The Ellsworth football team faced off against the Sacred Heart Knights Friday at home, where the Bearcats crushed the Knights 49-8.

The game got off to a rough start. It seemed like both teams needed time to get used to playing football again after the long break. The first quarter was peppered liberally with incomplete passes and fumbles, and it seemed like nobody was really putting their best foot forward, but this changed extremely quickly.

With 7:14 left in the quarter, senior Tucker Goss made a 43-yard touchdown, catapulting the Bearcats ahead. Sophomore Bo Kyler made the field goal, and the Bearcats were suddenly seven points ahead of the Knights.

The Cats’ lead was short lived, though.

About three minutes later, the Knights made a staggering 82-yard touchdown, and easily scored the two-point conversion. The game suddenly became much more tense. The first quarter ended 8-7, with the Knights having a slight lead.

The second quarter was concerning to say the least. While the Bearcats did appear to tighten up on mistakes, they still couldn’t overcome the dreadful one-point lead of the Knights. While the Knights didn’t expand on their lead, they also didn’t need to in order to win. The first half ended 8-7, with neither team making any progress, and the Bearcats still slightly behind.

Coming out of halftime, there was a major shift in the Bearcats. It wasn’t obvious right away though. Finally, with 9:14 left in the quarter, sophomore Carson Jacobs broke the semi-stalemate with an 11-yard touchdown. Kyler made the field goal and the Cats once again had the lead.

Still, it wasn’t a comfortable one. There was still an anxiety about them, but this anxiety was almost immediately crushed.

A little more than a minute later, senior Cooper McGowan intercepted the ball and made a 34-yard touchdown. Kyler again made the field goal. The steamrolling continued with Goss scoring yet another touchdown with 4:25 left in the quarter and Kyler delivering yet again. Literally 13 seconds of in-game time later, Jacobs intercepted the ball and scored a 16-yard touchdown and Kyler did what he usually did.

The third quarter ended 42-8, with the Bearcats now having a massive lead. In just one quarter, the Cats turned a close game into an absolute pulverization.

“I think it was good to come out kind of having a tough start and then really get it going,” head coach Josh Homolka said. “I think they matured a little bit going into the second half.”

The huge change of pace wasn’t reciprocated by the Knights. They weren’t able to return the favor and come back, despite having better defensive efforts in the fourth quarter. They were able to make a few big moves, but they ultimately didn’t come to anything.

With 5:56 left in the game, the Knights slid even further into defeat when sophomore Rett Bohl made a 36-yard touchdown. The game seemed like a done deal by the end of the third quarter, and the fourth quarter didn’t do much to prove that conception wrong. In the end, the Bearcats won with an extremely comfortable lead.

“It’s a race to make the play,” Goss said. ”It was a nice win. We started out slow, but we found our rhythm, found our beat and we got going in the second half.”

The Bearcats’ season record at 1-0. They play the Republic County Buffaloes Friday at home.