Gotta admit, it’s weird to say, weird to write.

This is the first time Howells-Dodge will play in a state football final.

Yep. All those state championship trophies between them - and there are 15 of them - but they were all accomplished pre-merger. Dating back to their 2012 debut the Jaguars have only played in one semifinal even. Then again, when they do lose it’s always to somebody good, like state champions (2017 East Butler, 2019 Osceola/High Plains) or something crazy like that.

This time the Jaguars have seen things through and lately in especially smashing fashion, eliminating last season’s D-1 state champion Dundy County-Stratton by 30 in the quarterfinals, last season’s D-1 state runner-up Burwell by 38 in last Friday’s semifinals. Seems as though the Jags mean business.

Howells-Dodge (12-0) will try to polish off a perfect season and the program’s first state title in Monday’s opener, facing Cross County (11-1) at Memorial Stadium, kickoff at 10:15 a.m.

“It feels great to have this group in the finals,” says Howells-Dodge head coach Mike Speirs, who led Howells to nine of the programs collective state championships. “We have multiple kids whose fathers I coached so that has made it fun. This group is so easy to coach that it makes each day with them a fun experience. As a coach, you can not ask for more from a group of kids.”

Not sure how much more Coach Speirs could have gotten out of his team than he did in last week’s demolition of a really good, really unbeaten Burwell team.

“I was proud of how hard our kids played. We played physicall football and did a great job of running the ball,” says Coach Speirs. “The boys really stepped up when Levi (Belina, the team’s all-state running back) went out of the game and we hardly missed a beat, which, as a coach, makes you really proud of your team.”

* Levi Belina has been better than ever, and that’s saying something, leading the Howells-Dodge rushing attack with 1,884 yards and 33 touchdowns. In Levi’s absence junior Lance Brester took the bit and rushed for 162 yards and two touchdowns, adding a TD reception, during that Burwell win. He and sophomore Lane Belina are awfully good second and third options in the run game.

Junior Jestin Bayer (116 total, 5 TFL) has been the team’s season long leader in tackles while Levi Belina (68) and Brester (66 tackles) are also consistently good on that side of the ball, and junior lineman Aandy Dominguez (11 TFL, 4 sacks) is the unit’s biggest playmaker.

“If we want to win the game we will need to do everything right,” say Coach Speirs “Cross County has a strong running game with a tremendous offensive line. Someone commented that the game may only take about 90 minutes, the way both teams want to run the ball. We will have to try to match their physicality to give ourselves a chance.”

* For Cross County the third step in a three-step plan, winning last week’s semifnal game against Hitchcock County, 52-20. Each of the previous two years the Cougars had made it one game short of state only to, well, fall short.

There was no doubt this time as Cross County dominated what had been a surging Hitchcock County team. Finally, you could hear them say, all the way from Trenton...

“I’m just really happy for our boys. This senior class has been working for this for a long time. They’ve put in an incredible amount of hours over the years and have been state title game worthy but just never got over the hump,” says Cross County head coach Hayden Delano. They have understood the urgency this year and have answered the call. Our experience and maturity really carried us well with the day off school, long bus trip, early adversity in the game. Hitchcock County is a solid football team and, overall, just an incredible win for not only our program but our community as well.”

Nothing fancy about what Cross County will do on offense. They mostly hand it to senior all-stater Carter Seim, and you would too since the kid has rushed for 1,022 yards and 18 TDs...in the playoffs alone. Seim has rushed for over 5,000 yards in his career and teams with fellow senior Haiden Hild (1,263 yards, 25 TDs) to form another great RB tandem for the Cougars.

Lots of great athletes on that Cross County defense but when big plays need made it is most often either senior Damon Mickey (the team’s leading tackler) or all-state senior Cory Hollinger (team’s leading tackler for loss, sacks) who are going to be at the ground floor.

“It is incredible to have our team in the finals, just surreal. You talk about stuff like this in your program year-round. You preach and teach and prepare for these moments and most of the time they never come, but here we are,” says Coach Delano. “We are presented with an opportunity to do something special. I personally feel fortunate as a head coach to have such incredible athletes and young men.

“Football, especially at this level, has a lot to do with the ‘Jimmy and Joes.’ I recognize that we have some special dudes and we as a staff owe it to them to help prepare them and give them opportunities to showcase their talents.”

Which brings us back to the fact this game is a rematch from the regular season, when Cross County, without Seim in the lineup, fell behind 40-14 before rallying, and coming up short, 40-38. That night it seemed these might be our two best teams and, as Coach Delano said, here we are.

@HuskerlandBob Sez: Numbers don’t win games, players do, but the numbers make you think it will be Cross County’s early afternoon. You’d have to think Seim is worth at least three points in a game, and Howells-Dodge was playing at home that night so the Jags had that added advantage. Even so, this is Howells-Dodge, and the Jaguars just have that look. @HuskerlandBob Sez: Cross County 41, Howells-Dodge 40.