Eight is Enough

Three weeks in and the best football teams in each class are just starting to separate themselves from the pack a little bit. Time to get caught up on the best things from Friday night.

STILL PERFECT: Guess who is 3-0? Tavion Johnson and Raymond Central after a 41-8 thumping of Arlington on Friday night. Will they crack the nebpreps Coaches Poll tomorrow night? (Harvest Sports / Andrew Placke)

Friday night of week three and the games just seem a little bit bigger, you know. So, we dug and dug and tried to find something (ANYTHING) on that 8-man clash in Wolbach between Class D-1, No. 1 Stanton and D-2, No. 1 Central Valley. All we can tell you is this, it was on the television and Stanton came back for 40-28 win.

Maybe we’ll get to see both teams in November.

In the meantime, that cool fall weather can come back anytime please and thank you, but the Newsletter is ready to get you up-to-date in the middle of September. Kegs and eggs and football, anyone? As always, the Friday Night Drive is powered by Dinsdale Automotive. And, it’s FREE. Can’t beat that can you?

CONVOY: If we wasn’t scoring touchdowns, he was out doing something else to win on Friday night. Here, Wahoo’s Kip Brigham (32) blocks for wide receiver Sam Marxsen in the first half of the Warriors 66-24 win over Aurora. (Harvest Sports / Ashton Tackwell)

Brigham Brings It

Wahoo football coach Chad Fox doesn’t change his tone much after a football game. He knows it’s a long football season.

You can’t tell if you are talking to him after a shutout loss in last year’s Class C-1 state championship game or like last night, when his top-ranked Warriors — focused and physical and tough — took it to Aurora 66-24. 

“We had tremendous leadership last year with our seniors,” Fox said. “We talked a lot in the offseason with our new seniors about what that leadership looked like and what this year would look like.

“We wanted to try to recreate that chemistry and just keep things going. Our kids were great all summer.”

And, so far, mission accomplished in a 3-0 start that also included a win last week against No. 2 Ashland-Greenwood.

But, even Fox will admit that Friday night was a little different than anything he had ever been a part of in a football game. Enter, junior running back Kip Brigham.

In watching Wahoo build a 52-21 halftime lead (not a typo), the Warriors had Brigham score each of their seven first half touchdowns. The Warrior possessions: 2, 3, 2, 5, 2, 2 and 1 plays. Mix in Harrison Krueger’s safety of Vendell Juzyk in between and, well, you get the drill.

“Our line was just huge tonight,” Brigham said. “They are a great part of our team and allow me to get to the spots I need to. It’s all a credit to them.”

The numbers are mind-blowing.

Brigham ended with a Class C-1 single game record for touchdowns and points in a game (8, 48) while running 14 times for 362 yards (seven scores) adding a catch for 26 yards (also a touchdown) and two returns for 77 yards.

Fox said the combination of Brigham’s running, combined with excellent line play so far has been a key to the Warriors start. The five on the front for the Warriors are: Eli Emerson, Luke Specht, Landon Brigham, Jake Scanlon and Cash Parson.

“They have been playing really well together,” Fox said. “And we have a second group we think we can work in without much drop off either, so our depth in the line has been key for us.”

As for Brigham?

“He’s a dynamic player. Very explosive,” Fox added. “He’s quick, but doesn’t have top-end 100-yard speed but his 5 and 10-yard dash times are impressive. And, then he can change direction very, very well. So he has a lot of those things you can’t coach.”

It all adds up to some high expectations for the Warriors, but their head coach won’t change much. Just a simple message after another big win.

“Film tomorrow morning at 8:00.”

In Wahoo, the work is never done.

Around The State

CREIGHTON PREP 24, LINCOLN SOUTHEAST 0: Creighton Prep had tricks, but most importantly, they had a stout defense while blanking the Knights in a battle of ranked teams on Friday night.

THURSDAY, PART ONE. MILLARD SOUTH 52, KEARNEY 3: Millard South laid a clear claim to the No. 1 ranking in the state (it’s a number that doesn’t mean much until late November) with their 52-3 win over Kearney. The Bearcats had not allowed a single point coming into the game. Sheesh. Gabe Prucha scored four touchdowns in the win.

THURSDAY, PART TWO. OMAHA NORTH 28, OMAHA CENTRAL 18. Omaha North controlled the line of scrimmage and quarterback Mikey Gow threw for 258 yards as the Vikings built a 28-6 lead heading into the fourth quarter before the Eagles tried to claw back. Highlights | Post Game with Larry Martin

ADAMS CENTRAL 10, GOTHENBURG 7: If we learned anything last year when Josh Lewis took over the reigns at Adams Central it was that the Patriots were going to play defense. They are at it again, too. In Friday’s 10-7 win over No. 8 Gothenburg, AC forced four turnovers.

TWO MINUTE DRILL: In Millard North’s 31-8 win over Papio South, Caden VerMaas hauled in a 99-yard touchdown pass from Zion Rush. In person last week, we thought Solomon Wiens might be the top kicker in the state. Last night for Kearney Catholic a 51-yard make against St. Cecilia. The Stars are 3-0. Sandhills/Thedford do-everything man Kyle Cox scored just about every which way in a 56-8 win over Burwell. Darien Whitaker, Jr. is a grown man and Boys Town is 3-0.

SMALL TOWN SHOWDOWN: Shelby-Rising City’s Coy Verbka celebrates a defensive stop in the seventh-ranked Huskies 24-20 win over 2023 finalist EMF on Friday night. (Harvest Sports / Danielle Schaaf)

Odds and Ends

You’ll get most of our volleyball, softball and other sports coverage in our occasional Wednesday newsletter but we also hope to do some more “long-writing” on those days too. We will see what the fall brings. We think we may have one for you next week. Fingers crossed, it’s been busy. (Remember, it’s all free anyway.)

VOLLEYBALL: Volleyball season is flying along. We will be getting to some games in the next two weeks. If you see us out there, give us a big hello. | nebpreps Coaches Poll | ALL THE SCORES | PLAYOFF POINTS

SOFTBALL: The G’s (Gretna and Grand Island Northwest) are still off to unbeaten starts (with multiple wins over ranked teams) to start the 2024 softball season. We typed that last week, too. The Dragons moved to 19-0 this week and will play in the EMC Tournament today. They have allowed three runs this month. Northwest, now 14-0, readies for a three-game week before hosting their invitational next weekend. The latest nebpreps Coaches Poll also has Bishop Neumann (16-1) No. 1 in Class C followed by Hastings St. Cecilia. ALL THE SCORES | PLAYOFF POINTS

GIRLS GOLF: The differential is now being used in both Classes A and B for district seeding in girls’ golf and will move to boys in the spring. District seeding and placement will be determined through meets played on September 20 and be released early the following week. District play is October 7 and 8 in all three classes. CLASS A TEAM | CLASS A INDIVIDUAL | CLASS B TEAM | CLASS B INDIVIDUAL 

CROSS COUNTRY: We are now fully immersed in to the cross country season, but as The Nerd said in this week’s Nerdsletter (link below) the first six weeks don’t mean all that much. It’s just time to get ready for the postseason. Fair enough. But, the meets are fun, too. This week’s focus was on huge Platte River Rumble on Thursday at Mahoney State Park where Tommy Rice (Omaha Skutt) and Atlee Wallman (Norris) were champions.

Here is your weekly reminder to follow Prep Running Nerd for all things cross country in Nebraska. September 11 Nerdsletter | Results and Photo Links | Week Two Rankings

LOCKED IN: Hastings’ Austin Carrera, ranked third in Class B by Prep Running Nerd, cruised to victory on a hot Friday in Aurora. (Harvest Sports / Ashton Tackwell)