Spartans shut out Longhorns with dominating performance

You could say the South Holt/Nodaway-Holt Spartans entered their Week Four matchup against the Platte Valley Longhorns Friday night with a chip on their shoulders. The Spartans lost a heartbreaker to East Atchison just one week prior, and were dead set on getting past that.

They did so in a halftime shutout fashion over the Longhorns, winning 54-0 to move to 2-2 on the season.

Coach Jonn Casey of SHNH began talking about the Week Three loss, cutting himself short by saying, “We’re not going to talk about that because we’ve got to move on. The boys did what they needed to tonight and we got a big win out of it.”
Entering the game 0-3, the Longhorns had a lot of momentum carried over from their Week Three matchup against North-West Nodaway, nearly pulling out a comeback win. Coach Cree Beverlin said he expected that same confidence to show up in Graham, but it never did.

“We just didn’t look like the same team,” he said. “Their defense was fast, and made us look one-dimensional too many times.”

Having relied on the legs of Dalton Luke, Arthur Giffin, and quarterback Patrick O’Connor in the past, Platte Valley did what they could on the ground, but the Spartans were expecting it and were ready.

“We practiced all week long about stopping their quarterback and that Luke kid,” Casey said. “I’ve grown very proud of our defense. We focus on speed, and have a lot of fast kids that are able to execute well.”

The Spartans began the game with a 66-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Westyn Williams to put SHNH up 8-0 in the opening 12 seconds. On their own first play, the Longhorns fumbled for a SHNH recovery in Platte Valley territory. The very next play Cole Alloway marched in a 37-yard touchdown to put the Spartans up 14-0 in the first 30 seconds.

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