WAHOO, Neb. — Ryan Swartz rushed for 133 yards and three touchdowns Wednesday night to lead Wahoo Neumann past crosstown rival Wahoo 26-21 in the Class C-1 state football playoffs.

Teammate Ben Fisher caught five passes for 102 yards and a touchdown.

Toby Martin made 15 tackles, including six solo stops, to pace a Cavalier defense that limited the Warriors to a single first down and 20 total yards between their opening possession of the game and the midway point of the fourth quarter. Nick Chapek contributed 14 tackles.

But the guy receiving the most attention was the Neumann quarterback.

Senior Dylan McGill actually threw the football.

After suffering what was originally thought to be a season-ending injury on opening night, McGill had returned three weeks later to operate the Neumann option attack without being a threat to throw the football. An elbow injury, for which he still plans Tommy John surgery next month to repair scar tissue, has healed to the point he can throw without pain.

“It's probably healed right now,” McGill said. “I started last week, basically tossing it. This week, throughout the week, I threw harder and harder, kind of testing it.”

His first pass, on play-action, sailed about 40 yards to a wide-open Martin, who dropped it. He completed 6 of 12 passes for 122 yards and several slant patterns were zipped to Fisher.

“I'd never believe he'd throw the way he can throw it,” said Neumann coach Tim Turman. “It's incredible. It kind of opens up our offense a little bit.”

Swartz took an option pitch from McGill on the game's first snap and raced untouched 78 yards for a touchdown. Wahoo answered to take a 7-6 lead with a six-play, 60-yard scoring drive that featured a 28-yard completion from Sean Lindgren to Justin Lewandowski and Greg Milliken's 22-yard run. Casey Nice scored on a 2-yard run.

Neumann (7-3) marched 79 yards in 11 plays to take the lead for good on Swartz's 1-yard TD run. McGill completed passes of 14, 11 and 29 yards to Fisher on the drive. The two connected on a 5-yard touchdown pass for a 20-7 Cavalier lead with 24 seconds left in the half.

Swartz, a 165-pound junior, pushed Neumann's lead to 26-7 with 3:16 left in the third quarter with a 29-yard touchdown run, on which he used a spin move and made three Wahoo defenders miss.

“Nobody knows much about him,” Turman said. “He's turned into a nice I-back.”

Wahoo (6-4), which lost a 40-0 decision at Neumann Oct. 2, added a pair of touchdowns in the closing 1:08. Lindgren, who completed 8 of his last 17 passes, connected on a 5-yard TD pass to Josh Discher and a 7-yard scoring play to Milliken. The Warriors recovered an onside kick between the two scoring drives.

“We tried to make it interesting,” said Wahoo coach Chad Fox. “We didn't move the sticks well enough. Their inside linebackers gave us trouble the whole game, their interior, too.

“In the end, they made more plays than we did.”

Wahoo (6-4) 70014—21

At Wahoo Neumann (7-3) 61460—26

WN: Ryan Swartz 78 run (fun failed).

W: Casey Nice 2 run (Ethan Harders kick).

WN: Swartz 1 run (Swartz run).

WN: Ben Fisher 5 pass from Dylan McGill (pass failed).

WN: Swartz 29 run (run failed).

W: Josh Discher 4 pass from Sean Lindgren (Harders kick).

W: Greg Milliken 7 pass from Lindgren (Harders kick).

Att.: 1,200 (est.)

Individual Leaders

Rushing: W, Lindgren 12-38, Corey Davis 4-12, Milliken 6-24; WN, Swartz 11-133, McGill 18-59, Josh Hartman 4-35, Caleb Kuhfahl 4-16, Cole Chvatal 3-17.

Passing: W, Lindgren 11-30-1-173; WN, McGill 6-12-0-122.

Receiving: W, Justin Lewandowski 5-120, Milliken 2-34, Discher 2-16, Josh Proctor 2-3; WN, Fisher 5-102, Bret Pospisil 1-20.

Contact the writer:

444-1201, sports@owh.com

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