Friday Night Preview

Friday Night Preview
(MGN/Image Id: 389251)
October 7th, 2022 | Chris Cottrell

It’s week seven of the high school football season in Nebraska and district play in full effect for most teams as they start the stretch run.

Today’s preview will get you set for our two games tonight on the RRN-Scottsbluff plus give you the schedule for the rest of the region and Wyoming.

Thursday scores

  • Garden County 58, Banner County 6
  • Gordon-Rushville 56, West Holt 19
  • Sandhills/Thedford 51, Leyton 12

Friday Games on RRN

  • Gering at Grand Island Northwest…coverage on KMOR 93.3 FM & KMORfm.com with pregame at 5:30 MT.
  • Hastings at Scottsbluff…coverage on KNEB.tv platforms Allo, Mobius, STRIV, plus radio on 107.3 the Trail & KHYYfm.com with pregame at 6:30.

It’s homecoming for the 5-1 Scottsbluff Bearcats as they welcome in the 1-5 Hastings Tigers for a district game at Bearcat Stadium.

Scottsbluff is coming off an impressive road win in overtime at Waverly last week, the final was 28-21. It was a real gut check win as the Bearcats relied on toughness and team unity down the stretch to earn the win over a top five opponent.

Scottsbluff coach Jud Hall on the overtime session

With the win Scottsbluff was able to survive that opening six week gauntlet at 5-1 including road wins on trips over five and half hours to Pius, York, and Waverly. Their only loss came against a North Platte team that beat then No. 1 in Class A last week, Omaha Westside.

Scottsbluff is now set to close out the regular season with district games against Hastings, Gering, and Lexington who have combined for a record of just 3-15.

Coach Hall on what Hastings brings to the table

The Tigers lone win of the season was a 21-14 win over Lexington a few weeks ago and they’re coming off a double digit loss to Northwest last week.

Hastings opted down to Class B for this two year cycle and they going into the season they’d be ineligible for the playoffs. And it sounds like all along they knew this would be a rebuilding year.

Hastings coach Charlie Shoemaker has a young team this year

Shoemaker also said they have struggled on the offensive side of the ball all season to get things going.

Scottsbluff enters the week at No. 3 in Class B power points trailing only Bennington and Omaha Gross Catholic.

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It’s going to be a tricky one for Gering tonight as they visit Northwest. On one hand the Bulldogs should be a confident bunch after a 14-0 home shutout win over Lexington last week but then on the other hand it’s Northwest playing their first true home game of the season as their field turf surface was finally installed last week, so you know it’ll be a super hyped up Vikings squad tonight.

For Gering last week in the win over Lexington the defense was pitched a shutout and set the tone early on.

Gering coach Danny O’Boyle on the defense stepping up early last week

Aside from playing their first home game of the season Gering will be dealing with a Northwest team who has their arrow pointing straight up moving through the final few weeks of the season. The Vikings got their first win three weeks ago then came west and pushed Scottsbluff to the limit and then last week they rolled over Hastings.

Coach O’Boyle with keys for the Bulldogs to stay in this game tonight

On the other sideline is a guy who loves the panhandle. Kevin Stein says he’ll die in Grand Island but his heart is always in the panhandle from his time in Chadron, Gordon, and Scottsbluff. He’s a big fan of Danny O’Boyle and will pull the Bulldogs most weeks, just not tonight.

A couple weeks ago when I visited with Stein he was a frustrated head coach, looking for some answers. Now he loves the position his team is in.

Northwest coach Kevin Stein says his team is turning the corner

Stein also added he wants to make sure if given the opportunity tonight that his staff and team learn to keep the foot on the gas pedal to put teams away.

Gering finishes with Northwest, Scottsbluff, and Hastings with that week 9 game looking like a playoff decider for the Bulldogs.

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Rest of area schedule

  • Chase County at Mitchell- Tigers are still No. 1 in C-2 power points and rolling along undefeated at 6-0 after they blasted Alliance last week. The Tigers have never won a playoff game in school history but a undefeated regular season and a home game as a 1 or 2 seed would have them in a great spot.
  • McCook at Alliance- The Bison and Bulldogs are both in C-1 this season with McCook undefeated and Alliance winless.
  • Chadron at Ogallala- The Cardinals beat Sidney last week to improve to 4-2.
  • Bayard at Cambridge- The Tigers put up 80 in a win over Hemingford last week.
  • Morrill at Bridgeport- After dropping their first two games the Bulldogs have won five straight and they’ll play their regular season finale tonight at home against the Lions.
  • Kimball at Hemingford
  • Potter-Dix at Creek Valley- This one might not be pretty; The Coyotes are unbeaten and have scored, by week, 85, 91, 65, 63, and 92 points, while the Storm are winless.
  • Cody-Kilgore at Sioux County
  • South Platte at Minatare- A pair of 1-4 teams get together in this one.
  • Hay Springs at Crawford

Wyoming games of note

  • Thursday final: Wright 65, Guernsey-Sunrise 0
  • Glenrock at Torrington
  • Saratoga at Pine Bluffs
  • Lingle-Ft. Laramie at Southeast
  • Tongue River at Burns
  • Wheatland at Upton-Sundance
  • Douglas at Riverton
  • Lusk at Moorcroft
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