Ogallala comes up one successful play short, Cozad almost loses 17-12 in High School Varsity Football on September 12th, 2025

(Photo credit: Dave Adamson, Images in Unsplash on Wix.com, Search "American Football")

By: Evan Troxel

The Cozad Haymakers defeated the Ogallala Indians 17-12 on Friday night, September 12th, 2025, at the Ogallala High School football field in Ogallala, Nebraska.

It was an entertaining game for the fans of either team with lots of penalties and also great plays.

Julien Davis and Olliver Davis each scored a touchdown for Cozad.

Kolby Nowak and Rhys Gilmore each scored a touchdown for Ogallala.

The difference was Ezequiel Mejia-Martinez for Cozad who made two extra points in the first half and made a field goal in the third quarter.

Cozad and Ogallala both now have one win and two losses with Cozad ranked 18th (along with Omaha Roncalli Catholic) in the Class C1 wild card points system according to nsaahome.org while Ogallala is currently ranked 23rd (along with five other teams) in Class C1.

Both teams pretty much cannot lose any games until the postseason from here on out, if they "for sure" each want to likely guarantee themselves a spot in the playoffs!

Cozad comes out west again on September 19th to play at Chase County and they host Broken Bow on September 26th.

Ogallala plays at Gering on September 19th and at Chadron on September 26th and then hosts Sidney on October 3rd.

To start Friday night's game, Ogallala kicked off and Cozad started at their own 31.

Bryson Snider ran the football to the Cozad 37. Two plays later, Julien Davis threw a completion on third down for 24 yards to the Ogallala 40 yard line.

Julien Davis then ran right to the Ogallala 39 on the next play for one yard. An offsides penalty by Ogallala moved the football to the Ogallala 34.

A pass interference call on Ogallala's Tai Le on a throw to the right side intended for Mathew Arndt moved the football to the Ogallala 19.

A false start penalty on Cozad moved the football back to the Ogallala 24. Julien Davis then threw an incompletion.

Two plays later, Julien Davis ran to the left on third down to get the football to the Ogallala 7.

Julien Davis then ran the football right into the end zone for the touchdown!

Ezequiel Mejia-Martinez made the extra point in the east end zone and Cozad led 7-0 with 7:34 left in the 1st quarter.

After Cozad kicked off to Ogallala, which they kicked out of bounds on Cozad's left side of the field, Ogallala started at their own 35.

On the first play from scrimmage, Kolby Nowak ran left for a little bit and then straight most of the way for a 65-yard touchdown run!

Nowak probably wasn't even touched on the play, and if he was, it was barely.

Nowak then ran right but was stopped by Cozad on the two-point conversion attempt.

Cozad 7, Ogallala 6, with 7:23 left in the first quarter.

Cozad started with the football at their own 28 after the kickoff, and Bryson Snider ran for 7 yards to the 35 yard line.

Bryson Snider then ran left on the next play and pick up ten yards and a first down at midfield.

Julien Davis threw an incompletion, Bryson Snider ran right for three yards and then Julien Davis threw another incompletion and Cozad punted to the Ogallala 20 yard line.

Ogallala's Sawyer Smith then ran left and got tackled by Ashton Osborn at the Ogallala 18 yard-line.

Edan Cain, Ogallala's quarterback, completed a five-yard pass and then threw an incompletion and Ogallala was forced to punt.

Cozad returned the punt from midfield to the Ogallala 37 yard line.

With 3:40 left in the first quarter, Cozad's quarterback threw an incompletion, ran left for one yard on second down, and then threw another incompletion in which Cozad was charged for a holding penalty, which Ogallala declined.

So Cozad punted it to the Ogallala 17 yard line.

With 2:48 left in the first quarter, Sawyer Smith ran left and right for a big gain all the way to the Ogallala 49.

Trenton Northrup then got put in motion right to left, took the handoff, and fumbled the football!

Cozad recovered at the Ogallala 43!

With 1:59 left in the first quarter, Julien Davis ran for 6 to the Ogallala 37.

Bryson Snider ran to the Ogallala 35, but a false start penalty on Cozad put the football back on the Ogallala 42.

Bryson Snider ran left for a six-yard gain to the Ogallala 36 and then ran left to the 34 on the next play.

Cozad then let the game clock run out and that was the end of the first quarter!

Cozad's Julien Davis was 1 for 6 in the first quarter with 24 yards passing, while Ogallala's Edan Cain was 1 for 2 with five yards in the first quarter.

Julien Davis then had a 16 yard completion to Olliver Davis to the Ogallala 18 on what I believe was a fourth down play.

Three plays later, Bryson Snider ran for 10 yards right and up the middle to the Ogallala 8. Then he ran to the Ogallala 6 on the next play.

Julien Davis then threw a touchdown pass on the right side to his brother Olliver Davis who caught the ball, eluded the defender and went left and then walked the last few yards into the end zone for the score.

An extra point by Ezequiel Mejia-Martinez in the west end zone made it Cozad 14, Ogallala 6, with 9:56 left in the second quarter.

After Cozad kicked off, Ogallala got the ball at their own 32 yard line.

Kolby Nowak ran left and right to the 38 for six yards, Sawyer Smith then ran right for two and then ran up the middle for two more on the next play and it was fourth and like one inch.

Nowak then ran up the middle to the 41 and he was roughly six inches to a foot short of the first down!

Cozad called timeout with 7:44 left in the second quarter.

Cozad ran right to the Ogallala 31. Then, Julien Davis threw an incompletion and Bryson Snider ran to the right for nine to the Ogallala 22.

Two plays later, Julien Davis threw a ten-yard completion on the left side to Olliver Davis to the Ogallala 12 yard line.

Julien Davis then ran right and scored a touchdown, but the play was negated due to a holding penalty on Cozad.

So Cozad had the ball on the Ogallala 22, and then Ogallala's Jacob Fanning sacked Julien Davis at the Ogallala 33.

Bryson Snider caught a pass to the Ogallala 23 for 10 yards.

Julien Davis threw another incompletion and then he completed an 18 yard pass to the Ogallala 5 on fourth down.

Cozad needed to get to the Ogallala 2-yard line.

Turnover on downs!

Ogallala got the football back on their own 5.

Sawyer Smith ran to the Ogallala 7 with 3:42 left in the second quarter.

Then, Ogallala lost two yards on a running play.

Edan Cain then threw a completion to Rhys Gilmore to the Ogallala 14.

At this point, it was fourth down and Cozad called timeout with 1:58 to go!

Ogallala got Cozad to jump offsides and Ogallala got an automatic first down!

Rhys Gilmore then caught another pass on the right side to the Ogallala 34 for a 14-yard gain and another first down.

Timeout Ogallala with 1:49 to go in the second quarter.

Edan Cain then threw an incompletion and then got sacked by Collin McFall to the Ogallala 32.

Cain also got sacked on the next play by Olliver Davis on the Ogallala 23.

Cozad called their last timeout of the half with 56.4 to go.

Ogallala punted to the Cozad 46-yard line.

Cozad got the ball with 47 seconds left in the half.

Olliver Davis caught the ball to the Cozad 49 on the right side.

Cozad then got another 8-yard completion to the Ogallala 44 yard-line.

With 5.7 seconds left in the half, Julien Davis then overthrew and away to Mathew Arndt for an incompletion on the left side.

Julien Davis then ran right to the Ogallala 28-yard line, there was a penalty on Cozad and that was the end of the first half.

Cozad 14, Ogallala 6.

Cozad's Julien Davis was 7 for 12 in the second quarter with 71 yards passing while Ogallala's Edan Cain was 2 for 3 with 23 yards passing in the second quarter.

On the second play from scrimmage of the second half at the Ogallala 26, Edan Cain threw an interception on a quick pass on the right side to Cozad's Ashton Osborn.

Cozad took over at the Ogallala 30.

Cozad got a completion to the Ogallala 19 and then a holding penalty on the same play pushed the ball back to the Ogallala 29.

Bryson Snider ran right and up the middle to the Ogallala 17 for 12 yards. He then ran up the middle to the Ogallala 15 on the next play.

Julien Davis then ran up the middle to the Ogallala 11.

Brayden Barber ran to the Ogallala 8.

Sawyer Smith got a sack to the Ogallala 13 and Cozad lost five yards on the play.

Barber ran to the Ogallala 9 and then Julien Davis ran to the Ogallala 8.

Ezequiel Mejia-Martinez made a 26-yard field goal and the score was Cozad 17, Ogallala 6, with 6:43 to go in the 3rd quarter.

Ogallala got the football at their own 27 with 6:36 left to go in the third quarter.

Sawyer Smith ran for four to the Ogallala 31.

Two plays later, Rhys Gilmore caught a 14-yard pass on the left side to the Ogallala 45.

Two plays later, Trenton Northrup caught a seven-yard pass on the left side to the Cozad 47.

On third down, Edan Cain then ran right and Ogallala called timeout with 3:25 left in the third.

Ogallala then committed a false start penalty and was forced to punt.

Cozad got the ball at their own 30.

A 15-yard penalty on Ogallala put the ball at the Cozad 45.

Cozad went three-and-out, but Olliver Davis did catch a seven yard pass on the second down play.

After the punt, Ogallala got the football back on their own 3-yard line with 2:11 to go in the third quarter.

Two plays later, Rhys Gilmore caught a nine-yard pass on the right side for a first down.

Sawyer Smith caught a ten-yard pass on the left side.

Edan Cain ran for five on the right side and Ogallala had the ball on their own 28 and that was the end of three quarters.

Cozad 17, Ogallala 6.

Amaythian Clark caught a pass for six yards to the Ogallala 34.

Four plays later, Sawyer Smith caught a seven-yard pass to midfield.

Two plays later, Edan Cain got sacked with 9:01 left in the fourth quarter back to the Ogallala 39.

On fourth down, Cain threw an incompletion and Cozad took over.

On the next possession which started on the Ogallala 40, Cozad's Olliver Davis fumbled just before he crossed the plane of the goal line according to the officials.

Ogallala recovered and started on their own 20 as the play was ruled a touchback.

Sawyer Smith had a big 59-yard catch and run from the Ogallala 14 to the Cozad 27.

Ogallala called timeout with 1:43 to go.

Ogallala then scored a touchdown later in the possession on a 16-yard reception by Rhys Gilmore on the right side with 1:36 to go in the fourth quarter.

Again, Ogallala went for two again, Cain threw a pass to Smith on the left side to the Cozad 6, and the conversion failed.

Cozad 17, Ogallala 12

Ogallala tried to get the football on the onside kick and Sawyer Smith almost looked like he had the football at about the Cozad 45, but lost it and Cozad recovered.

Cozad had the ball at their own 39. Bryson Snider ran to the 40 of Cozad and Ogallala used their last timeout.

Cozad then went backward on three straight plays to their own 38, 33 and 28 with the last two plays being kneel downs by Cozad quarterback Julien Davis essentially.

If Julien Davis took an extra second or two on the last two plays of the drive, the game would have been over at that point.

But it wasn't.

Not quite yet.

Cozad kneeled down and it was a turnover on downs with .8 seconds left and the scoreboard operators put 1.5 seconds on the game clock for the last play of the game!

Ogallala had the football on the Cozad 28 and Cain took the snap, went left, avoided a sack and then ran right and heaved the ball into the back corner of the end zone just before he got hit and Rhys Gilmore had it and dropped it and then put his hands on his head and that ended the ballgame!

Final score: Cozad Haymakers 17, Ogallala Indians 12