Blue Devils earn playoff rematch with Wildcats

The Wynot Blue Devils have found their way into the Class D2 playoffs despite having taken a few hits from COVID-19 this season.

When the Blue Devils could get on the field, they took care of business and that meant a 5-1 record which was good enough for being seeded third in the east side of the bracket and a 7 p.m. Thursday opening round home date with Winside (5-3).

“We know each other very well after playing last week,” Wynot head coach Steve Heimes said of his Blue Devils win. “It is tough to play a good team back to back because you know each others weaknesses well and you can try to exploit them more.”

The two teams bumped heads in last week’s season finale, a 46-20 Wynot win.

“We played well on both sides of the ball,” Heimes said. “We controlled the Line of scrimmage most of the night which was a big key to the game.”

Anthony Haberman (138 yards) and Owen Sudbeck (130 yards) were the lynchpins of the Wynot attack with the former scoring three times and the latter adding one of his own on the ground.

Dylan Heine also added a touchdown pass to Colin Wieseler to account for the Wynot attack.

“I think we are headed in the right direction in the playoffs, but we cannot rest or settle we need to keep pushing to get better each week and not underestimate any opponent,” Heimes said. “I feel our line is our strength on both sides of the ball. When they control the line of scrimmage, we are tough to beat.

“We need to keep working our depth so that they are playing at a high level of football.”

A look at the D-2 bracket isn’t as easy to predict a potential playoff journey.

“I feel there is a lot of good teams in D-2 so I don’t think anybody has an easy matchup for the first round of the playoffs,” Heimes said. “This year being different that after the first round, there is a reseed, 1 thru 16 across the state is good for D-2 football. It will get the best teams to Lincoln.”

Then of course, there is the obvious point of relief: That they are even playing this late into the season. “We talk with our kids all the time about the ability to play football and how awesome it is that we are able to play during this time,” Heine said. “I think we have to continue to play and give our kids hope to return to some sort of normal for the future.”

LCC Bears

The Bears are now 5-3 with last week’s 16-8 loss to Lutheran Northeast, but the late two-game skid did not keep LCC out of the playoffs this fall.

LCC (5-3) are the 11th seed in the east and will now head to Thayer Central (6-2) 2 p.m. Thursday to kickoff a hoped-for nice journey through the D-1 playoffs.

“They are a good team, a pretty balanced team,” LCC head coach Pat Arens said. “I like the matchup. I feel it will be a good challenge for us. We need to get a win in the playoffs.”

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