October. The stretch run. When winning plays mean just a little bit more.

We had some Friday night. We had some earlier in the week. It’s now time for state tournament bids — girls golf and softball this week. Boys tennis and cross country coming over the next few weeks.

We are going to dive right in. Short trips this week, no big stories. And, maybe some pictures. Hopefully it keeps you going on this first weekend in October that is going to be way too hot.

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For The Birds

BIRD STOP NO. 1: Our first trip of the week took us to Shelton on Thursday night to see Six-Man, No. 8 Hampton take on the Bulldogs. The six-man game is not for the faint of heart. Ask Shelton after trying to get somebody, anybody, to tackle the Hawks Jack Bullis all night.

They struggled. And the Hawks moved to 4-1 with a 45-34 win over the Bulldogs, which has played four ranked teams in their five game start.

How good was Jack? 27 carries, 251 yards and four touchdowns good. Hampton needed all of them, too. He threw a third quarter touchdown pass as well. A big game with No. 5 Stuart looms for Hampton as they try to earn a rare home playoff berth. GAME THREAD

THE BIRDS, PART 2: Seward is pretty dang good.

They moved to 6-0 Friday with a harder-than-it-looked 35-14 win over Northwest (1-5) in Grand Island. Northwest hung around for a long time. They led 14-7 late in the second quarter before Tresten Haas connected with Latham Janoucek with seven seconds left before halftime.

It was 4th-and-13. At the Northwest 37. And it appeared to many that Haas was well beyond the line of scrimmage when he let it go. (We DID NOT have a good angle on it.) But, the play stood and it was tied at half.

However, it was the winning second half plays that made you respect this Bluejay football team. In order:

1. Seward stops Northwest’s opening drive of the third quarter inside the 20 on 4th and 1.

2. After traded punts, Peyton Else follows with a TD. 21-14.

3. On ensuring kick Jays for a fumble and Else scores five plays later. 28-14.

For the final eight minutes of the third quarter, Seward was better. Sometimes, that’s all the difference between 6-0 and 1-5. The little things. GAME THREAD

THESE BIRDS SURVIVE: Class C-1, No. 2 Ashland-Greenwood appeared to be in full control of unbeaten Boys Town when quarterback Derek Tonjes scored on the first play of the fourth quarter for a 23-8 lead.

But, the had to survive.

Boys Town — now clearly in the Class C-1 semifinal or final picture — scored twice in the final seven minutes. Both were passes from Nyree Poteet-Brown to Ladanian Blackwell (9, 40 yards).

A-G survived. No advancing yet, but maybe this one will be worthy of a mid-November rematch. OWH RECAP

A FEW MORE: Milard South still looks pretty good. A ho-hum 56-21 win over Papillion-LaVista this time out. HIGHLIGHTS Conor Booth. Pretty good. How about eight touchdowns and 381 yards rushing against Malcolm. Sheesh. HIGHLIGHTS Chadron’s Quinn Bailey hit the 5,000 yard mark in a 30-carry, 258 yard, four touchdown first half as the Cards topped Chase County, 32-6.

THE WILD ONE: You’ll see some more highlights from this one later in the week, but Class C-1, No. 6 Central City got this Wyatt Dent touchdown reception with 20 seconds left to beat Lincoln Christian, 52-50. Phew.

ALL THE SCORES // PLAYOFF POINTS

One Stop Shop

As we near the post season in almost of all of our sports, here are the links and information you may need over the next week to keep up. We’ll do our best to bring you as many stories and games as we can. While hoping for just a little bit of sleep somewhere in there.

VOLLEYBALL: ALL THE SCORES | POSTSEASON POINT STANDINGS | COACHES POLL

SOFTBALL: Classes B and C sub-districts begin on Monday with district finals on Friday or Saturday. Coaches Poll | Postseason Point Standings |

CROSS COUNTRY: Conference meet season begins this week. Districts on October 17 across the state. The blue line ends on Friday, October 25 at Kearney Country Club.

XC LINKS: 10/3 Nerdsletter | Sports Parents Play Your Role | Individual Class and Team Rankings

GIRLS GOLF: The first champions crown of the 2024-25 school year will be in girls golf. The state tournaments will be held at three sites on October 14 and 15. District pairings in Classes A and B were announced on Tuesday as both classes now use a serpentine differential seeding to determine each district. DISTRICT ASSIGNMENTS

LINKS: Class A Team Differential | Class A Individual Differential | Class B Team Differential | Class B Individual Differential

Friday in Photos