City Football Preview: Northeast
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By Brent C. Wagner / Lincoln Journal Star
Like a kid who was wearing a new pair of sneakers on the first day of school, Drake Thege looked at his football practice pants and flashed a proud smile after a workout on Monday.
The Lincoln Northeast football team had purchased some old Nebraska football pants at a UNL athletic department garage sale a few years ago to wear for practice, you see. The pants even have the red ‘N’ and adidas logo, and a few of the lucky guys even found labels on their pants that say which Husker player wore them.
How neat would it be to know you’re wearing the same pants Barrett Ruud or Trevor Johnson used to wear in Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoons?
“It’s pretty cool to have these pants,” said Thege, a senior linebacker and tight end.
Even cooler is how passionate the Northeast players get when they talk about the potential of their defense this season, and how they want to play with the same intensity as those defenders who used to wear their practice pants. Indeed, some of the traits that the Blackshirt defense has been known for over the years are what the Lincoln Northeast defense is striving for, too.
Come on, Charlie McBride fan, you know the qualities the players are talking about — speed, power, the ability to create turnovers and how physical they are.
“I think our defense will be known for how we jump around, how we get to the ball and pick up receivers quick,” Thege said. “I think we’re going to fly around a lot, get to the ball and knock some people around.”
Yeah, it’s obvious Northeast is trying to set the tone on defense this season while the offense tries to gel after losing two all-city linemen, an all-city tight end and 1,500-yard rusher John Fisher. Now the Rockets have to replace a quarterback too, after last year’s starter Brent Wells broke his leg at a camp this summer and will miss his senior season.
“Our defense will have to be stout this year, as our main losses come on offense,” Northeast coach Dave Svehla said. “We’re going to try to use our athleticism defensively. With that you run the risk of maybe giving up some big plays, but the benefit is you can gain some big plays too.”
Svehla says the starting linebackers — Tyson Grene, Tyler Schrader and Nick Broers — are the most physical group he’s had at that position in his five years at Northeast. Jake Cervantes and Trent Svehla at lineman and safety, respectively, have been earning rave reviews also.
Then there’s Brinson Steinhauser. Well, needless to say you don’t start at cornerback for three years at a Class A school without being able to make plays.
“Brinson is very solid, and we feel like we can count on him,” Svehla said. “Kids that you can count on at cornerback are few and far between because it’s such a hard position to play.”
Don’t think that all the playmakers are gone on offense, though. Tyler Collier and Trent Svehla at running back, and Logan Reising and Tyler McManaman at receiver give the Rockets multiple offensive threats that they didn’t always have last season, Dave Svehla says.
As of Tuesday Dave Svehla had not named a starting quarterback. However, Justin Svehla, not of immediate relation to the coach, is considered the front-runner.
The Rockets will find out how their mostly inexperienced squad will fare quickly — they play rival Lincoln North Star on Thursday night. The players are excited about the game, and are ready to prove that there will not be the fall off some folks are expecting from last year’s 7-3 playoff season.
“Our kids expect to succeed here, and the last few years we’ve done pretty darn well and I think the kids feed off of that,” Dave Svehla said. “They’re not looking to see who we lost. They’re just looking at the group that we have this year, and they see some pretty good football players and think there’s no reason that we shouldn’t be successful.”
Lincoln Northeast
Coach: Dave Svehla (54-26 overall, 24-15 at Lincoln Northeast)
Last year: 7-3
RETURNING STARTERS
Pos. Name Ht. Yr.
DL-OL Ryan Hitz 5-9 Sr.
LB-RB Logan Reising 5-11 Sr.
DB-WR Brinson Steinhauser 5-9 Sr.
DB-RB Trent Svehla 5-10 Sr.
DL-OL Jake Cervantes 6-1 Jr.
LB-OL Cole Pensick 6-2 So.
OTHER LETTERMEN
Seniors: Tory Berks, 6-0; Johnny Boutmahavong, 5-10; Nick Broers, 5-9; Elliot Bulling, 6-1; Will Highfield, 6-1; Jesse Howard, 5-8; Tyler Schrader, 6-1; Drake Thege, 6-5.
Juniors: Tyler Collier, 5-9.
SCHEDULE
Date Opponent, Time
Aug. 24 at Lincoln North Star (S), 7
Sept. 1 at Kearney, 7
Sept. 8 Fremont (B), 7
Sept. 15 at Omaha Burke, 7
Sept. 22 Lincoln High (S), 8
Sept. 29 Lincoln East (S), 8
Oct. 6 at Lincoln Southwest (S), 8
Oct. 12 Columbus (S), 7
Oct. 20 Norfolk (B), 7
Note: Seacrest (S); Beechner FIeld (B).
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