Class C-2 State Football Championship Game Preview.

*Tuesday, November 23rd, Memorial Stadium/UNL, 2:30 PM

Fremont Bergan (12-0) vs. Norfolk Catholic (11-1)

*Archbishop Bergan coaching staff: Head Coach: Seth Mruz, Asst: TJ Folkers, Josh Boggs, Doug Moore, Scott Painter, Dave Schrader, Brock Rogers, Kurt Marolf, Nate Pribnow.

*Norfolk Catholic staff: Head Coach: Jeff Bellar, Asst: Nate Kassbaum, Todd Pospisil, Jason Konicek, Jordon Bellar, Travis Fisher.

*Last Year’s Playoffs-Fremont Bergan lost to Ord 28-7 in the C-2 Championship game. Norfolk Catholic was defeated by Aquinas 27-10 in the C-2 First Round

Team Statistics;

*Rushing Yards: Norfolk Catholic - 273.2, Archbishop Bergan - 229.5.

*Passing Yards: Archbishop Bergan - 174.8, Norfolk Catholic - 99.5

*Total Yards: Archbishop Bergan -404.3, Norfolk Catholic - 372.7

Individual Statistics;

*Archbishop Bergan*:

*Passing: #6 Koa McIntyre 110 of 188 (58.5%) for 1,869 yards/29 TDs, 4 INTs.

*Rushing: #6 Koa McIntyre-1,240-133 (9.4)/16 TDs, #3 Jarrett Boggs 620-83 (7.5)/11 TDs.

*Receiving: #7 Kade McIntyre 33 catches for 813 yards/12 TDs, #15 Lucas Pruss 28 for 569 with 6 TDs., #10 Alex Painter 18 catches for 239 yards/4 TDs, #3 Jarrett Boggs 15 catches for 183 yards/3 TDs

*Tackles: #3 Jarrett Boggs 88 Total (37 solos, 51 assists, 3 sacks, 1 INT, 3 FR), #7 Kade McIntyre-57 (26 solos/51 assists, 4 sacks, 1 FR), #5 Cal Janke-55 (23 solos/32 assists, INT, 2 FR), #63 Owen Pruss 43 (16 solos, 27 assists, 5 sacks, 1 INT, 2 Fumble recoveries), #52 Carson Ortmeier 43 (17 solos, 26 assists)

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*Norfolk Catholic*:

*Passing: #15 Carter Janssen 83 of 130 (63.8%) for 1,137 yards/12 TDs/4 INTs.

*Rushing: #6 Karter Kerkman-1,692-226 (7.5)/22 TDs, #22 Kanyon Talton 569-66 (8.6)/6 TDs, #15 Carter Janssen-560-94 (6.0) 6 TDs.

*Receiving: #2 Kelly Brennen 31 for 435/6 TDs, #1 Mason Timmerman 15 for 230 yards/2 TDs, #4 Preston Burbach 12 for 218/3 TDs

*Tackles: #58 Kade Piper-108 Total (47 solos/61 assists with 7 sacks, 2 FR), #57 Caden Arens 105 (34 solos/73 assists, 3 sacks, 1 FR), #2 Kelly Brennen 93 (37 solos, 56 assists, 4 INTs), #1 Mason Timmerman 92 (36 solos, 56 assists, 7 INTs).

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Team Records:

Archbishop Bergan (12-0)

35 Yutan 7

38 GICC 8

45 Lincoln Lutheran 25

62 Omaha Concordia 6

49 David City High 6

40 David City Aquinas 0

69 Tekamah-Herman 6

56 Oakland-Craig 21

49 Ponca 14

*Playoffs

45 Oakland-Craig 20

40 David City Aquinas 0

20 Ord 0

Norfolk Catholic

Norfolk Catholic points scored-364-165 Opponents points scored

(Archbishop Bergan 45.5 ppg - Opponents 10.7 ppg)

Norfolk Catholic (11-1)

17 Boone Central 39

27 Wahoo Neumann 24

30 Ord 7

20 Oakland-Craig 14

38 Ponca 0

18 Wayne 14

53 BRLD 3

41 Crofton 13

27 Hartington Cedar Catholic 20

*Playoffs

35 Crofton 6

20 Hartington Cedar Catholic 13

35 Wilber-Clatonia 12

Archbishop Bergan

Archbishop Bergan points scored-546-128 Opponents points scored

(Norfolk Catholic 30.3 ppg - Opponents 13.8 ppg)

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……..This should be quite a battle between a pair of very well coached football teams. My Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2020 classmate Jeff Bellar has his Norfolk Catholic Knights back in the football championship game after a 4 year absence to face an Archbishop Bergan team fresh off a C-2 Title game appearance a year ago.

Archbishop Bergan features a very balanced offensive attack, paced by 1000/1000, Wyoming pledge Koa McIntyre. Catholic relies more on the run game, as witnessed by junior Karter Kirkman’s 1,692 yard rushing yards.

On defense, one glaring statistic is the tackles made by the Norfolk Catholic DEFENSIVE LINE. The Knights two leading stoppers are a defensive end (Kade Piper) and defensive tackle (Caden Arens), who both have over 100 tackles each this season. You just do not see that very often.

Catholic will have a definite size advantage in both lines, but Bergan counters with some blazing speed at the skill positions.

One interesting score comparison, if that means anything, is the Oakland-Craig games. Bergan had little trouble dispatching O/C in their two meetings, 56=21 and 45-20, while the Knights had to work hard to turn back the “other” Knights 20-14.

On the other side of the coin, Catholic handled Ord rather easily 30-7 early in the season while Bergan had their closest game of the year (20-0) with the Chants in the C-2 semifinals.

Now we’re right back where we started.

All of that aside, it should be a top notch matchup between a Fremont Bergan team that feels they have unfinished business against a Norfolk Catholic squad that has improved every outing since that opening season loss to Boone Central.

One thing I CAN guarantee in this game is that the Knights will be the winner when all the smoke clears.