Kaden's Takeaway's: The Semifinals
Well, I hope everyone has warmed up from the cold evening last Friday. That wind was brutal, the night wouldn’t have been so bad if the wind wasn’t blowing….which should honestly be the Nebraska state motto.
Well, there wasn’t a lot of craziness in the semi-final round in the bigger classes, but we had a few upsets in eight man and six man. Here is what I saw and some takeaways from the semifinal round
What I Saw
Parkview Christian 40, Sumner-Eddyville-Miller 22
A rematch from the regular season in which SEM won, Chandler Page led the charge in the win for the Patriots with 36 carries for 304 yards and five touchdowns. The Patriots jumped out to a 19-0 lead and never looked back. SEM couldn’t find their stride early in the game and in the semi-finals, if you start slow, it’s hard to get climb out of that hole. We’ve been saying all year that Parkview Christian is tough team when they are healthy, well, point proven. Now they set up yet another rematch in the state final with Pawnee City, and the Indians are a different team than when they met in Lincoln back in the regular season.
Bennington 23, Waverly 7
That makes 25 straight for the Badgers and still in the hunt for a second straight state title. Everyone thought they would take a step back after graduating a lot of their production from a year ago (including myself) but they have put together another impressive season. Now, they have a date with Gross Catholic in Memorial Stadium, the shock of the class this season.
Hitchcock County and Howells-Dodge will be worth the wait
At the beginning of the year, it was hard to not notice how loaded Class D-2 was. From top to bottom, just a great class. As the season went on, you could tell the gap from Hitchcock County, Howells-Dodge, and the rest of the class got wider and wider. The matchup that everyone should keep a close eye out for will be Howells-Dodge’s D-line verses Hitchcock County’s offensive line. The Falcons haven’t seen a D-line like the Jaguars provide but the Jaguars haven’t seen a team as physical as Hitchcock County. Definitely in my eyes one of the most intriguing matchups of the finals. Howells and Ddoge have been here plenty of times, but Hitchcock is new to playing in Memorial Stadium.
The Magic in Pawnee City Continues
Taking one trip clear across the state and beating a top team is hard……but two of them?! Don’t know what they are putting in the water down in Pawnee City, but it’s working. The Indians have caught fire in the postseason and outlasted Arthur County in a shootout, which is tough to do. They set up a rematch with Parkview Christian, which beat Pawnee 43-16 the first time around, but this team has made strides since then. A postseason run to remember and it’s not over yet.
Neligh-Oakdale stays the course, win 11 straight to make first ever state final
Starting out with Howells-Dodge was a tough task to start the season, but the Warriors didn’t let the opening night loss stop them from putting together one of their best seasons in program history. Aiden Kuester is one of the best eight-man players to walk on a football field in the state’s history but capping off your career with your final game in Memorial Stadium, you can’t really ask for a better finish, win or lose.