HERMANN — The Bearcats slogged through the wet weather and slugged their way through the Montgomery County Wildcats Friday evening, Aug. 30, to win on the road 26-6 and get their quest to defend their Four Rivers Conference title started on the right foot.

Hermann (1-0) kept steady offensive pressure on Montgomery County (0-1) throughout the game and, on defense, kept their opponents largely out of rhythm on offense en route to their 20-point victory.

With a rain shower coming down for the majority of the first half, neither team was able to find much success passing the ball for the first two quarters. Hermann’s quarterback Henry Allebach finished the game 9-20 on passing attempts for 121 yards and one touchdown, but was also productive on the ground where he rushed 14 times for 53 yards.

It was on the ground where the Bearcats would receive most of their offense against the Wildcats, with eight different players recording rushing yards for a total of 212 yards on 42 total carries as a team. Caden Humphrey led the way in that category with 73 yards on 11 carries.

Aiden Eikermann broke the scoreless tie around 6:20 in the first quarter when he rushed in what would end up being the first of four touchdowns for Hermann on the night, and the first of two he would score himself.

A long touchdown run by Humphrey later in the first made it 12-0 Hermann after missing the PAT earlier and a failed two-point conversion.

Although Montgomery County would put together lengthy and productive drives – including a scoring drive to cut the lead to 12-6 midway through the second quarter – Hermann’s defense frequently held them at midfield, including a Nolan Mercier pick that got his team’s offense back on the field right after losing a fumble in their previous possession.

The Bearcat run defense remained effective throughout and was able to hold their opponents in place as their passing attempts missed their marks.

That, along with a propensity on the Wildcats’ part to go for it on fourth down resulted in a number of turnovers-on-downs in the Bearcats’ favor, usually giving them favorable field position to start their drives. However, both teams stalled out more often than not for the rest of the second and the first several minutes after coming out of halftime, keeping the score close at 12-6.

As the second half got underway the rain subsided and the all around play in the game slowly improved as everything started to dry out a bit.

Montgomery County threatened to tie things up or even take the lead in the third after stopping the Bearcats on their opening drive and subsequently riding a renewed passing attack into the redzone, but Cole Traub ended their drive with an interception he nearly returned for a touchdown.

Following Traub’s pick, Montgomery County would not seriously threaten Hermann’s lead again.

After forcing another turnover-on-downs at midfield, the Bearcats promptly took the ball down into the Wildcats’ end where Allebach connected with Eikermann who then broke a couple of tackles on his way to the endzone to put them up 19-6 with less than eight minutes left in the game.

A rushing touchdown by Kohlt Witthaus with less than two minutes left removed any doubt of the outcome, leading to the eventual final score of 26-6.

In notable other performances, Eikermann recorded 46 rushing yards and led the team in receiving yards with 74 in addition to the two touchdowns he scored. He also led Hermann with seven tackles and four assisted tackles on defense.

Chase Romig and Carter Epple also had strong defensive nights with five-plus tackle games; six for Romig and five for Epple.

Hermann will next head home to take on the South Callaway Bulldogs this Friday, Sep. 6, at 7 p.m.

The Bearcats have won three straight against the Bulldogs and taken four of their last five meetings.