Class B State Title Game Preview: Bennnigton v. Skutt Catholic

You got your alpha, and your omega. Know the line’s been taking but here we are, regardless.

It seems like earlier this morning there was all that fuss in the season opener - did he get in, didn’t he? - when Bennington kept its winning streak intact, beating Skutt Catholic, 14-13. And here we are all these weeks later with those same two teams, No. 1 seed Bennington and No. 3 seed Skutt, facing off in next Monday’s Class B state playoff final.

Seems right.

Kickoff at Memorial Stadium between these two titans will be at 7:15 p.m. Don’t worry, it’ll be worth the wait.

Since that opening game Bennington has seen its epic winning streak stretch to 38 games in a row, tying the Class B all-time record. Of course, there are the two state titles mixed in there, and this year’s playoff drive which has included wins over Crete (65-7), Norris (23-20, whew!) and Elkhorn North, 30-6, in last week’s semifinals.

Once again Bennington has developed, make that maintained, a beautifully efficient power running game. Doing most of the damage in that regard has fallen on the shoulders of senior running back Quinton Archer, who has rushed for 1,686 yards and 18 TDs and also caught 12 passes for 242 yards and three TDs.

Senior QB Peyton Sanmann has enjoyed a very good year, his first as a full-time varsity starter, passing for 1,495 yards and 16 TDs and rushing for 327 yards and four scores. His leading receivers are junior Elliott Andersen (20 catches, 339 yards, 6 TDs) and senior Ben Jorgensen (21 catches, 301 yards, 3 TDs).

Also at the core of this three-year dominance by Bennington Football is its defense, again led by junior linebacker Kyler Lauridsen (97 tackles, 18 TFL, 3 INT) and junior linebacker Ben Gilliland (96 tackles, 11 TFL, 6 sacks). Senior DB Gunnar Lym (3 INT) is an ace in the backfield and all the opposing coaches seem to admire the work done by junior defensive lineman Jack Jansen (76 tackles, 9 TFL), at least according to the all-state ballots I’ve seen.

* It always takes a bit to clear your head when you are asked to view Skutt Football as an underdog. I mean, really? This is Skutt, all those state titles and stuff. Doesn’t exactly strike a guy as any sort of underdog, any time, any place.

Except for Monday night at Memorial Stadium.

As great as Skutt has played in recent weeks, and seeing them last week at Waverly they looked pretty great to me, you have to consider Bennington and all those 38 consecutive wins as the favorite to win the game. OK, but keep in mind Skutt has seen some stuff in these playoffs.

“Our kids have had to navigate some adversity in our playoff run. We won our quarter-final game after a start to the game that could not have gone worse for us, and being able to figure out how to win while having five turnovers was quite an accomplishment,” says Skutt’s five-time state champion head coach, Matt Turman. “So last Friday when we had an injury setback early in the game, and when Waverly took the lead by a field goal in the third quarter, there was no panic at any time from our team. They responded like we hoped they would, and put up the next 21 points to make things pretty comfortable in the fourth quarter.

“We have a very resilient group of young men.”

At the controls of the Skutt offense is senior quarterback Bennett Turman, an athletic dual threat who has passed for 1,188 yards and 10 TDs and also rushed for 527 yards and 11 scores. He’s got a pair of outstanding senior running backs in Colin Pike, who has rushed for 867 yards and 12 TDs, and Anthony Heithoff, who has rushed for 777 yards and 12 TDs, including two big ones late in the Waverly win, adding nine receptions for 211 yards and a TD.

Leading receivers for the SkyHawks include senior Danny Johnson, who has 21 receptions for 462 yards and six TDs, and junior Joe Kolega, who has added 19 catches for 289 yards and three TDs.

Seniors Sam Brummond, again the team’s leading tackler, this time with 92 stops, and Maxwell Chandler (61 tackles) give Skutt a pair of playmaking linebackers while senior Justin Witcofski is an all-state caliber defensive lineman (61 tackles) and Pike (3 INT) leads the secondary.

Even with all that firepower on both sides of the ball Coach Turman believes his team might have a secret ingredient to add to the mix.

“We have very good special teams units. Our kids take pride in that aspect of the game. We have gotten better at it all season and hope it serves us well going forward,” says Coach Turman. “We have been very good on defense against the run and hope that continues into our championship round. Our offense has been very opportunistic and pretty balanced in terms of where the yards go, so it is hard for defenses to key on one aspect or one player.”

This will be Skutt’s seventh state final in the last 11 season - a quite remarkable number - and Coach Turman has a basic plan for potential victory.

“We need to take care of the football on offense. Needless to say if we have another five turnover night like we did earlier in the playoffs it will be really tough to come out on top. Turnovers and special teams are keys to any matchup when good teams face each other, and in the end we are all excited for Monday night football in Nebraska.”

So are we, Coach, so are we.