Kaden's Takeaways: The Intern Reflects on Quarterfinals Football

Oh baby, did we have some excitement last Friday night. There were a few upsets in each class but that’s expected. I’ve been saying for a few weeks now that anything can happen in November, which I’ll get to in a minute.

Last Friday night got to catch a couple games, and I was even in Huskerland Bob’s neck of the woods. I said that night that I should have parked at his house, maybe Huskerland Penni would have had some baked goods or a nice home cooked meal for me. I guess I really missed my opportunity. Darn.

Anyways, let’s get back to some football talk. Here is what I saw and few takeaways from across the state in the playoff quarterfinal round.

What I Saw

Norfolk Catholic 62, Lincoln Lutheran 42

In what turned out to be more like an eight-man kind of score, Norfolk Catholic stays on track with a win over a very scrappy Lincoln Lutheran team. I was there for a short stint before trying to catch some other games, but from what I saw, Norfolk Catholic is big and physical up front. The Knights blueprint on offense is simple - line it up and run. With the win, they advance to semifinals to face Ord once again. The first date when well for the Knights, as they beat the Chants 35-14 in Week 2, let’s see if it goes as well the second time around.

Gretna 35, Bellevue West 23

Probably the cream of the crop of the quarterfinal round games. Gretna overcame a slow start and coming back after being down 14-7 at the half. The Dragons had a big fourth quarter, scoring 21 and coming up big on defense. This was night where their Division I QB, Zane Flores, didn’t have to make big plays but had to do the little things right, which he did. Gretna is now one game away to punching there ticket back to Lincoln for the second straight season.

There must be something about that six seed.

About every year in the Six-Man playoffs you seem to get a team that pops out of nowhere. Last year was Wallace, who was the six-seed; well, now this year it is Pawnee City. Pawnee shocked the Six-Man world with last week’s upset of unbeaten Potter-Dix, 62-47. The Indians are catching fire at just the nick of time and set up a semifinal match with another unbeaten, Arthur County. Potter couldn’t figure out how to stop Andy Maloley, let’s see if the Wolves have an answer for him.

Class B is by far the most open class.

We’ve made the argument all year that D-2 or C-1 are Huskerland’s two most loaded classes. It seems like about everyone knows which teams are the top dogs in those classes, but for class B, to me it is wide open. Any of these remaining four teams in the semifinals are good enough to win state.

Bennington has 24 in row and a lot of people are surprised how well they are playing, considering the talent they lost year. Waverly has been extremely playing well since its home overtime loss to Scottsbluff. You can make argument that Scottsbluff is most talented and has been playing very well down the stretch. Gross Catholic has been playing solid football all year long and probably the shock of the class to some, but there is no denying them as an unbeaten team this late in the season.

I can think of about four different scenarios of how it ends but I have no idea which one it will be.

Don’t sleep on Stanton in D-1

My apologies to residents of Stanton, I have not talked about you guys enough this year, but the Mustangs have had a dominant season to date.

Everyone has talked about dominate No. 1 North Platte St Pat’s has been this year (guilty) but maybe the question is who really is going to step up and challenge the Irish. Stanton (11-0) is also unbeaten, like St. Pat’s, and draws 10-1 Clarkson/Leigh in the final four, and the Patriots have been solid this year as well. St. Pat’s gets Neligh-Oakdale, which has won 10 in a row since losing to Howells-Dodge in its season opener.. The Irish have their hands full with Aiden Kuester, who is having an stand out, record-setting senior season.

Class B has the most question marks but Class D-1 still has a lot of questions, a lot up in the air heading into the semifinals.