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Nebraska High Football Championship Previews - Class D-2
Nebraska High Football Championship Previews
Class D-2 (8-Man)
Monday, November 21st, 10:15 am @ Memorial Stadium, Lincoln
Twin Loup (12-0) vs. Falls City Sacred Heart (11-1)
This game features two of the finest 8-Man football coaches in the state of Nebraska, matching wits. Sacred Heart's Doug Goltz is already considered a legend in Nebraska high school coaching circles, while Mike Kozeal of Twin Loup is widely recognized for being a master of teaching the basic rudiments of the game........blocking and tackling.
Doug Goltz, who sports a lifetime (30 years) coaching record of 287-49 on the gridiron, has won 7 state football titles at Falls City SH over the years, most recently in 2013 (D-2).
Sacred Heart avenged it's only loss of the season when they bested BDS 16-12 in the semifinals Monday night in Shickley, and they did with some different looks on both sides of the ball.
The Irish have the ideal setup for a successful 8-Man football program.....big boys up front. They feature not one, but two players topping 300 pounds in Robert Olberding (6-2, 311, Sr.) and hulking Bryant Jorn (6-5, 316, Sr.)
The Irish offense is run by sophomore QB Drew Bippes, who has just improved every single game this season. Bippes has completed 69% of his 134 passes for 1,296 yards and 24 TDs with only 6 INTS. The poised youngster is also a threat to run the football, having rushed for 587 yards and an additional 10 scores.
Bippes is especially effective when he runs behind Sacred Heart's Beast Package, which includes both Jorn and Olberding, plus 226 pound Theo Rohrer and 201 pound Michael Keithley up front.
Senior Christian Harring leads the Irish ground game with 796 yards and 15 TDs and is a dangerous receiver out of that backfield, having caught 15 balls for 195 yards and 4 scores.
Besides Harring and Bippes, Falls City SH has two other backs that have topped the 400 yard rushing mark in Sean Arnold (425-9 TDs) and Austin Ahern (410-4 TDs).
Drew Bippes favorite targets this fall have been......well, four different receivers, which makes it a virtual nightmare for opposing defenses.
5-10, 147 pound WR Emerson Keithley leads the Irish receiving corps with 20 catches, 284 yards and 7 TDs. That would be a touchdown every third reception in case you were wondering.
RB Sean Arnold is next with 264 yards and 4 scores, then WR Noah Keller (199 yards/4 TDs) followed by Christian Harring, out of the backfield with 195 yards and 4 TDs.
The rugged Sacred Heart defense is buoyed by big, mean defensive end Michael Keithley (110 tackles, 5 sacks and 2 blocked punts). Not far off Michael's pace is the hard jarring Austin Ahern, a 5-10, 209 pound linebacker, who has brought the wood to the tune of 106 tackles, a sack and an INT.
Mike Kozeal, with a lifetime football coaching mark of 143-58, has taken his Twin Loup co-op to the playoffs 4 times, but has won a state D-1 championship with Sargent in 2011 before they joined forces with Loup County to form the current Twin Loup.
Kozeal's current team is not as physically imposing as Falls City Sacred Heart, but plays with tremendous skill and precision and has simply gotten better by the week this season.
The Wolves reached the D-2 Final by turning back a good Sandhills-Thedford bunch, 18-8.
Their offense is paced by one of D-2's finest backs, junior Alex Horky. The 165 pound Horky, who has run for 1,920 yards and an amazing 38 touchdowns, is a master at reading and following his blockers. Horky's keen vision enables him to know exactly when to make that break for the end zone.
Horky loves to follow the crunching lead blocks of FB Michael Gibbens, who doesn't run the football too bad himself (636 yards/14 TDs)
The quarterbacking chores are handled by Horky's junior classmate, Rowdy Oxford, who has the perfect first name for a football player hailing from that section of the state.
Rowdy has thrown the ball only 77 times this year, but has been on target 49 times for 768 yards, 14 TDs, with only 1 measly INT. His favorite target is TE Marshall Gibbens, who has hauled in 13 of Oxford's aerials for 289 yards and 8 TDs.
Better think about that one for a second. Ole' Marshall not only averages 22 yards a catch but 60% of his receptions goes for a score. Frightening.
Hunter Kraus, another TE, is the 2nd leading pass catcher, having reeled in 15 receptions for 210 yards and 3 TDs.
On defense, honest to goodness, you may want to avoid Alex Horky and his backfield buddy, Michael Gibbens, all any cost. Gibbens, who plays linebacker, has logged a monster 144 tackles and an incredible 16 QB sacks and 32 tackles behind the line of scrimmage this fall.
Horky, who plays safety, has been in on 130 assisted tackles, leads the Wolves with 183 total stops. Throw in 2 sacks, 4 INTS and 4 recovered fumbles and you have a man with a nose for the football.
Something tells me that Mike Kozeal might think this current Twin Loup team may be one of the best he's ever coached. That is down right scary.
Another scary thing is when Doug Goltz decides to run his 4 lineman/3 linebacker defense with Jorn and Olberding anchoring the line. Osceola felt the brunt of that 4/3 defense in their 34-28 2nd Round loss to the Irish. Those 2 big boys just stuff anything up the gut. So just get to the edges, right? Oh, maybe not.
Goltz can run a different defensive package to prevent a man like BDS all-stater Kale Kleinschmidt from getting to the outside and that's saying something.
This shapes up to be a superb way to raise the curtain of the 2016 High School Football Championships.
Season Records
Twin Loup............................................................Falls City Sacred Heart
42 Sandhills-Thedford 23.....................................34 Nebraska City Lourdes 30
45 Anselmo-Merna 6............................................52 Weeping Water 6
62 Stuart 8..............................................................60 Parkview Christian 18
60 North Central 12..............................................60 Mead 8
48 SEM 12..............................................................58 Meridian 6
57 Pleasanton 18..................................................12 BDS 36 (loss)
68 Ansley-Litchfield 9...........................................67 Pawnee City 0
58 Central Valley 0...............................................61 Sterling 8
46 Wauneta-Palisade 14.....................................75 Friend 0
59 Garden County 6.............................................34 Osceola 28
29 Blue Hill 27.......................................................46 Bloomfield 12
18 Sandhills-Thedford 8......................................16 BDS 12
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