The Beginning of Something Big

Ahhhh, Saturday morning. You are either 1-0 or 0-1. “Hey, the biggest improvement comes from week one to week two.” (Will Compton voice) The Newsletter is hoping we can give you week four or five effort to get things going in late August. Heck, even the Huskers are 1-0 before our first letter hits your inbox. Can’t beat that.

Let’s take a trip around the state and see what happened yesterday and what will be happening in the week ahead. It’s gonna be loaded. But, we are ready for it. Let’s dive in to the first Friday.

🏈🏈 Bison Ball

The big newspapers and the preview magazines told you all about the standout skill players returning for Coach Troy Huebert’s team after Central City made a run to the Class C-1 state finals a season ago.

Quarterback Parker Zikmund. Running back Corbin Kyes. Receiver Wyatt Dent. Despite a new offensive line coming in, the Bison expected a few hiccups but that those position players might help mask some early deficiencies.

(Clears throat, new guy here) Jacob Brazee would like to say hello.

The 5-9, 155 pound senior was electric on Friday night in the Class C-1, No. 2 Bison’s 38-7 win over Class C-2, No. 5 Ord (the Chants will be fine, mind you). Last year’s leading tackler, Brazee added some offense to his bag in the opener.

He caught eight passes for 110 yards including a 65-yard dime from Zikmund that gave CC a 28-0 lead on the opening possession of the second half. Less than a minute later, his 37-yard pick six put the game in running clock mode. Troy Huebert had a smile on his face.

“When people asked about our team in the summer, I almost didn’t want to say anything (about Brazee),” Huebert said. “But, I just said, ‘Everybody wait for No. 3, he’s pretty special.’ He’s just grown every year. Just so tough. We have to find a way to get the ball in his hands.”

With five new lineman — Parker Santin, Preston Burbach, Bas Luebbe, Landon Villa and Tristan Richardson — the Bison might be a work in progress up front, but the coach liked what he saw for the most part. Starter Trey Urban will return next week after being held out for a concussion on Friday night.

“We really like that group and feel like they are guys that can get it done,” Huebert said. “They need some experience, some game experience to work some stuff out. They will keep getting better and better.”

It was good enough on Friday night.

Zikmund threw for 200 yards on 15-of-23 passes and had four touchdowns — one each to Turner Hanke, Dent and Karter Negus as well as Brazee. The Bison didn’t play offense in their own territory until late in the first half, dominating the field position battle.

What won’t have many growing pains this year is the Bison defense. They are fast and can tackle in space and in a phone booth. Ord mustered just 51 yards in 21 plays in the first half.

“We are really excited about our defense. We felt like during our playoff run last year we had as good of a defense as anyone in Class C-1,” Huebert said. “We return a lot of those guys. They are physical and fast. I thought we did a great job tackling for the first game out tonight.”

In changing the history of Central City football last year during November, the Bison are looking for new stories in 2025. The opening night performance — over just before a rain the farmers will love in Merrick County — was just the prologue.

Our Friday Night Drive game of the week is fueled in 2025 by Good Life Golf. Harvest Sports readers can take 15% off of their order by using the code HARVEST15 at checkout and if you order two or more hats, the shipping is free.

12 years. Seven states. Over 15,000 miles, 16,000 shirts, 1,000 teams and 125 camps. EPIC Football Camps are ready to make your team better in the summer. In the 12 years since they founded, Nebraskan’s Scott Trimble and Jeremy Epp’s camps have produced 18 state champions and 28 more finalists.

🏈🚗 An Epic Trip

Each week will take a trip around the state and highlight some big games that you may or may not have seen. It’s an “Epic Trip” powered by EPIC Team Camps.

First, All The Scores.

CLASS A: A dominate opener for Omaha Westside. A (minor) upset for Millard West. And, an impressive comeback for Omaha Central over Bellevue West. It’s time for “first time football players” to be heroes this week. A big game from Derek Jones as Papio South won their battle with neighbor Papio.

CLASS B: Top-ranked Elkhorn North played the part. But, what do we do after that? Gretna East survives. Waverly in a “conversion game” over Bennington; Nathan Axmann, football player. How good might Nate Kelley be in Scottsbluff? Jud Hall is THROWING IT. And, the “holy smokes” of the week goes to Norris, 49-3 (49-3!!!!) over Omaha Skutt. Buckle up.

CLASS C-1: Wahoo and Ashland-Greenwood and Sidney and Columbus Lakeview. Keep the Warriors at the top until someone proves otherwise and throw the other three with Central City in a hat. We reckon in November you are going to have some fantastic semifinal matchups.

CLASS C-2: There would be no 40th consecutive win for Norfolk Catholic on Friday night as second-ranked Bishop Neumann handed the Knights a 21-14 defeat in a rematch of last year’s state final. Our buddy Nick Benes was there. And a “we see you” to Cross County, who beat No. 8 Battle Creek 35-14.

EIGHT-MAN: Many think Class D-1, No. 4 Crofton and Class D-2, No. 5 Wynot are two of the best small town teams in the state. On Friday night, they staged an epic (pun intended) 78-76 four overtime thriller that Wynot won. It appears to be the highest scoring overtime game in state history, based on the NSAA records page. 

SIX-MAN: The title suspects — Stuart and SEM and Garden County — all put up big numbers and their was one tiny upset. No. 10 Wallace 44, No. 6 Arthur County 36. Who knows, maybe in time it won’t be an upset.

🏈🏐 Rank ‘Em

Everything is new on the prep scene and while there has been a few games since these Preseason Coaches Polls they’ll give you a good idea of where we are to start another high school season in Nebraska.

Football | Volleyball | Softball

🏃🏃‍♀️ Nerding Out

For all you cross country fans (we still are), if you have not been diving into the Prep Running Nerd’s class previews you are missing out. No excuses now, as the season gets rolling, we will link them for you below.

BOYS: Class A | Class B | Class C | Class D

GIRLS: Class A | Class B | Class C | Class D

🔵🔵 New Leader

Malcolm announced a news girls basketball coach on Friday morning as former Lincoln East and Falls City Sacred Heart girls coach Dennis Prichard will lead the team this winter. We broke the news and had the full story here.

Odds and Ends

• Omaha Marian’s hot start to the girls golf season — a 299 to win the Millard North Invitational, followed by Thursday’s 307 at Benson Park to win their home invite — has us wondering if they are the best Nebraska prep girls golf team in state history. Potential state medalists are not on this varsity team. Hit us up to discuss.

• Volleyball doesn’t really start until we crown a champion of the Bellevue West Invitational, right?

• One more thing. How about this Skutt softball comeback and walk-off? Whoa.

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