Into the Postseason Hunt

Sorry for the delay, friends. We mean it, when we say the Newsletter will be a Saturday morning thing. And, we also mean it when we say we want to cover every corner of the state. So, our trip to Scottsbluff for their football game with Waverly (and some cross country, too) was just what the doctor ordered. But, it wore us out. And, so here comes the Newsletter. Make sure follow us on Instagram and Twitter for photos and updates — especially with postseason sports in less than 24 hours.

Put on some NFL tonight or your favorite Netflix binge or Big Brother or whatever and let’s see if we can get you updated on the state of Nebraska sports. As always, if you like it, give it a share on social media or forward to your friends. We’d love to share stories with them too.

The Oregon Trail

PIONEER PARK, ON BROADWAY: While a football program like Scottsbluff is used to road trips, it’s the new team that sometimes has to work out the kinks.

The Class B, No. 3 Waverly Vikings met for breakfast at 7:45 AM central time on Friday. Their game was 12 hours and 15 minutes from kicking off. A six-hour bus ride and 411 miles from home.

Such is life in Class B and no one truly seems to mind if we are being honest.

This year, Pius, York and Waverly made trips to Scottsbluff. And Seward, Northwest and Hastings will make trips to Gering. The six-team Northwest to Scottsbluff/Gering district covers 318 miles. And, we don’t play football at neutral sites.

There were no kinks for Waverly in the first half against No. 8 Scottsbluff as they dominated their way to a 27-0 halftime lead. They shut down the Bearcat rushing game and didn’t allow a single first down in the first 24 minutes. Then, held on to win 27-13.

“A-plus,” Waverly coach Reed Manstedt said of his team’s first-half defensive effort. “Any time you can stop the tough run game that they have you feel good about it. And, then to get a score was a bonus.”

Ah, yes. The bonus.

After scoring on their opening drive for a 6-0 lead — Owen Stoddard got behind the defense on 3rd and 9 — linebacker Brayden Kouma then took a Nate Kelley pass and returned it 25 yards for touchdown and a 13-0 lead.

Despite the difficult first half, Scottsbluff was nearly as dominant in the second half. They scored on their opening drive on Kelley’s 1-yard keep and then had a Sebastian Boyle 3-yard run in the first minute of the fourth quarter and it got a bit interesting.

Boyle finished with 141 yards on 26 carries and Kelley added 74 yards on 18 totes. It was a second half that might give Bearcat coach Jud Hall something to build on as they head to three winnable games in October in looking for a playoff berth.

“I was really proud of our kids effort,” Manstedt said. “I thought it was good for us to respond to a little adversity in the second half on the road with our goal line stand at the end of the game.”

Yes, Bluff drove again in the final five minutes but was thwarted on downs by the Vikings inside the 10. So, it says here the Cats are still one of the top-10 teams in Class B despite a 3-game losing streak.

As the calendar turns a coach is always looking for ways to get better and trying to figure out how to make a deep playoff run. To run the football better. To give up fewer big plays. To force one more turnover than the other guy.

As for the bus? It got back to Waverly at 6:10 AM on Saturday morning. Just in time for a nap.

The Rest of Friday

C-2 PREVIEW: Even if it took extra time for a little lightning delay, the Class C-2 battle between No. 1 Norfolk Catholic and No. 2 Battle Creek sure lived up to it’s hype in the Pinnacle Bank Game-of-the-Week with Mike Sautter.

After a first quarter lighting delay, the game didn’t really get going until near 10:00. A back-and-forth first half sent the Knights to the locker room with a 17-13 lead on this short run by Brandon Kollars. 

The second half was much of the same. Battle Creek forged ahead 19-17 right away in the third quarter on a Jaxon Mettler run. Then, the defenses took over before Aiden Kosch hauled in a 35-yard touchdown from Carter Janssen that proved to be the winner in front of Trevin Soukup’s sealing interception in the final minute.

NORFOLK DAILY NEWS GAME THREAD

BIG METRO GAMES: There were plenty of big games in the Omaha area on Friday night and they need our attention. Omaha Creighton Prep made a huge step toward a playoff berth with a 34-28 district (and overtime) win over Omaha Central. And, No. 3 Millard West snuck out a 28-21 win over Millard North at Buell Stadium. And, Bellevue West edges Gretna, 14-13.

In Class B, Elkhorn North took a 35-12 win over Elkhorn to remain unbeaten. A game with No. 1 Bennington looms.

GO WEST: In Grand Island, Class A, No. 4 Kearney needed a little trickery and a whole bunch of defense to defeat their rivals 10-7 on Friday night. The Bearcats allowed an opening-drive score from the Islanders and used two third-quarter drives to net 10 points and the victory.

Trailing 7-0, Kearney used a 73-yard Eli Randolph run to set up a field goal and later took the lead on a halfback pass from Able Molina to Karter Lee. GISH drove to the Bearcat 26 in the final minute before being stopped on downs.

“In Class A football, you are just trying to win by one-point,” Kearney coach Brandon Cool to The Grand Island Independent. No. 1 Westside awaits the Bearcats this Friday.

THE FUN STUFF: Cambridge topped Alma in a big district (errr, RPAC) showdown on Friday. (The Newsletter misses CONFERENCE football) It’s maybe time we pay attention to Sidney, who is now 6-0. You won’t find much on Twitter about Humphrey St. Francis’ 32-30 win over Howells-Dodge on Friday. That’s just how both coaches like it. We’ll do some digging, but know this — both teams scored in the final minute. A classic.

ALL THE SCORES // DISTRICT STANDINGS // OVERALL PLAYOFF POINTS

Postseason Time!!

ON THE LINKS: We’ll determine our first state qualifiers on Monday and Tuesday as girls golf districts will take place across the state in three classes. Formats vary just slightly from class-to-class, but, in general the top-three teams and any players in the top-15 that are not on qualifying teams will advance to the 2023 state tournaments.

We do have some new state hosts this year as Class A will compete at Riverside Golf Club in Grand Island; Class B will move to Scottsbluff Country Club in the Scottsbluff/Gering rota (big golf term) and Class C moves to Lake Maloney south of North Platte. All three state meets will be October 9th and 10th.

We’ll have full results in the Wednesday newsletter and a preview before the state meet kicks off next week.

HUGE SOFTBALL WEEK: It’s also district time for softball as they kickoff on Monday with sub-districts in Classes B and C. In both classes their are 10 sub-districts which are all single-elimination, single-day tournaments that lead to the district final round on Friday and Saturday.

The district final round features the ten sub-district winners plus the next six teams in the power point standings that did not win their sub-district. Teams are seeded 1-16 and placed accordingly on the bracket with district finals being a best 2-of-3 series that can be played on either Friday or Saturday based on school decision.

In Class A, it’s seven district tournaments — double elimination style — that lead to seven qualifiers and one non-winning wild card that will make up the state tournament field.

MORE: ALL THE SCORES // NSAA POWER POINTS // NEBPREPS.COM COACHES POLL 

The Lucky Ones

It’s okay if you’d like to forgive Class C cross country coaches for not having Scotus Central Catholic on their preseason radar.

Oh, sure you can see them there, listed outside the top-10, one of ten other “contenders” the coaches listed. Scotus co-coaches Besty Rall and Amy Sokol wouldn’t have blamed them either.

“We only had seven or eight girls come out last year,” Rall said. And not a single one of them qualified for the state meet in Kearney.

Read our full story on the Columbus Scotus girls cross country team here. 

Parting Shot: A Postseason Reminder

THE NSAA ENFORCES THE RULES, THEY DON’T SET THEM: Maybe we should just stop typing right there, but before you take to social media to complain about how silly, or dumb, or wild your postseason format is remember, the NSAA can’t really fix it.

Who can make adjustments? Coaches, administrators and the like. The NSAA is governed by a legislative process that determines everything from transfer rules to postseason formats and how many kids get medals. You name it, the SCHOOLS vote on it to make it part of the process.

Some (most) people don’t know that. Some do. So remember, every time you tag the NSAA in a Twitter post about why there isn’t a parochial school division it’s not the NSAA that looks crazy. It’s you.