10 County Plates

best read with a good game plan

The summer rains have increased the mosquito population across Nebraska, such that any Friday night is drenched in bug spray. That was the case in Platte County — and numerous other Nebraska football fields — as the playoffs get closer and closer.

And the games get bigger and bigger as October nears it’s back half. That’s playoff season.

So here we go into another fresh Saturday letter with all of the Nebraska prep sports news you can bear. Grab a good drink and be patient. You may need to read this one in shifts.

🏈🏈 Play Hard

NEAR PLATTE CENTER — Just two words are on the back of the t-shirts that the Columbus Lakeview ball boys wear on Friday nights here in the middle of Platte County.

Those words are as simple as the program they hope to be a part of some day.

PLAY HARD.

Coach Kurt Frenzen’s third-ranked Vikings brand of football is about as simple as the folks gathering for burgers at the top of the hill before the “big game” with Columbus Scotus.

Run the ball. Play good defense. Be simple. PLAY HARD.

And, for Pete’s sake, let’s get the game over with before 9:30 or 10:00 p.m. It was 9:03 this week as the Vikings controlled most the contest with the Shamrocks and won this game for the fifth time in a row, 35-3. GAME THREAD

“We think (those words) at least put us in a position to be successful,” Frenzen said. “There is a sign in our locker room and it’s the last thing we hit before we come out. If we can get our kids to play hard we can get them in a position to be successful.

“If you can just play hard in high school sports you feel like you can give your guys a chance to win.”

Yes, these Vikings could play a long way into November and they do it — just like on Friday night — the old fashioned way. An experienced, gritty offensive line that lets them run the ball. Stingy (and speedy) defenders. Excellent special teams.

To wit, it was a clinic last night:

• The Vikings ran for 317 yards — most of them by Trevor Sloup and Brandon DeAnda, who each had a pair of rushing touchdowns. The offensive line play was masterful.

• In five first half possessions, the Shamrocks punted three times and had just 99 yards scoring only on Maclain Bailey’s 39-yard field goal.

• The Vikings broke the game open just before half — like most great teams do. Leading 14-3 with 90 seconds left, Parker Osten blocked a Scotus punt and four plays later DeAnda was in from the 1 for a 21-3 lead at the break.

“It wasn’t an all out block but we asked Parker and Luke (Wellman) to take their guy and get to the ball,” Frenzen said. “It was a big block for us. Huge.”

Defensively, Lakeview can let the speed of their linebackers — Sloup, Osten and DeAnda — roam free behind a sturdy defensive line. It’s a perfect recipe for success that gets two more ranked tests — at Pierce next week and the closer at home against unbeaten O’Neill — before the brackets come out.

Now on the verge of a fifth straight playoff appearance, there is a lot to like on Lakeview Road. And it starts with representing the community that cheers you on and takes things one day at a time.

“Our whole focus is the here and now,” Frenzen said. “Tomorrow morning it’s full speed ahead being worried about Pierce because they are a talented, well-coached team. When you get to games eight and nine and they matter, the season is going just how you want it to go.”

— Tony Chapman, Harvest Sports founder

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“Discipline, drive, and dedication. Competitive spirit. A commitment to constant improvement. These qualities make great athletes and coaches. They also make great financial advisors. Northwestern Mutual advisors educate clients to make important decisions to live differently and achieve their goals of financial security. Learn more about joining our team. Karges Financial Group and the Great Plains District are proud supporters of Nebraska high school athletics.

🏈🚗 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.

All The Scores

CLASS A: Locked in. Three turnovers and 18 passing yards allowed for Westside as they dominated Elkhorn South, 58-17. Highlights | Perfect Prep. Jays 7-0 after Fremont win. | Kearney keeps playoff hopes alive, 31-28 over Millard North.

CLASS B: Omaha Skutt intercepted three passes and got a 28-19 statement win over top-ranked Elkhorn North. Game Thread. Wyatt Liebentritt — Big Game Chain.

CLASS C-1: Fourth quarter comeback for Mt. Michael in a 24-20 win over neighbor DC West. No ranked losses.

CLASS C-2: GICC bounces back in a big way over Cross County, 52-14. No ranked losses.

EIGHT-MAN: EPPJ takes down No. 8 Neligh-Oakdale. | D1, No. 9 Bridgeport 30, No. 10 Hemingford 20. | The Spiderman Meme. Bloomfield 30, Crofton 18 (9/19). Wausa-Osmond 36, Bloomfield 20 (9/26). Last night? Crofton 50, Wausa-Osmond 12. Good luck ranking them coaches.

SIX-MAN: Playoff games. Top-ranked Garden County is still rolling. They rout No. 6 Leyton 68-18 on Thursday night. | Stuart gets another ranked win over Hampton, 53-20. | And No. 3 Red Cloud takes down Silver Lake 67-37.

HIGHLIGHTS: 10/11 Sports Overtime

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.

🏈🏈 Calm in the Chaos

There was chaos after the fact on the Columbus sideline as the Discoverers celebrated their 28-21 overtime win over Lincoln East Thursday night.

All the trimmings of a big win — flying chest bumps, student section spilling onto the field, one Columbus assistant — inexplicably — setting a four-pack of freshly-made iced coffees from a local shop on top of a storage case as the clock neared 10 p.m.

There was calm too, near midfield, as Columbus coach Craig Williams, holding his wife’s hand, explained how his team had just improved to 6-1 in a season that gets more magical by the week.

“I couldn’t be more proud of a group of young men,” Williams said. “We told our kids coming in, you can’t panic in the chaos. I thought on our offensive side we really stayed composed, and we stuck to the ground game, because that’s what we do. And the defense came up with those big stops when we needed them.”

A 26-man senior class makes it easier for coaches to maintain the calm required to stack a quality win, especially when victories of any kind have been tough to come by.

This year’s senior class at Columbus saw the varsity squad go 1-8 their freshman season. That improved to 3-6 as sophomores, and 4-5 last year.

Now, the Discoverers have their most wins since the 2021 team went 7-3.

And like that 2021 squad, these Discoverers are likely headed to the postseason and just the program’s second non-COVID postseason appearance since 2017, when it was in Class B.

Opportunities remain, too, with games against Kearney and Millard North to end the regular season.

“We talked about this week that, you have to believe in yourself. You have to believe something like this can happen,” Williams said. “If you don’t believe in yourself, these types of things won’t happen. But these kids have earned it.

“This is a good football team.”

The Columbus offense presents its own kind of chaos, operating mostly out of a pistol set with elements of the old Wing-T — misdirection, inside handoffs, quick motions to get speedsters open on the edge in the short passing game. 

Against a Lincoln East defense that had allowed 13 total points in four games not against competition from metropolitan Omaha, Columbus rushed for 203 yards, threw for 131 more, and scored the game’s final 18 points.

Three players — seniors Michael Voichoskie and Carter Eisenmann and sophomore Evvan Daniels, who doubles as an elite sprinter in the spring, had between 11 and 13 carries. Senior Omar Rozikove got five more totes. Senior quarterback Connor Williams, the coach’s son, had five carries in the ground game and went 15-for-23 passing for 131 yards and a 20-yard score to Daniels.

“In the past two years, we’ve been in overtime, I think, three or four times,” Voichoskie said. “One of our mottos is bend, don’t break, and it’s just how much we can control the bend.

“So just being able to stay calm, and being around each other for the last six years starting in middle school, we just really know how to get each other hyped up and stay well-connected.”

— Chris Basnett has been in Nebraska prep sports for most of his adult life. His free agent contract with Harvest Sports might cover his popcorn on the sidelines. But, we love high school sports enough to keep bringing the stories. Catch Baz with us the rest of the fall (and longer, we hope).

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📸📸 Friday In Photos

😇😇 Parting Shot: Remembering Kratzer

A couple hours west of Lincoln, the central Nebraska prep sports world is mourning the loss of one of its institutions.

Scott Kratzer, just 57 years old, died Tuesday after a long battle with cancer. 

A beloved athletic trainer at New West Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Surgery, Kratzer was a regular on sidelines and locker rooms of high schools throughout the Kearney area for 28 years. 

Born in Grand Island, Kratzer grew up in Broken Bow. In his career at New West, he served thousands of high school athletes — those from Kearney and Amherst, Ravenna and Gothenburg, S-E-M and Eustis-Farnam, and who knows how many schools in between.

And many of those athletes, and their parents and coaches, have poured out their emotions over the past few days.

This writer knew Kratzer from their times on the golf course, where his competitiveness was balanced with the ability to enjoy the game and poke fun at his playing partners. 

Kratzer was great at his job — in 2024 he earned the George F. Sullivan Athletic Trainer of the Year award from the Nebraska State Athletic Trainers Association.

And he was a better person. Always quick with a kind word or a joke for those who knew him.

Kratzer is survived by his wife, Staci, daughter, Natalie, and son, Tyler.

Kratzer’s funeral is 11 a.m. Thursday morning at the 900-seat Kearney eFree Church. There’s no doubt It will be an overflow crowd.

We love you, Scotty K. And we’ll miss you. - Baz

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