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...

*Koby Bretz, Cole Payton, Dominic Rezac, Ben Radicia, Bo Lucas-Omaha Westside - QB Cole Payton completed 11 of 19 passes for 90 yards and 2 touchdowns and also rushed 10 times for 108 yards in the Warriors 45-3 win over Grand Island. Payton hit Husker pledge Koby Bretz for 17 yards and a score and also found Cedrian Haywood for a 12 yard TD pass...

LOUP CITY, NE Stanton junior quarterback Parker Krusemark ran for three touchdowns, passed for two more, and pirated three passes on defense, as the visiting Mustangs turned a close game into a 56-14 Class D-1, Second Round playoff win over a powerhouse Arcadia/Loup City team...

*Evan Haisch-Laurel-Concord-Coleridge - Junior running back lit up the scoreboard with his 7 touchdowns in the LCC Bears 76-46 win over Thayer Central in the opening round of the Eight-Man 1 football playoffs. Haisch, who cracked the 1000 yard rushing barrier a few weeks back, rolled up 302 yards rushing on a grueling 47 carries...

*5000 Yard Career Rusher AlertEli Larson-St. Paul - The St. Paul All-Stater that excels on both sides of the ball, surpassed the coveted 5000 yard career rushing mark in the Wildcats 69-6 victory over Twin River last week. Eli ran for 137 yards on just 7 carries to raise his career rushing total to 5,109 yards...

VIKING FIELD, GRAND ISLAND, NE Alright high school football sports fans, raise your right hand if you think Hastings is primarily a passing team. If you indicated “yes”, you are probably right. Through the first four games of 2020 that is. Yep, we’re talking somewhere in the vicinity of 78/22 pass/run ratio...

*Koa McIntyre-Fremont Bergan - Junior quarterback led his Knights to a 28-24 overtime win over C-2, #1 and defending state champion Oakland-Craig. The win over those “other” Knights marked the first victory by Bergan over Oakland-Craig since 2017 and ended a 21 game winning streak for the defending C-2 champs...

ADAMS CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL Class C-1, 3rd rated St. Paul was the last one standing when all the smoke cleared in a classic, smashmouth football game for the ages at Adams Central high school Friday night. Two of C-1’s finest programs traded big time punches in a heavyweight bout not suited for the weak at heart, and when all the smoke cleared, St. Paul was the last team standing in a defensive struggle that would rival some of the best games this guy has witnessed in the past 5 years...

FULLERTON, NE It appears that Fullerton was not only prepared to handle Nebraska Lutheran’s vaunted high octane passing offense, but the Warriors own offense was more than rarin’ to go in the regular season finale for both schools...

*Keagan Brodersen-Ravenna - 5-10, 155 pound senior caught 7 passes for 213 yards in Ravenna’s nail-biting 44-38 victory over Amherst. Brodersen, son of UNK and Nebraska high school and college sports PA Announcing Legend Rich Brodersen, was on the receiving end of three long distance touchdown passes from Bluejay quarterback Zach Lewandowski...