The 2021 Girls State Basketball Tournament gets into full swing on Wednesday with the C and D classes taking center stage with 16 games played at 4 different sites around Lincoln. All 4 Class C-1 quarterfinal games will be contested at Pinnacle Bank Arena. The quartet of C-2 quarterfinal matchups will take place at Lincoln Southeast, while D-1 goes at Lincoln Southwest and D-2 at Lincoln North Star...

The five day 2021 Girls State Basketball Tournament opens Tuesday in Lincoln with a pair of Class B quarterfinal games and all four Class A quarterfinal matches, all at Pinnacle Bank Arena. As usual, there is some real firepower as far as individual players are concerned in both Classes A and B...

I decided to follow “The Systems” predictions all the way through District Tournaments to test the accuracy of the thing. There are two choices I disagree with, but the end result is what I expected. I never forecast the outcomes of games in any high school sport, but one comment I will make is that ”The System” seems to be going pretty much chalk in Class A, so much so that the top 8 teams in the Wild Card standings were seeded exactly that way in the quarterfinals of the State Tournament bracket.. ...

I had this ready to post early Monday but a full slate of drum lessons prevented me from doing that. These predictions by “The System” were finalized after Nebraska City had upset Beatrice, which obviously changed everything since “The System” had forecasted a huge win by Beatrice over the Pioneers...

Ah yes, “The System”. The mysterious, but often deadly accurate forecaster of high school basketball game outcomes, boys as well as girls. Not many know seem to have heard of this “System” and the few that do, will not take the time to do the homework necessary to find out if the mind-boggling statistical system may have committed a personal foul, forecasting a victory for the wrong team...

Ah yes, “The System”. The mysterious, but often deadly accurate forecaster of high school basketball game outcomes, boys as well as girls. Not many know seem to have heard of this “System” and the few that do, will not take the time to do the homework necessary to find out if the mind-boggling statistical system may have committed a personal foul, forecasting a victory for the wrong team...

1988/89 prep basketball season was a campaign that will linger in my mind for several reasons; *The incredible passing of a Millard South team that ended up being ranked as the 5th best all-time by a Metro newspaper. Only one team came within 10 points of Larry Ribble’s Indians during the regular season...

I love high school basketball tournaments, especially when conference tournaments roll around in January. But, before the conference tournaments get into full swing, the annual Holiday tournaments emerge after Christmas and are a welcome sight following the five day moratorium...

I am very proud to present my 2020 All-State Football Teams. I am a firm believer that these mythical All-State teams are very exclusive, however, I will never leave a deserving athlete off of one of these elite football teams because “all the positions are filled”...

BURWELL, NE A dream journey that may have had its beginnings after a loss on this same field a year ago, was completed tonight as Coach Michael Spargo’s Dundy County/Stratton Tigers clawed its way to heart pounding, double overtime victory over Burwell in the Class D1 State Championship game...

The 2020 high school football season may have been in doubt for quite some time, but one thing was never in doubt was the exceptional strength of Eight-Man football, especially Class D1. When teams like Howells-Dodge, Stanton, Neligh-Oakdale, Tri-County, and Cross County come up short in D1 and top notch squads the likes of Kenesaw, Osceola, Humphrey St. Francis, Falls City Sacred Heart and Central Valley were eliminated before this week in D2, you know how strong the 8-Man game was this Fall...

STROMSBURG, NE A tradition-rich Burwell team survived an early 22-0 deficit knockout punch by Cross County, picked itself off the ground for a second straight week, then went on to post a powerful 37-36 win over an unbeaten Cross County team...

Fremont Bergan has breezed through this 2020 season with a junior laden cast. The Yutan game tonight will be a rematch of the 2020 season opener, won by the Knights, 41-13. Bergan sports one of the most feared defenses in Class C-2, a defense that loves to blitz to the tune of 83 tackles for losses. The Knights are also the only team in C-2 to knock off defending champion Oakland-Craig, that 28-24 win coming on October 16th...

Both C-1 Semifinal games are rematches from the regular season. Pierce won the season opener 55-34 against St. Paul, who may have found out the jump from Class C-2 to C-1 is bigger than anticipated. BUT, the Wildcats did find out what C-1 may have felt like when Oakland-Craig routed the ‘Cats 54-13 in the 2019 C-2 semis. I think Joe Anderson’s Oakland-Craig team could have matched up well with many Class C-1 powers last season, as Aquinas did many, many times...

After seeing Hastings, Aurora and GI Northwest play at least once this season, I recall thinking at least two of these teams are capable of advancing as far as the Class B semifinals. Lucky guess? Plattsmouth (8-2) @ Aurora (8-3) (Friday, November 13, 7:00 PM)...

Kearney (5-4) @ Elkhorn South (9-1) (Friday, November 13, 6:00 PM) Kearney (5-4) 10 Lincoln SE 14 14 Omaha Westside 47 14 Bellevue West 49 41 Columbus 19 21 Elkhorn South 28 (Ove)...

Cross County head coach Hayden Delano knows he’s directing one of the most prolific backfields in Nebraska Eight-Man football history. That Cougar backfield currently leads the entire nation, regardless of number of players of the field (11-Man, 9-Man, 8-Man, 6-Man football), and you can bet DeLano knows what he’s sitting on...

There are times when one just doesn’t know what a Coach’s game plan might be going into a big game at the high school level. That’s what makes the game of football at the High School level so priceless. These Coach’s watch game film, see deficiencies, then formulate a plan of how to attack and exploit it (them)...

***Eight-Man*Serbando Diaz, Quade Myers, Corbin Horner, Keegan Krutsinger, Delton Haines-Dundy County/Stratton - Serbando Diaz gauged the Nebraska City Lourdes defense for 282 yards on 33 carries plus 3 touchdowns in the Tigers 48-30 win over the Knights. ...

*Heinrich Haarberg-Kearney Catholic - Husker pledge looked sharp in the Stars opening round Class C-1 playoff win over Chadron (41-0). Haarberg connected on 10 of his 12 pass attempts for 160 yards and TD passes to Logan Miner and Brett Mahoney. Heinrich was also a beast carrying the football against Chadron, rushing just 8 times, but the senior star gained 69 yards, turning 3 of those 8 carries into touchdown runs...