It’s the final stretch of the regular season with playoff football right around the corner. Week eight for Nebraska schools and once again some key matchups or simply, soon to be playoff teams looking to stay rolling with the second season approaching.
Here is this week’s high school football schedule breakdown for teams across the area.
Thursday Scores
- Leyton 36, Garden County 22
- Mullen 52, Maxwell 20
- Creek Valley 44, South Platte 42
- Hay Springs 56, Sioux County 7
- Sandhills/Thedford 72, Pleasanton 18
Now let’s get to the games across the region for tonight…
McCook Bison at Scottsbluff Bearcats (7 pm kickoff, 6:30 pregame on KNEB.tv, ALLO 15, Mobius 1500, 106.9 The Trail, KHYYfm.com)
The improvement from week one to now for Scottsbluff has been incredible. The power running game is among the best in the state, the offensive line has been great, plus fast and plenty of attitude on the defensive side of the football. Safe to say things have come together in a big way for the Bearcats.
Now comes a red letter game on the schedule each and every year with the McCook Bison rolling into town. It’s not the same McCook team we’ve come to expect. Namely, at the top. After 23 years Jeff Gross retired from his head coaching position after last season and now it’s first year head coach Joe Vetrovsky in charge and they’ll enter tonight at 3-4 and coming off a hard fought home win over Gering.
In the second half the Bison relied heavily on Jacob Gomez-Wilson, who finished with 133 yards rushing on the night as McCook rallied from down 3-0 at half to earn their third win of the season.
Scottsbluff had no issues at all in their 49-7 road win at Lexington as they cranked up the running game to the tune of over 400 yards on the ground, led by Sebastien Boyle who ran for over 200 yards with five touchdowns. Scottsbluff is now averaging over 300 yards per game on the ground this year.
The Scottsbluff defense is allowing a little over 17 points per game on the year and they’ve developed into a strong unit with plenty of attributes; speed, tackling, and going back to the NW game (where i sat outside for the broadcast) you could really hear the pads popping. They like to hit.
Scottsbluff currently sits at 5-2 on a four game winning streak and they are No. 7 in Class B power points. A six seed appears to be their ceiling but by simply winning their final two games they’ll secure a home game for the first round of the playoffs in a two weeks. The Cats are a team that’s been ascending each and every week.
Mitchell Tigers at Gering Bulldogs (7 pm kickoff, 6:30 pregame on KNEB.tv, ALLO 190, KMOR 93.3 FM, KMORfm.com)
It’s Homecoming for Gering. More importantly it’s a football game to win and it would give the Bulldogs that elusive third win of the season. Gering hasn’t won three games in a season since 2012 when they went 5-4. Have their been bumps and bruises along the way this year for Gering? sure. Do they also look like a team that by and large has made steady progress? yes.
That included last week when they went on the road and led McCook at halftime 3-0 before losing 28-9. The game was closer than the final score indicated. The first drive sort of what the team is trying to conquer. A long drive that showed plenty of promise but ended with only getting three points.
Overall, Gering played well last week. So did Mitchell. The Tigers got a signature win as they won at home over Ogallala. The Tigers are 4-3 on the year and Coach Nick Kuxhausen hoping to see his team build on last week.
So clearly both teams have had issues in the red zone and that will be a big key tonight. Not just who can move the ball between the 20’s but who can step on a throat and turn drives into six or seven points.
In talking to people who were at the game, in watching on film and also listening to coach OB, Gering so close to making plays defensively in the backfield but they’ve been unable to secure a sack or a tackle for loss. There were plenty of those situations last week.
Mitchell won this game big a year ago at their place, now the return trip with Gering hungry for a win tonight. This one should be good.
Rest of the area schedule for tonight
- Lexington at Alliance…Lex is 3-4 and sitting 16th in power points while Alliance looks to play spoiler as they come in at 0-7.
- Chadron at Gothenburg…The undefeated Cardinals are, according to everyone I’ve spoken with, the real deal this year. big line, big quarterback who’s a major dual threat (Had a coach tell me this week he could see him being a player at a D-2 level) with speed to burn at the skill positions. Tonight is a big test as Gothenburg’s only two wins have come the last two weeks.
- Sidney at Ogallala…After opening 2-0 the Red Raiders have lost five straight while Ogallala is 4-3 and needing to bounce back from that Mitchell loss last week.
- Bridgeport at Chase County…Bridgeport finally got in the win column last week with a win over Valentine. This will be their second to last 11-man game for a few years as it was reported earlier this week that the Bulldogs will move to 8-man starting next year for at least a couple seasons.
- Valentine at Gordon-Rushville
- Sutherland at Bayard…The Tigers are just outside the top 32 right now and a win tonight would get them to 4-4 on the season. Sutherland comes west at 4-3 and sitting inside the top 32.
- Hemingford gets a forfeit win over Kimball
- Morrill at Hyannis…The 2-5 Lions are at 3-4 Hyannis with some playoff possibilities for both teams on the line. Morrill currently 29th in power points in D2.
- Paxton at Minatare
- Potter-Dix at Banner County…The Coyotes are the top team in six-man power points at 6-0.
- Cody-Kilgore at Crawford
Wyoming games
- #2 Torrington at #5 Wheatland
- Lingle-Ft. Laramie at #1 Pine Bluffs
- Southeast at #5 Lusk
- Newcastle at Burns
- Burlington at Guernsey-Sunrise (Saturday)
- Buffalo at #5 Douglas
