Moving On

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🏈✝️ Hail Mary (Run), Full Of Grace

Clinging to a 17-14 lead with six seconds left in the first half on Friday night, Grand Island Central Catholic football coach Jeff Ashby called a timeout.

He wanted to hold on to that precious 3-point lead over Archbishop Bergan in the Class C-2 quarterfinals and take no chances with a turnover. His team faced a fourth down from the Knights 31 and he knew it’d be the last play of the second quarter.

“We didn’t want to take any chance with an interception return or something silly,” Ashby said. “So, we called ‘all go’s’ and told (quarterback) Grayson (Sack) to run and hope he can break a tackle.”

So what did Grayson Sack do?

“(Ashby) looked at me and said, ‘four verts, QB draw’ and I looked at him like he was crazy,” the quarterback admitted.

Moments later, Sack scored a touchdown down the left sideline to give his a team a 24-14 lead en route to their 31-14 victory over the Knights.

Sack’s run — and a backbreaking third quarter drive — was part of his 18-carry, 138-yard rushing performance and moved GICC to the state semifinals for the first time since 1983 when they lost to Platteview in Class B.

It’s all new territory for a senior class that went 2-7 when most of them started as sophomores, worked their way to 6-3 last year before just missing the playoffs and, now, well, they are trying to make a little Crusader history.

“When we played Battle Creek to a 3-point game at the end of the year (in 2023), I knew then we might have a good team,” Ashby said. “They have been really motivated. It’s just been a joy. They come to work.”

Early on Friday, it looked like it would be more of a sprint than a defensive grinder. The teams scored on the first five possessions of the contest and combined for 331 yards of offense and 13 first downs. It went like this:

• Jack Alberts 65-yard run on the first play from scrimmage. A glorious, deep in the bag of tricks play where Sack ran zone read with Jack Gangwish and then Gangwish old-school option with Alberts.

• Bergan responding in four plays. Austin Schueler to Cale Sheets from 25 yards out.

• And then Sack to the air to Connor Haney twice on the ‘Saders next drive, the final play a 36-yard pitch-and-catch.

• The Knights needed just six plays to answer. Schueler to Gavin Dean for 21 yards. Schueler completed his first six passes before finishing 15-for-32 for 199 yards.

• Then a 9-play, 42-yard drive ended in Garrett Watson’s 31-yard field goal. The drive foretold the future — the Crusaders ran it six times in eight plays.

After the ensuing kick, Ashby took a timeout.

“We just kind of switched up our defense and went to a Cover 4,” Ashby said. “They are just so good and the quarterback was dropping in dimes. Our guys were right on them, but we wanted a little help over the top. That was the big difference.”

Sack’s run gave them a cushion and in third quarter they sucked the wind right out of the Knights sails. Junior Mason Vasquez intercepted Schueler, which was effectively a punt for Bergan, but then the Crusaders went to work.

They held the ball for 8 minutes, 48 seconds and when Sack scored from the 4, it had capped a 19-play (!!!), 89-yard drive that featured 18 runs (12 of them by Thomas Schneider, who was filling in for a hobbled Alberts).

“That made me so happy,” Sack said of the drive. “I can’t tell you how many times I watch football on TV, and I go ‘run the ball.’ I have no words, it was amazing.”

It’s a district rematch in the semifinals as the Crusaders get Ord — a 27-21 winner over top-ranked Cedar Catholic — at home next Friday. The Chants topped GICC 21-14 in the regular season.

“It’s a rubber match, I guess,” Ashby said. “We beat them by 3 last year, they beat us this year.”

Just a little more at stake this time, coach.

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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. For the next few weeks, 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: Millard South and Omaha Westside. We wanted it in Lincoln, but we’ll get it on Pacific Street next Friday night. An all Omaha semifinal round as Prep grinds one out over Lincoln East 14-7 and Papio South holds off Millard North, 36-25.

CLASS B: A pick and a score (in overtime) keeps Waverly unbeaten. It’s Bennington next who avenged loss No. 1 to Elkhorn North, 42-7. A chance for the other next Friday. And, the Battle for Gretna — East vs. High — to head to Lincoln. Look, the Eastern Midlands Conference is good.

CLASS C-1: Sidney steamrolled Fort Calhoun 46-16, to move to 11-0. The Red Raiders jumped up 21-0 in the first six minutes with help from an interception and a fumble recovery on a kickoff. Wahoo? 11-for-11 running the clock. Ashland-Greenwood and THE DASH. And a big win over Columbus Lakeview, 45-0 over Aurora.

CLASS C-2: Jordan Williams to Landon Critel. We have nothing left. The Chants and GICC should be pure cinema. How about a shout to that GICC offensive line? Major road graders last night — Brandon Cloud, Kelton Kearns, Owen Price, Cody Golka, Trey Renz and Will Maser. 48 runs, 262 yards. Neumann and Kearney Catholic? Magic.

CLASS D-1: Plainview (the only loss is to Crofton) crashes the party with a 64-44 win over Dundy County-Stratton. The big three remain. Crofton, now at 238 points in three playoff games, travels to No. 1 Shelby-Rising City. Plainview to No. 2 Sandy Creek (the only loss to SRC). Do we get a rematch in the finals? Or a crossover?

CLASS D-2: While their volleyball team was in Lincoln, the Wynot football team reversed a 12-8 halftime deficit to win in Trenton 43-12 over Hitchcock County. The Blue Devils get the champs from Central Valley, 34-20 winners over Archangels. Top-seeded Howells-Dodge faces St. Mary’s in the other semifinal. If you have never been to Howells in November, well…..

CLASS D-6: We asked for it. The kids delivered. Tommy Paxton recovered a Leyton fumble in the end zone with 2:43 left to keep Stuart’s season alive, 31-25. The other unbeatens — Garden County (42-6 over Silver Lake), Southwest (27-23 over SEM), Red Cloud (54-36 over Wallace) — all survived. They are 39-1, with Stuart’s loss to Garden County. Man, football is awesome.

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.

🏐🏐 Setting the Stage

Today’s six state championship volleyball games are set and will be broadcast statewide on Nebraska Public Media. We will have full day’s coverage on the NSAA website and post-game recaps. We’d love to have you follow along (social media links at the bottom).

CLASS D-2: The top-two teams for most of the season in the Coaches Poll will meet in the finals as top-seeded Wynot will face Cambridge. For Wynot — who will play in the finals for the second time — Kenna Oligmueller had 16 kills as the Devils overcome a first set loss to DCS. They meet the third-seeded Trojans who got 29 kills from Brooklyn Holtz (on 74 swings) in a four-set win over SEM.

CLASS D-1: Overton will get a crack at conference mate Amherst for the fourth time this season in the Class D-1 final. The Broncos have defeated Overton three times, the last in the sub-district final. Amherst had three players in double digit kills as they erased a first set loss to EMF. The Eagles got 25 kills from Daisy Ryan and 23 from Gracen Hughes as they won an epic 5-set match with Shelton that went to 21-19 in the deciding set.

CLASS C-2: Fourth-seeded Freeman advanced to the Class C-2 final for the first time since 2014 with a dominant sweep of Yutan. The Falcons held Yutan to just a .132 hitting percentage, while hitting .312 on their own side. Aniston Bartunek had 39 set assists for an attack that had three players with 10+ kills. Their opponent is Laurel-Concord-Coleridge who advanced to a state title game for the first time in the rally scoring era with a sweep of Oakland-Craig. Rena Rasmussen had 15 kills for the winners, who also got 33 assists from Carlie Kvols.

CLASS C-1: The slipper still fits for eighth-seeded Holdrege. The Dusters, who lost in the first round of sub-districts and didn’t win their conference tournament, now find themselves in the 3:00 final. Holdrege had fewer kills and blocks in their semifinal with Omaha Concordia, but had only four service errors and then took advantage of nine Mustang attack errors in the deciding fifth set. The Dusters get top-seeded Milford who used nine service aces and 15 kills from sophomore Shayla Rautenberg to sweep Malcolm.

CLASS B: Norris advanced to their fifth title game in the last six years with a 3-1 win over conference mate Waverly. Kaelynn Lottmann had 22 kills and Nebraska commit Malorie Boesiger had 52 assists for Norris. They will have a chance to avenge their only loss of the season when they play Elkhorn North. The Wolves got 42 kills from Reagan Wallraff on .284 hitting to defeat Omaha Skutt in five sets. It will be the first time since 2013 the Skyhawks are not in the Class B title match.

CLASS A: Somehow, someway Lincoln North Star is in the Class A title game. They staved off three match points from being swept by Omaha Westside and then won 28-26, 25-15, 15-13 to advance. Delainey Volkmer had 19 kills for the winners. They will face perennial power Papillion-LaVista South in the nightcap. The Titans will go for their sixth title in eight years after sweeping Millard South and getting 13 kills from Lyric Judson.