Dodging Raindrops

best read with a good game plan

Depending on where you were on Friday night, you may have had to dodge a few raindrops. Or a lot of raindrops, who knows. A lot of “I see you” games in this weeks newsletter. Some will have big playoff implications, some may bring title contenders to light.

It’s time for our weekly trip around the state to catch you up on Friday night’s games. Some big wins inside this letter. In a week of news where some folks argued that high school football is being ruined, there is plenty of good stuff in here. Kids learning lessons about fighting and never giving up, student sections full of your best friends, and parents with a good bag of popcorn.

Few things are better than Friday night in Nebraska. Let’s catch you up.

🏈🏈 Friday’s Are For The Jays

IN FRONT OF THE FLOCK, SEWARD — They say high school football can teach you a lesson or two about adversity. If those who believe it need an Exhibit A, they can point right to the Seward Bluejays.

The Jays, semifinalists in Class B a season ago, are figuring out how to play without senior quarterback Trestan Hass who was lost for the season when he injured his knee this summer. And after an 0–2 start to the season, head coach Jamie Opfer could have seen reason for doubt among his troops.

“Their heads were never, ever down,“ Opfer said on Friday night after the No. 9 Jays knocked off Class B, No. 6 Scottsbluff, 14–6. “I love this team. I love the guys on this team. We have a lot of really, really good football players.

“Our kids are resilient. They have a lot of fight in them. We have not played pretty, far from it. We will be dangerous when we figure it all out, but we are getting closer each week.”

GAME THREAD

The win evened the Jays season mark at 2–2 as they continue their quest with a suffocating defense and a retooled offense. New quarterback Kayson Sayler scored both Seward touchdowns in a second quarter spurt that left the Bearcats shellshocked.

With a mix of run and pass, the Jays scored first on a drive that consumed nearly five minutes and 14 plays. In going 74 yards, Sayler was effective on a pair of screen plays; the second to Kolten Green went for 23 yards. He scored from two yards away with 6:29 before halftime.

The momentum swung completely a few plays later, when Peyton Else intercepted a Nate Kelley pass at the Jays 35. Opfer elected to take a shot on the first play and Sayler connected with Jack Vhynalek for 26 yards. Else did the heavy work after that with runs of 6, 9, 16 and 7 yards to set up Sayler’s 1-yard plunge.

Else ended the night with 147 yards on 27 carries.

“No one works harder than Peyton Else,” Opfer noted. “Beyond proud of him and how he just continues to grind. He’s so committed to the process.”

Behind a defense that picked off Kelley three times and held the Scottsbluff ground game in check most of the night, the Jays are starting to realize that their new look is plenty dangerous in a Class B field that has plenty of depth. Sayler — the newbie (?) — sure didn’t look like one, going 12-for-15 for 118 yards.

Count Bearcat coach Jud Hall as impressed.

“'Just a fantastic game plan by Seward tonight,” he said. “Their defensive line was impressive. That was a great high school football game, but the best part about it is we get to watch film and find all the little things we need to fix. Little things win a game like this.”

Who knows, it might be one we see again sometime. November, maybe?

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🏈🚗 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: We get to chat about Millard South for another week. (wink emoji) | Remember Kearney from last week? A lesson in perseverance in a 14-13 win over Omaha North. Last play winner | A state record five field goals for Everest Scherlizin in Westside’s 29-21 win over Bellevue West. | Lincoln Northeast? 4-0. Kind of fun. First time since 2010. | What a Thursday night in Norfolk as the Panthers upended No. 8 Lincoln Southeast, 36-33, with a saving interception from Isidrio Rojas. 

CLASS B: Also in Class B, this Jase Reynolds strip sack? Above average. | A record-setting 59-yard field goal for Hastings Ticen Johnson against Lincoln Northwest. | Waverly? Really good. They rolled past Elkhorn 50-15 on Thursday with friend of the newsletter, Gary Sharpe, giving us some officials insight. 

CLASS C-1: Wahoo. Seven points allowed in four games. | The team that scored — Aurora — is finally on the board with a 41-21 win over Columbus Scotus on Friday night. The Huskies in position to rattle off a few now. | A battle of ranked teams in Columbus as No. 3 Lakeview led 21-7 at half over Mt. Michael (so good to have them back) and won by the same score. Kurt Frenzen postgame

CLASS C-2: Ranked teams unbeaten this week, but another scare of Kearney Catholic in a 14-13 win. | Also, Grayson Sack and GICC keep rolling. On Thursday in a 50-0 win over Superior, Sack had a little 99-yarder for good measure. The schedule heats up in a couple of weeks.

EIGHT-MAN: Laken Wiedel threw a 56-yard touchdown pass to Brady Degenhardt and then added two more rushing scores as No. 5 Thayer Central topped Sutton, 20-0. GAME THREAD | No. 4 Crofton is now 2-2, but they did something no one else had done this fall on Friday night. They scored on No. 3 Bloomfield. And held the Bees under 38 points. No one had done that either. Bees, 30-18. GAME THREAD

SIX-MAN: We had big plans to fill this space with Garden County’s 28-14 win over Stuart. A very relevant game that could be the one that plays out in Kearney for the state championship game. One that happened only because the two programs said yes. 

But, we must pivot to the alma mater. Our (my) beloved Hampton Hawks pulled off the shocker of the night — 27-24 over No. 4 Pawnee City — behind a 193-yard passing effort from Wyatt Dose and a 75-yard kick return touchdown from Landon Rojewski that answered PC’s first score. Dose’s two fourth-quarter tosses to Rojewski aided the Hawks to their biggest win 15+ years. It was Pawnee City’s first regular season loss since 2022.

“This was a huge win for our program,” Hampton coach Jerome Jones said. The Hawks are also unique in this — it’s the last year of football in Hampton. They’ll join with Heartland next fall.

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.

📈 📉 Rank ‘Em

Football now just short of halfway, volleyball about there. And, now softball enters the home stretch. The mid-September polls for football and volleyball and softball are linked below. Our mid-week newsletter that will highlight the changes in each poll starts next week.

Football | Volleyball | Softball

🏐🏐 The Volleyball State

It’s no secret that our little state might be the best volleyball in the whole nation and it’s gets plenty of coverage. But, we need to get out for some games instead of trying to stay on top of it from the internet and chats with coaches. Soon, we promise. Soon. Some highlights from this week of action.

• Waverly’s win over Elkhorn North moved them to the top of the Class B Coaches Poll. But, Norris was having none of that switch beating them in an epic five-game thriller on Tuesday night. Coach Boesiger postgame

• Heard at score table on Tuesday night. Is the top of Class B, better than Class A this year? Distinctly possible. On Thursday, Elkhorn North topped Millard South in a crossover top-5 matchup.

• Johnson County Central continues their climb in the Class C-2 rankings. Their win over Freeman in Thursday’s MUDECAS finals will do them no harm. NCN Highlights

• Class C-2, top-ranked Norfolk Catholic was clean through a triangular with Boone Central and Stanton on Thursday, beating the Cards (2-1) and sweeping Stanton. THREAD

• Adams Central has surprised their way up the Class C-1 rankings. A sweep of GICC on Thursday another big notch in their belt.

Odds and Ends

• We are talking postseason for girls high school golf early next week with the release of district pairings in Classes A and B. Schools are placed on a serpentine based on team differentials for the season. Catch up here: Class A Differentials | Class B Differentials

• We’ll let the Prep Running Nerd weigh in on this when he returns from vacation, but we are not talking about Crofton freshman Avery Arens ENOUGH. She’s yet to run an 18:00 minute 5,000 meters this fall including two sub-18 times on the daunting course in Norfolk. How rare are we talking here? Only Fremont’s Ellie Dahl has broken 18:00 at the state meet. That’s it. This is your challenge, Mr. Nerd. Start typing.

📸📸 The Top Pick