Horns ground Goodland

A week after the Goodland Cowboys racked up 40 points in their season-opening win, the Holcomb Longhorns held them to just 6 points in a 51-6 romp in the Great West Activities Conference opener for both teams. The Longhorns intercepted Cowboy quarterback Levi Archer four times in the first quarter, with defensive end Conner Van Cleave grabbing two of those and returning one for a touchdown. Combined with a Dillon Williams TD run, a 25-yard Trey Teeter field goal and a 34-yard TD pass from Teeter to Christian Merz, Holcomb led 22-0 after one stanza.

In the second quarter, Teeter scored on an 11-yard run, Williams added a 9-yard TD run and Teeter hit Tanner Mongeau on an 80-yard touchdown strike, hitting Mongeau in stride at the 50 and letting Tanner do the rest. Goodland’s lone score came on a 58-yard bomb from Archer to Darian Kent. By halftime, the game was effectively over, as Holcomb led 44-6.

Dillon Williams added a 55-yard touchdown romp at the beginning of the third quarter for his third TD of the night and finished with 148 yards rushing. Trey Teeter hit 11 of 16 passes for 275 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. He was also 1 out of 2 on field goals and 4 for 4 on PATs. Christian Merz led receivers with 4 catches for 148 yards and 1 TD. Conner Van Cleave added 3 sacks to his 2 interceptions and sophomore Caden Tichenor had a sack and 8 solo tackles to lead the team. 

The Longhorns pulled down 6 interceptions, but turned the ball over 3 times, 1 interception and 2 fumbles, to win the turnover battle. Holcomb also kept the penalties under 10, but had two touchdowns called back by penalties.

Next up for the unbeaten Longhorns (2-0) will be a trip to Ulysses to face the unbeaten Tigers and one of the state’s best running backs, Ian Rudzik. Kick-off is at 7:00 p.m., with the pregame show starting at 6:30 on AM 1030 KBUF.