OGALLALA - An injury depleted Sidney football team was diminished even further Friday night, as a Red Raiders could not keep pace with the Ogallala Indians in a 48-0 road loss. Sidney suffered additional injuries at key positions, for players who were already sidelined, turning the Red Raider lineup into a hodgepodge scattered with freshmen and sophomores.

If ever the stats told the story of a football game, it would be this game. On the night, Sidney rushed for a total of just 12 yards on 28 carries and completed 4 of 14 passes for 42 yards with 2 interceptions. The Indians, on the other hand, rushed for 433 yards on 44 carries while completing 9 of 16 passes for 60 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Sidney’s starting, I-Back, Austin Wolfe, went down with an injury before the Raider offense ever touched the football. Sidney wing-back, Nathan Kennedy only had one carry before leaving the game as the Red Raider offense went three-and-out on 6 of their first 7 possessions.

Ogallala scored on all three of their possessions in the first quarter to take a 20-0 lead. It might have been an even bigger deficit for the Raiders if it had not been for back-to-back muffed punt receptions by senior Cameron Bush that gave Sidney a pair of extra possessions.

The closest that Sidney came to putting points on the board followed Bush’s second muffed punt. On 3rd and 14 from the Ogallala 28, Isak Doty connected with Austin Rolle over the middle to give the Raiders first and goal at the Indian 2 yard line. Sidney was unable to push across the goal line and turned the ball over on downs at the 5.

The Indians added another score and 2-point conversion to take a 28-0 into halftime.

Sidney’s second half did not start any better than their first. The Raiders, who deferred their decision to the second half, lost 3 yards on a missed center exchange on the first play. Then threw an interception on the second. On 5 second half possessions, Sidney recorded only 1 first down.

Ogallala had an opportunity to initiate the 35-point running on Cameron Zink’s 68-yard touchdown run with 7:19 remaining in the third period, but kicker Edgar Ramirez missed the PAT. The Raider reprieve was short-lived as Sidney went three-and-out again and Ogallala senior Jake Hiltibrand scored on a 20-yard run with 2:13 remaining in the third to punt the Indian up 42-0.

Freshman Conner Hurt led the Raider rushing attack with 16 yards on 8 carries while fellow freshman Owen Gillham added 7 yards on 4 carries. Ogallala was led by senior Cameron Zink with 185 yards on 13 carries. Senior Jake Hiltibrand added 102 yards on 11 carries.

Ogallala improves to 5-3 and will travel to Chadron next Friday and take on 8-0 Chadron. Sidney falls to 2-6 and returns home next Friday for their last regular season game against 5-3 Mitchell.