The Football Final

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🏈🏈 For Wynot, A Test Before The Final

If we are being honest, the numbers usually defy what the little hamlet of Wynot continually does in athletics at the small school level. Just Google the population of the town and you get 218 as of 2024.

Most towns have hung it up with double or triple the population. Still, the NSAA enrollment numbers show a 3-year boy enrollment of 31. There are 24 boys on the football team that will play in the Class D-2 state championship game on November 24 in Lincoln.

Based on the Blue Devil side on Friday night in Wolbach — one of Nebraska’s great football towns — someone will need to shut off the lights. But, coach Steve Heimes said they are kind of getting used to it. Last week, his team traveled over 800 miles together winning a quarterfinal game in Trenton and cheering their volleyball team on to a first-ever Class D-2 state championship.

High school sports are for these kind of memories.

“It’s been a crazy, crazy week,” he said after a dominating 45-28 win over defending champion Central Valley. “We went down to state volleyball on Thursday, drove to McCook before our game on Friday. Then after we won, we drove all the way back to Lincoln to cheer them on in the volleyball finals.

“I don’t know if anybody is left in the town.”

The Blue Devils are known for having one of the best passing offenses in 8-man football. But, for this game, Heimes knew he’d need to see if his team could establish the line of scrimmage. They did so in spades. 

Wynot ran the ball on their first 11 plays of the game, getting a Lane Heimes — the coaches nephew — 1-yard touchdown on play eight. Then, after a blocked punt, four more runs set up Devin Brummer’s 13-yard touchdown pass (on fourth down) to Braylon Hans. It was 12-0 early.

After falling behind 12-8 last week at the half, the start was a good sign.

“The last couple of games, we have gotten off to a slow start,” Lane Heimes said. “So we knew we had to come out strong this game and we did just that. We came out hitting hard and everyone was together.”

Central Valley, however, champions that they are continued to fight. It appeared even, that they would take a lead into the half when Luke Shoemaker scored on an 11-yard run with 1:18 left before half. The Cougars led 22-18.

Then, in the next 1:28 of game time Wynot was back in control. With 31 seconds left in the half, Brummer scrambled just long enough to find Hans again — their third touchdown connection of the first half — for 60 yards to regain the lead, 26-22.

“I was just scrambling around,” Brummer admitted. “Saw him open and threw it as hard as I could and he caught it on the run.”

Then, Kotner Koch changed things even more when he took the opening kick of the second half back 77 yards for a score and a 32-22 lead. Central Valley would score on their next possession, but never took the lead again.

“The confidence we got from that pass play going into halftime was huge,” coach Heimes said. “We thought they would match up with our top receiver well, but we might have some advantages some other places. Then, the kick return, it just pushed our team energy over the top.”

Hans, second behind Koch in receiving yards for the Blue Devils, had nine catches for 159 yards and the three first half touchdowns. Brummer, efficient as ever, was 14-for-18 with 233 yards and Lane Heimes added 79 yards on 25 bruising carries.

Now, the semifinal test is passed. “We give them quizzes and homework all the time and the way they could answer it this week was the best it has been all year. They were locked in,” coach Heimes said.

It’s now another November trip to Lincoln for Wynot. The team. The whole town. They will see if they can pass the final exam.

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🏈🚗 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. Tonight, it’s semifinal playoff style.

ALL THE BRACKETS: Class A | Class B | Class C-1 | Class C-2 | Class D-1 | Class D-2 | Six-Man

CLASS A: The adjectives for Millard South will need to stick around for a few more days. On Friday night, they topped No. 2 Omaha Westside 62-21 behind seven touchdown (Class A playoff record) passes from Alabama commit Jett Thomalla. The Patriots will get first-time finalist Papillion-LaVista South, who came back to beat Creighton Prep 24-21. The Titans took the lead with just under 10 minutes left on a Logan Arch 1-yard run and got two late defensive stops.

CLASS B: Surprising yawners. For the first time ever four Eastern Midlands Conference teams were in the Class B final four, but the semifinal games were dominating performances from top-ranked Waverly and fourth-ranked Gretna East. In Waverly, the Vikings dominated Bennington 38-18 (after leading 28-0). At Gretna Stadium, the Griffins offense clicked all night in a 55-34 win over city rival Gretna.

CLASS C-1: Sidney shut out Columbus Lakeview over the final 20 minutes and overcame deficits of 17-7 at the half and 24-13 in the third quarter to advance to the championship game for the first time in school history with a 28-24 win. Rhys Dorcey scored twice in the second half including the game winner with 6:00 left. The Raiders get mammoth favorite Wahoo, who ran the clock in their seventh consecutive playoff game behind another monster performance from Kip Brigham. It will be time for a record check over the weekend.

BAZ: PLAYOFFS AFTER DARK. The Home Office. Wahoo has built an impressive football juggernaut over the past few seasons. Once again, they will send both teams -- High and Neumann -- to the state football finals. When they both hosted semifinal games on Friday, we tried to keep up.

CLASS C-2: The Centennial Conference championship. Will they bring a spare trophy to Memorial Stadium when Grand Island Central Catholic and Bishop Neumann square off in the C-2 final? We can call GICC a Cinderella if we want to, but they dominated each game they have played in the playoffs, including Friday when they beat Ord 23-13. They will get powerhouse Bishop Neumann, who shut out Kearney Catholic in the other semifinal 34-0. The Cavaliers lost to Norfolk Catholic in last year’s state title game.

CLASS D-1: Defending champion Sandy Creek rolled to a 53-15 semifinal win over Plainview in a final 2025 game on “The Hill.” Most expected a week two rematch with Shelby-Rising City. But the Huskies were upended 28-8 by high-scoring Crofton, who won a game with defense. Tyson Jackson carried 27 times for 207 yards and two touchdowns for the Warriors, who will be in their first 8-man final.

CLASS D-2: Wynot will get unbeaten O’Neill St. Mary’s in the finals. Gage Hedstrom, football player. The Cardinals have been housing everyone in the playoffs including perennial power Howells-Dodge on Friday night when they won 52-28 over the Bobcats.

CLASS D-6: Southwest quarterback Houston Billeter can spin it. Near 350 yards of total offense for the Roughriders and he had three passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown in a 35-0 win over Red Cloud. The opponent is the dominate, undefeated Eagles of Garden County whose bruising running game (322 yards, including 171 from Wilson Lobner) powered them past defending champion Stuart 44-28 for the second time this season.

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.

🏈⏰ Dreams Can Come True

A friendly reminder as we get ready for the state football finals. The semifinals are a good place for dreaming (and helping).