It’s about time to just shut up and play.

After months of anticipation and all sorts of prognostication by many of us, we will finally get the Class D-2 state championship game fancied by most outside of Falls City and Nebraska City, or thereabouts. It will feature undefeated Sandhills/Thedford (12-0) facing undefeated Kenesaw (12-0) next Monday at Memorial Stadium, kickoff set for 2:45 p.m.

There are other good teams in Class D-2, and two pretty great ones in Sacred Heart and Lourdes, but since way back when it seemed these two titans were on a collision course and there would be nothing to stop them - except each other once they did meet.

Sandhills/Thedford has the significant advantage of having played in last year’s state final, and leading mighty BDS in the fourth quarter, the week after it beat Sacred Heart in the semifinals. That’s a pretty strong statement, right there.

This season the Knights have toasted the competition, basically naming the score right through last week’s 52-8 romp over tournament Cinderella Elgin/Pope John. EPPJ is a good team, Osceola in the quarterfinal is a good team, Mullen in the regular season is a good team, but they all got crumpled up and discarded like a disposable paper cup.

“I was really proud of the guys and how they played last week. EPPJ is a really good team and was playing really well coming into the semifinals,” says Sandhills/Thedford head coach Josh Deines. “Being able to play well on their field and those elements was awesome. We were able to limit their big plays and capitalize on some turnovers in the first half which I thought was the difference in the game.”

Good. Then again, they ain’t Kenesaw.

Kenesaw is a program that has checked out early in some postseason where an extended stay seemed likely. Not this time. Not even close. There has been no more dominant team in any class than Kenesaw - Bennington and Bergan you’re close, Cody-Kilgore you’re in there - especially when challenged by superior competition.

It is a testament to Sacred Heart’s greatness - that is a team that could have won state six or seven of the past 10 seasons, easy - that it took all Kenesaw had to rally for the win. And unbeaten, five-time state champion Humphrey St. Francis? Um, no. Kenesaw won by 30.

So here you have it, two great teams who have a chance to make themselves part of the “all-time best” conversation, or that’s my take, especially if one or the other wins this easily. Which is about as unlikely as me scoring a 36 on my ACT, unless you count multiple entries.

Sandhills/Thedford returns three all-staters from last year’s state runner-up team, including RB/LB Dane Pokorny, QB/LB Reece Zutavern, and TE/DE Drew McIntosh. While they have all seen their playing time tempered by a season filled with one-sided wins, Pokorny has still rushed for 1,203 yards and 24 TDs, Zutavern has passed for 526 yards and 12 TDs (like they’re gonna pass) and rushed for 632 yards and 12 TDs, and McIntosh has caught a polite 11 receptions for 265 yards five TDs.

McIntosh saves most of his monster mashes for defense where he is a tough and tenacious playmaker (94 tackles, 16 TFL, 11 sacks) while Pokorny (88 tackles, 13 TFL) and Zutavern (90 tackles, 13 TFL, 5 sacks) also do just fine.

There are others who have made their sizable contributions, players like junior Andrew Furrow (5 TFL, 5 sacks), sophomore Zeb Wild (10 TFL, 5 sacks) and freshman Kyle Cox (team-high 5 INTs) but the real trump card for the Knights is the return of senior running back Trae Hickman.

He missed much of last season with an injury - coulda been the difference in the state final, I’m just sayin’ - but he’s healthy now. Want proof? He’s rushed for a team-highs of 1,209 yards and 27 TDs, and is again one of eight-man’s most dangerous kick returners.

“Making it back to the finals again this year feels really good, especially this year where we actually get to play in Lincoln,” says Coach Deines. “Playing in Shickley was a really cool experience and BDS did a great job of hosting the finals but I think both teams would agree they would have rather been in Lincoln. For our boys to get this chance is awesome and I'm really happy for them since it had been taken from them last year. They've put in a lot of work to get to this point and hopefully we can keep playing well.”

And they’ll need to if they expect to find a way to tame a Kenesaw offense which has been basically unstoppable all season long.

“The biggest key for us is to limit Kenesaw's big plays on offense, they have a tremendous team and are playing really well,” says Coach Deines. (Tyson) Denkert is a very talented player and does a good job of leading the team. On offense we just need to keep pounding the rock and be efficient in the passing game. Kenesaw is a really good team and very well coached, and I know our guys are excited to play another really good team.”

* As for Kenesaw, it seems as simple as just stop Tyson Denkert. But it ain’t. For a couple of reasons. More on that in a moment.

To get to the final the Blue Devils had the scary chore of having to beat last year's state champion, BDS, the only team to beat Kenesaw last year, for a second time this year. And they did, against a deliberate BDS approach that limited Kenesaw touches, though not so much their points.

"We only had 38 snaps in that game to 62 for them," says Kenesaw head coach Craig Schnitzler, whose team beat BDS for the second time this season, this time by 30 points, 36-6. "Our kids handled the situation pretty well and we eventually overwhelmed them, and wore them down."

Now, back to what I was saying.

First of all you can’t stop Tyson Denkert. I mean, the kid has rushed for a trillion yards this season including a billion in the playoffs, give or take, and has dominated two great defenses in Sacred Heart and St. Fran.

Second of all he’s got help. That core group of seniors has played a lot of varsity football over the past four years, high quality varsity football, and they are locked in, expecting to win on Monday. And they might.

"It has been amazing run so far, watching our players grow and develop. It's exciting for me to see them enjoy this kind of success," says Coach Schnitzler. "Our primary goal is to slow Sandhills/Thedford down some on offense - they can score a lot of points in a hurry. With their speed we will need to tackle well on defense. On offense we will need to keep creating running lanes for our backs, and we must be physical from the start to finish."

@HuskerlandBob Sez: Two really great groups of kids in this game, the kind you can root for inside and outside the game, and both of these are worthy champions. I just feel like Sandhills/Thedford has an extra gear it hasn’t used yet, but will need, to win the program’s first state title...in the best game of the weekend...Sandhills/Thedford 38, Kenesaw 34.