 10-yard touchdown run by junior running back Dalton Armbruster, coming at the end of a nine-play, 87-yard drive. Armbruster accounted for 42 yards rushing on the drive and sophomore Brady Lichtenberg added 32 yards rushing to help put Hastings up, 7-0.
Junior Jason Olford picked off the Warriors at the end of the first quarter, leading to a two-yard touchdown run by Lichtenberg. Hastings forced another punt and scored on a six-play drive, ending with a 21-yard touchdown run by junior running back Kaiden Merryman to go up 21-0.
Waldorf drove it down to the Hastings 34 yard line, but the drive stalled out on a fourth-and-12. Hastings managed to drive the ball to the Waldorf 30, but gave the ball back to Waldorf on a fumble to keep the score at 21-0 at halftime.
Hastings got the lone score of the third quarter, which was initially set up by junior defensive back Josiah Aldridge, who returned it 40 yards to the Waldorf 16 yard line. Three plays later, junior quarterback Carson Kudlacek scrambled and ran it in for a touchdown from nine yards out to go up 28-0.
The Warriors went three-an-out to close out the third quarter and on the second play of the fourth, Kudlacek found junior Jake Weidinger across the middle and he took it the rest of the way for a 70-yard touchdown reception, making it 35-0.
Waldorf put together a long drive and went for it on fourth-and-seven from the Hastings 34, but the Broncos forced an incompletion to keep the shutout intact.
With freshman quarterback Tucker Synek getting some reps on their next drive, he led them on an 11-play, 66-yard scoring drive. He was five-for-five passing on the drive for 45 yards, including the last three to sophomore Josh Levine, who caught the eight-yard touchdown pass in the back of the endzone, putting Hastings up 42-0.
Waldorf had a couple of drives late in the fourth quarter that got into Bronco territory, but Hastings held strong, turning them over on downs both times to preserve the shutout, 42-0.
Kudlacek was 9-16 passing for 180 yards, with one passing and one rushing touchdown. Armbruster was the leading rusher, going for 82 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown. Lichtenberg finished with eight carries for 51 yards and a touchdown. Weidinger had one touchdown reception for 70 yards and sophomore Cooper Butler had three catches for 58 yards.
Senior linebacker Jake Lambert, sophomore linebacker Brice Chaplin, junior defensive lineman Tywan January and sophomore defensive lineman David Lopez each had a team-high five tackles.
Up next, Hastings will host Morningside in their Homecoming game on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 1pm.
