Nebraska state football: Dynasties reign on Day 2

Monday at Memorial Stadium saw two first-time champions in eight-man football. When Bennington took the Class B title and won its third straight championship in the final game of the day, it set the tone for Tuesday and ushered in wins by some of Nebraska’s best dynasties. 

Boone Central, Norfolk Catholic and Omaha Westside repeated or added to an already illustrious history on the second day of games. Boone won its third championship in Class C-1 and played in its sixth title game of the past 23 seasons. Norfolk Catholic (C-2) made it back-to-back for the fifth time in school history and added to its Nebraska record with the 12th football championship. Westside also went back-to-back and has played in the past five Class A state championships. 

Class A: Coronation goes as planned – Westside completes dominant season for back-to-back

It’s time to have the conversation. Considering the level of talent on the roster and the results this season, the 2023 version of Omaha Westside football might be the greatest team in Nebraska High School football history.

Westside can make that claim following a 56-0 win over Elkhorn South that capped this season’s two days of championship games at Lincoln’s Memorial Stadium.

The 56 points scored by the Warriors were a record for the Class A title game, the 56-0 final score was a Class A record for the largest margin of victory and the 643 total points scored this season also set a Class A record.

Westside went out to North Platte last fall and dropped a 21-17 game in Week 6. Since then, the Warriors have been mostly untouchable. They closed 2022 with seven straight wins, won those games by an average of 25 points and looked poised to do it again.

Westside brought back starting quarterback Anthony Rezac, starting tight end Teddy Rezac, wide receiver and safety Caleb Benning and second-leading rusher Jahmez Ross, and that’s only mentioning a few without including the blockers up front and just one member of the defense.

As high as the expectations were, Westside matched and surpassed all of them. Tuesday’s win gave the Warriors all 13 victories by at least 17 points, set the average margin of 46 and made it eight shutouts. Eight shutouts surpass the previous school best of seven set by the 1982 team that, in the past 41 years, has been the standard of excellence at Westside.

The defense shut out its last three opponents of the season and closed on 13 quarters without allowing any points since a Creighton Prep touchdown back on Oct. 27. In total, Westside only gave up 46 points all season and had a difference of 597 in points scored vs. points allowed.

It’s all a little overwhelming. That’s how Elkhorn South and every opponent has felt since the season kicked off on Aug. 25.

Tuesday’s title matchup started with a 13-play Westside drive, an interception by the defense on the second Elkhorn South snap of the game and the Warriors never slowed down. They returned the interception for a touchdown, led 28-0 at halftime and had four straight drives end in touchdowns in the second half. Westside would have been perfect after halftime except for a one-play drive to kneel it down and run out the clock.

Rezac, under center, Ross in the backfield and Benning on the edges played starring roles. Rezac passed for 259 yards on 21 of 25 with a touchdown and two interceptions. Ross carried it 19 times for 125 and two scores. Benning caught six passes for 82 and a touchdown. Defensively, the Husker recruit made three tackles and picked off a pass. Teddy Rezac led with 12 stops.

Robert Ryan opened the scoring on a 1-yard dive that ended a possession that took 5:34. Christian Jones made it 14-0 on a 30-yard pick-six less than a minute later. Rezac scored twice on quarterback runs in the second quarter – finding the end zone from three and six. Ross picked up his two touchdowns in the third quarter on rushes of 15 and two. Caleb Benning hauled in a catch and ran for a 10-yard score near the midpoint of the fourth quarter. Brody Goc finished it with an eight-yard run with 4:24 left in the game.

Class C-1: Cardinals blank Warriors, win slugfest for third state title

Two of the best defenses in the state lived up to expectations in Tuesday’s Class C-1 championship. Wahoo came in with 58 points against and six shutouts. Boone Central had allowed 63 points and had also held six opponents off the scoreboard.

That became seven for the Warriors when they narrowly won the battle up front and put together a 12-0 win that marked the program’s third state title and first since 2014. The Cardinals gave up just 76 total yards and forced three turnovers.

The only player with any offensive success was Boone Central running back Parker Borer. The senior had 127 yards on 25 carries and scored the only two touchdowns of the game. He found the end zone on an 11-yard run with two minutes left in the third then went 61 yards for another score with just over five minutes remaining in the game.

Take out that one carry and Wahoo’s defense was also nearly impenetrable. Borer averaged over five yards per carry but that figure goes down to 2.75 yards on his other 24 attempts.

It was just that type of game for both sides. It took 14 possessions before either team produced points. There were 23 total possessions and nine of those ended with a three-and-out.

Wahoo managed just 2.1 yards per carry on 25 attempts and was 4 of 13 in the passing game with 24 yards and an interception. Defensively, Caden Stokes and Hank Hudson led the champs. Stokes made a game-high 11 tackles and picked off a pass. Hudson had nine stops, 2 and 1/2 of those for loss and forced three quarterback hurries.

Boone Central set up the first points of the game following its third three-and-out by the defense. The Cardinals forced a punt at the Wahoo 15 and took over at their 47 after a 38-yard punt.

Over the next six minutes, Boone Central methodically covered 53 yards and found the end zone on an 11-yard rush by Borer with 2:03 left in the third.

Quarterback James Fogleman kept the drive alive on a third-and-16 from the Wahoo 48 when he found Jaxon Lipker for a 21-yard gain. He did it again five plays later on a third-and-11 from the Wahoo 16 with a 12-yard pass to Stokes. A false start and a two-yard loss backed the Cardinals into a second-and-goal from the 11. Borer cut up inside of lead blocks by Trent Patzel and Luke Curry for a wide-open running lane to the south end zone of Memorial Stadium.

He scored on the same sweep play to cap a four-play, 82-yard drive with 5:17 left in the game and seal the win. Again, it was to the left side but this time it was Mason Nelson and Nathanieal Werner leading the way to a wide running lane. Borer blazed past the free safety who had come up in run support and was too fast for any other Warriors to track him down.

Wahoo never advanced inside the Boone Central 40 and never made it past midfield after early in the second quarter. Only four of the 12 Warrior drives lasted longer than two minutes.

Class C-2: Knight domination earns Norfolk Catholic 12th state title

Nobody does it better. For the 20th time in school history – an ongoing Nebraska record – Norfolk Catholic played in a state championship game Tuesday at Memorial Stadium. For the 12th time – another ongoing state record – the Knights raised the trophy and walked off the turf with gold medals around their necks.

Just when it looked like Jeff Bellar’s crew might be vulnerable following the graduation of 12 seniors who were part of 33 wins and two title games – including a win last fall – the Class of 2024 kept it rolling with a second straight unbeaten season and another dominant title game win.

Norfolk Catholic forced four turnovers, outgained Ord by 200 yards and methodically moved the ball down the field all afternoon in a 41-3 win over the Chanticleers. The Knights lacked big plays but eventually overwhelmed the Chants with an offensive line that generated 220 yards rushing and set up a balanced attack that also included 126 passing yards on just six receptions.

It was a familiar formula for success that Class C-2 has been unable to solve lately. Ord is one of those that’s still searching for answers after losing its fourth straight to Norfolk Catholic in a series that has matched up the two teams six times in the last four seasons.

The Knights average a margin of victory of nearly 20 points in their 12 championship game wins and have won the last three in a shutout. Norfolk Catholic won its final Class C-1 title in 2017 before moving down one classification. That one plus these most recent C-2 wins have seen the Knights total 99 points and allow absolutely nothing.

Tuesday in Lincoln, it was a little bit of a slow start. Norfolk Catholic punted its first drive then threw an interception on the next one. That led to an Ord field goal and a deficit with 3:03 left in the first quarter.

The Knights bounced back with three touchdowns on their next four first-half possessions then forced three straight Chants turnovers to start the second half and scored on all three.

Carter Janssen, Max Hammonds, Brandon Kollars, and Clayton Carney accounted for the six Norfolk Catholic touchdowns. Janssen had the first on a one-yard run three minutes into the second quarter, Hammonds had a two-yard plunge and a three-yard dive at 5:49 of the second quarter and then with 14 seconds left in the first half, Kollars had a 19-yard rush then one for 17 in the third quarter and Carney capped it on a 33-yard catch from Janssen.

Kollars led the way statistically, carrying the ball 14 times for 83 yards. Janssen was 6 of 10 passing. Four different Knights made the six catches. Defensively, Mason Weidner had 11 tackles, one for loss and picked off a pass.

Ord rushed for 126 yards on 36 attempts for a dismal average of 3.5. The passing game went 2 for 10 with 20 yards and three interceptions.

Norfolk Catholic is now three titles clear of the next closest program – Creighton Prep. The Junior Jays set the standard with their last championship in 2004. Since then, Norfolk Catholic has won six trophies and played in 10 title games.