Game one of the 2025 football season for the Hemingford Bobcats was a home contest versus South Loup on Thursday. Using a bruising ground game, the Cats defeated the visitors 44 to 18. Two Bobcats-Talon Payne and Jacob Bryner- finished the night with over 100 yards as Hemingford improved to 1 and 0 for the year. In a battle of Bobcats, the hosts avenged last year’s game which had South Loup best Hemingford 54 to 36. Payne ended his big night with three touchdowns to pace the Cat offense.
Hemingford scored first on a 43 touchdown run by Payne and led 8 to 0 with under 11 minutes to play in the opening period. South Loup answered back with a td of their own to slice their deficit to 8 to 6. Later in the period, the Bobcats added to their advantage. Bryner, the Hemingford quarterback, broke free for a 24 yard touchdown scamper as the Cars went up 14 to 6.
In the third, Hemingford got another big run by Payne to set up another score. The play went for 24 yards. With scoreboard reading Hemingford 22 South Loup 18, the Bobcats started to pull away. Running Zaine Feist gave the Cats great field position following a 46 yard run which led to another Hemingford score. Up 28 to 18, the hosts put the game away with the contest’s final 16 tallies. Payne had another big run in the final moments. His 34 yard carry set led up another Cat score.
Final. Hemingford 44 South Loup 18.
Final stats had Payne carry the ball 19 times for 177 yards and 3 scores. Bryner ended with 111 yards on 19 attempts and one touchdown. Hemingford also got a nice effort from Feist who added 73 yards on 6 carries and a score. Overall, the Cats rushed the ball for 401 yards. South Loup finished with 261 yards of offense. The visitors had 162 yards in the air and 99 yards on the ground. Defensively , Hemingford was led by Owen Plog who ended the game with 8 and a half tackles. Payne closed with 4 and a half tackles and caused a fumble which was recovered by Bobcat Grayson Hunter who added three and a half tackles for the game.
On Friday, Hemingford will travel to Hyannis with a battle against the Longhorns.