PLAYOFF TOWN — The Nebraska state football playoffs started in 1975. Consider that if you played football for the Aurora Huskies, the last senior class to never play in the playoffs was the one that graduated in 1978.
Yeah, they love their football here.
On Friday night, Dalton Peters and his buddies on the offensive line made sure of playoff trip No. 30 when the Huskies controlled most of the action against Northwest in a 23-10 win. The Huskies ran for 360 yards on 61 attempts on Senior Night.
“I love when we get to run the ball 50 times or whatever it was,” Peters said.
Sixty-one, actually.
“Oh, 61, wow,” he added. “(Preston) Dibbern is such a wonderful running back.”
But, then Dalton got into a little more football talk that he was trying to give The Rewind a lesson in “DCing.” One can only assume this is some combination block between him and tight end Jerad Snyder.
“Jerad Snyder, heck of a tight end,” Peters kept going. “He was DCing really well tonight. It was pretty easy for me, I didn’t have to do much of the work.”
That line — which also includes Lane Sorenson, Brian Barger, Joel Springer and Gannon Rush, all seniors — paved the way for Dibbern’s 190-yard, 27-carry effort. Junior Cal Narber added 72 yards on 14 carries for the Huskies as well.
The result was maybe a little closer than it felt. The Huskies sure wore on Northwest as the night went on. The Vikings, who ran just 24 times for 62 yards, had only 203 yards of offense and had just three drives last more than six plays.
“We never made any plays tonight,” Northwest coach Kevin Stein said. “Deep balls that we had down the field. Missed on them. Some of our young guys played like young guys. I even quoted the famous philosopher (Western Michigan football coach) PJ Fleck in our post-game huddle.
“If you are juiceless, you are useless. And, I would have never guessed that. Our kids were great this week. Our bus ride was stone silent. Our run through was amazing. Our locker room demeanor was great.”
Instead it was Husky coach Kyle Peterson who was praising his team who has not won four straight after a 2-2 start that included close losses to McCook and Scottsbluff. They also lost Nebraska tight end recruit Austin Allen to a season-ending knee injury over the summer.
“It’s a really tested football team,” Peterson said. “We were 2-2 coming off losses to two fantastic football teams in McCook and Scottsbluff. You can go two different directions at that point. This group of kids has just always found a way to respond.
“They have been so coachable and prepared hard. I am super excited for them. But, we talked about it, district champions doesn’t mean much if don’t finish undefeated. It’s important for us to take care of business next week.”
Malcolm’s Quick Title
In just their third year of competitive softball, Malcolm has a Class C state championship. Only one of their four games at state went the distance.
They defeated Bishop Neumann 11-3 and Raymond Central 15-7 on Wednesday. Added a 10-8 win over Guardian Angels Central Catholic on Thursday to advance to the final and then defeated Cozad, who advance through the loser’s bracket with three straight wins 9-0 in the finals.
The bad news for Class C? The Clippers have just two seniors.
Let’s Rewind
Class A | Prep sneaks past Kearney in shootout
Class A | Spartans shut down Pius
Class B | Gretna pulls away from Elkhorn
Class B | Big plays boost Beatrice
Class B | No. 6 Scottsbluff races past Sidney
Class C-1 | Pospisil | Aquinas knocks off No. 2 Wahoo
Class C-2 | Ehlers, Broncos still perfect
Class C-2 | Defense lifts Braves past Crofton
