Trophy (and Big Game) Time

When week seven of the high school football season hits, you know the games are just a little more important — playoff implications, cross-town rivalries, a little bit everything on October 11. Plus our first state championship is set, with more to come in an upcoming fast and furious week ahead.

State girls golf (three sites). State softball (which keeps growing and getting better). And the four-day boys tennis event coming soon as well. We’ll try to keep up with all of it.

But, first a Saturday Newsletter. Grab some breakfast and let’s dive in. Time for your weekly trip around the state. As always, it’s free thanks to our Friday Night Drive partner Tom Dinsdale Automotive.

One Step Closer

MEMORIAL STADIUM, THE ISLAND: As pleased as Grand Island Central Catholic football coach Jeff Ashby was with his Crusaders on Friday, the fist pump after the team huddle was almost as important.

Dodgers 2, Padres 0. Top 8th. Not long after his Dodgers clinched a trip the National League Championship Series.

You get a little bit of everything in a post-game Ashby interview. Dodgers. NASCAR. Scramble drill. He’s been doing this football thing long enough to have coached against The Newsletter a few times. But, his style has evolved and this young Crusader team (just two seniors and 19!!! freshman) have bought all in.

The result? GICC is 6-1 after a 45-6 whooping of Cross County here on Friday night and they will head to Albion next week for a district title game against Boone Central. A playoff berth seems likely.

“I think our kids have performed how we thought they could,” Ashby said of the 6-1 record for his team. “We knew kind of our big three games would be Malcolm, Ord and Boone Central. If we can get a second one of those next week that would be great.”

The Crusaders have good skill — like really good. And a line that Ashby says is “getting better for us every week.” On Friday, in a start that was a dream for GICC and a nightmare for Cross County, the ‘Saders needed four plays on offense and a three-and-out on defense for a 14-0 lead.

Quarterback Grayson Sack, who threw for 225 yards and ran for 128, connected with Connor Haney on the games first play for 43 yards. Two plays later junior Jack Alberts scored on a 24-yard option play. After the defensive stop, Sack went 71 yards on a zone read play and the game never seemed in doubt.

“We started in our NASCAR series to play with tempo and to try and keep them off balance a little bit,” Ashby said. “We were 2-for-2 and then we kind of sputtered but our defense played realy well for the most part.”

Sack is over 1,500 yards now and Alberts is a playmaker at running back and from his linebacker position — a sort of do-everything type. Receiver Graham Stava can stretch a defense and he and Sack (all the receivers really) work well when a play breaks down. Ashby has liked those ‘draw it up with a stick’ plays for awhile with his athletes.

“When he gets down there and they were dropping eight into coverage, it was hard for us to get people open,” Ashby said of Sack’s ability to extend plays. “Sometimes we have a play drawn up and they can work on the fly. His touchdown to Graham was just a re-route. He took his post and turned it into a corner.”

The defense is stingy, but also aggressive. On Friday, sophomore Braylon Wolfe and freshman Jack Gangwish had an interception and a fumble recovery. Wolfe picked off two more last week as the Crusaders have nine interceptions on the season.

With those kinds of playmakers and an opportunistic defense, Jeff Ashby is ready for another playoff run. And, its not just the Dodgers. His football team is pretty good, too. Something you never take for granted in mid-October.

The Rest of Friday

COLUMBUS DAY: The battle for Columbus was everything it should have been and then some.

In a game that featured four lead changes after No. 4 Lakeview took a 13-7 half time lead over No. 9 Scotus Central Catholic, the Vikings got a late 41-yard touchdown run by Brandon Deanda and then a sealing interception in the end zone from Jacob Dawson to survive 26-22.

In back-and-forth fourth quarter, Scotus took the lead 22-19 with 4:01 left on Carson Wessel’s 1-yard run and conversion pass to Max Wemhoff. But, Lakeview struck quickly.

Deanda scored less than two minutes late when he bounce outside on the left side of the line and broke a tackle before heading to the end zone. Trying to answer, Wessel led the Rocks inside the Lakeview 20 but on fourth-and-2 from the 15 he was intercepted by Dawson in the end zone.

Ah, heck, you didn’t need all that. You can watch this awesome fourth quarter on the Scotus YouTube Channel for yourself.

KNIGHT BATTLE: Little is slowing down Class C-2, No. 1 Norfolk Catholic. In a schedule that includes the top-five teams behind them, NC rolled past No. 5 Oakland-Craig (5-2) on Friday night 48-21.

They have defeated No. 2 Bishop Neumann and No. 6 Boone Central already. They will finish the season with games against No. 4 Battle Creek and No. 3 Cedar Catholic. Both are 6-1.

Jeff Bellar, man. Jeff Bellar. Nick Benes game thread

SOMETIMES IT’S YOUR NIGHT: Class A, top-ranked Omaha Westside scored 35 (35!!!) points in the second quarter and they defeated No. 3 (No. 3!!) Elkhorn South 45-3 on Friday night. How might you do that so quickly?

Well, sophomore Tay Jay Jenkins had touchdown runs of 76 and 65 yards and a touchdown catch of 49 yards. And, in between the Warriors scored TWICE on defense — a Quinton Warren pick-six and a Bryson Williams fumble recovery. Mercy. Game thread | Paul Limongi Post Game

BEARCAT MIRACLE: Down 17-7 at the half, No. 6 Kearney came back to force overtime at 24-all against No. 4 Millard North. Then it got crazy. Both teams scored touchdowns in the first session, but didn’t convert the extra points. Both kicked field goals in OT2. And, after Millard North fumbled in the third extra session, Jake Kracl kicked a 32-yard field goal for the Bearcat win. AUDIO HIGHLIGHTS

PATRIOT’S DAY: You serious, Josh Lewis? Adams Central broke out the old hook-and-lateral to knock off Cozad 29-26. Amazing Boise State kind of stuff. CLICK!!

ALL THE SCORES | PLAYOFF POINTS

Quick (Softball) Hitters

BUILDING A BRACKET: Softball district finals were in Class A on Thursday and in (most of) Classes B and C on Friday. There will be a few more today that will complete the brackets for the 2024 state softball tournament that will begin on Wednesday in Hastings at the Smith Softball Complex.

The Class A field is set with the seven district hosts (and top seeds) all advancing to the state tournament. The field includes Gretna, Lincoln Southwest, Millard North, Millard West, Papillion-LaVista, Elkhorn South and Bellevue East. The likely wild card is Norfolk, though the final Class B and C games can impact points it is not likely.

In Classes B and C, 12 of the 16 district finals were completed on Friday with four more to go today. Official brackets should be released by the NSAA on Saturday evening. Class B and C District Final Results

The First Champions

The first state championships of the 2024-25 school season will begin on Monday at the NSAA Girls State Golf Championships. Play will be over 36 holes at three sites across the state — Grand Island, Gering and North Platte.

We are honored to be partnering with the NSAA this fall season for exclusive championship coverage by providing previews and recaps on the NSAA website for each championship event.

GIRLS GOLF PREVIEW: Storied Girls Golf Programs Set For State Tournament

Just A Little Bit More

VOLLEYBALL: We are still a couple of weeks from volleyball sub-district play. Trust us when we say we haven’t given you enough volleyball action this year, but we’ll do our best when the postseason hits. And, we are keeping track by partnering with nebpreps.com for the Coaches Poll each week. This keeps us on our toes (wink emjoi). Your current No. 1s: Papillion-LaVista South, Omaha Skutt, Minden, Lincoln Lutheran, Southwest and Shelton. FULL POLL HERE

BOYS TENNIS: We have also lacked some boys tennis coverage but will be ready for the state tournament when it kicks off next week. Prior to the brackets come out, we have the coaches association state duals in Kearney.

The Class B event is today and the Class A event is Monday before pairings will drop for the state meet which will be October 17-18 for Class B and October 21-22 for Class A at the Woods Tennis Center in Lincoln.

SATURDAY: Class B Dual Bracket | MONDAY: Class A Dual Bracket

CROSS COUNTRY: It’s district week. After most conferences held their meets this week we set up for a week of training heading into Thursday’s district meets across the state. The best tune up we saw? How about Juan Gonzalez 15:07.77 (sheesh) at Kearney County Club to win the Heartland Athletic Conference meet.

We’ll be checking that October 25th forecast to see if it’s cool enough to give Gonzalez a shot at a sub-15 time and the Carson Noecker course record. Holy smokes.

October 9 Prep Running Nerd Nerdsletter | Results Page | Rankings