WINDSWEPT FIELD TURF, AURORA — The ‘new’ Aurora football coaching staff seemed intent on the past if assistant coach Scott Jones’ sweatshirt read true last night.
“Focus on the Foundation” it read – the base of a pyramid – with all of the Huskies 28 playoff appearances forming the way to the top. Make that 29, for first-year coach and long time Randy Huebert assistant, Kyle Peterson. And, they’ll enter in exciting fashion as the undefeated, top-seed in the Class B bracket after a thrilling 38-35 win over district rival York last night.
“That game was what high school football is all about,” Peterson said afterwards.
Well said. Both teams should feel pretty decent about their teams heading into the playoffs, where the Huskies will host Alliance on Friday and the Dukes will host Omaha Roncalli Catholic; York (8-1) is the sixth-seed.
It will be Aurora’s fast start that will give Duke coach Glen Snodgrass nightmares from this one as his team scored 21 points in the last six minutes to nearly pull off the unthinkable.
Aurora led 24-7 at the half on touchdowns resulting from:
– a short field fumble on York’s first possession,
– a blocked punt and recovery by Will Bolton for a touchdown on their second
– and, a 70-yard interception from Kyle Schmidt on their fourth.
“We told the boys before the game that the team that made the big plays, would be the team that probably came out on top,” Snodgrass said. “They made the big plays early – a fumble recovery, a blocked punt for a touchdown, a pick six – and we just couldn’t recover.”
The unbeaten season for the Huskies was a surprise to many — except those in the locker room — with a new staff and Aurora coming off a 5-5 season last year that included a first round playoff loss to Scottsbluff.
“I’ve been trying to tell people all year that we can win a championship,” senior Gavin Rush told us after the game, a smile on the big Wyoming recruits face. “We think we have what it takes to get it done.”
He just may be smarter than all of us. And, he and his teammates will have four more weeks to prove it.
Stories Shared
Our Channel Seed Game-of-the-Week series game to an end last night in Aurora. They always told us, streaming would affect attendance. Then, we saw full stands on both sides last night and nearly 2,000 viewers online.
In all, nearly 6,000 viewers watched our 10-game series and we’ve been thankful to all of our schools. Now, it’s time for the playoffs. We’ll have full coverage of the entire playoffs and special coverage of all of our Striv Schools as November moves along.
Let’s Rewind
Class A
Bellevue West gets top-seed, beats Central in battle of unbeatens
Islanders score late, rally past North Platte
Prep upsets Papio South, get’s rematch
Class B
No. 1 Elkhorn South survives Gretna in double OT
Pius bounces Beatrice for first district title since 2004
