2007 champ O. Central still seeking its first win
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By RYLY JANE HAMBLETON / Lincoln Journal Star
Less than a year ago, Jay Ball stood in Memorial Stadium, beaming as his Omaha Central Eagles celebrated their Class A state high school football championship.
Certainly, there were some outstanding players to replace this fall, but Ball and other Class A coaches thought Central would be a contender.
Instead, the Eagles have struggled, losing all six games. Central suffered narrow losses to Grand Island and Creighton Prep, both rated, but has lost by an average of 25.5 points in the other four games.
1. Creighton Prep (6-0) 1
2. Millard West (6-0) 2
3. Elkhorn (5-1) 4
4. Papillion-LV South (5-1) 5
5. Omaha Westside (3-3) 7
6. Omaha North (5-1) 3
7. Grand Island (5-1) 9
8. Bellevue West (5-1) 10
9. Omaha Burke (4-2) -
10. Millard South (3-3) 8
Class B Pvs.
1. McCook (6-0) 1
2. Lincoln Pius X (5-1) 4
3. Omaha Gross (5-1) 3
4. Waverly (5-1) 8
5. Beatrice (5-1) 2
6. Aurora (5-1) 5
7. Ogallala (6-0) 7
8. Crete (4-2) 10
9. Omaha Skutt (3-3) -
10. Schuyler (5-1) 6
Class C-1 Pvs.
1. Norfolk Catholic (5-0) 1
2. Hastings St. Cecilia (5-0) 2
3. Pierce (5-0) 3
4. Boys Town (5-0) 4
5. Syracuse (5-0) 5
6. Chadron (5-0) 6
7. Grand Island CC (5-0) 7
8. Broken Bow (4-1) -
9. Bishop Neumann (3-2) -
10. Wahoo (3-2) 9
Class C-2 Pvs.
1. Stanton (5-0) 1
2. Elmwood-Murdock (6-0) 2
3. Plainview (4-1) 3
4. Creighton (4-1) 4
5. Hartington CC (4-1) 6
6. Kearney Catholic (5-0) 7
7. Cambridge (4-1) 8
8. Blue Hill (4-1) 9
9. Archbishop Bergan (4-1) 10
10. Wakefield (3-2) 5
Class D-1 Pvs.
1. Howells (5-0) 1
2. Clarkson (5-0) 2
3. Elwood (5-0) 3
4. Clearwater/Orchard (5-0) 4
5. Freeman (5-0) 5
6. Burwell (5-0) 7
7. Franklin (5-0) 8
8. Eustis-Farnam (5-0) -
9. Giltner (4-1) -
10. Hemingford (5-0) -
Class D-2 Pvs.
1. Elgin (5-0) 1
2. Ewing (5-0) 2
3. Bruning-Davenport (5-0) 3
4. Humphrey St. Francis (5-0) 4
5. Hampton (5-0) 5
6. Hayes Center (5-0) 6
7. Anselmo-Merna (5-0) 8
8. Lawrence-Nelson (4-1) -
9. Shickley (4-1) 7
10. Ansley (5-0) -
COMMENTS
Class A
Contenders: Kearney, Lincoln North Star, Lincoln Southwest, Millard North, North Platte.
Comments: Omaha Burke stunned Omaha North 26-7, dropping the Vikings. Millard North suffered its fourth loss, 35-19 at the hands of Bellevue West, and drops out. Millard South, which lost to Creighton Prep after taking an early lead, tumbles.
Key games: Friday-Papillion-La Vista South at Bellevue West, Kearney at Elkhorn, Millard North at Omaha North.
Class B
Contenders: Blair, Gretna, Lexington, Ralston.
Comments: Lincoln Pius X and Waverly posted the biggest wins to shuffle the ratings. Pius X rallied to hand Omaha Gross its first loss, 15-14, and, combined with Waverly's 41-14 win against Beatrice, the Thunderbolts advance, Gross stays put, Waverly vaults from eighth to fourth and Beatrice drops three spots. Crete shut out Schuyler and moves up, and Omaha Skutt got an overtime win against Ralston to move in, bumping the Rams out.
Key games: Friday-Lincoln Pius X at Beatrice, Gretna at Omaha Skutt, Lexington at McCook.
Class C-1
Contenders: Bennington, Columbus Scotus, Gordon-Rushville, Gothenburg, Madison, Mitchell.
Comments: The top seven teams won to retain their spots. Broken Bow beat Gothenburg 28-20 to replace the Swedes, and Bishop Neumann edged Wahoo in overtime to move in. Gordon-Rushville drops out after losing to Mitchell.
Key games: Friday-Chadron at Gordon-Rushville, Battle Creek at Pierce.
Class C-2
Contenders: Aquinas, Elm Creek, Laurel-Concord, Loup City, Malcolm, Oakland-Craig, Ponca, Thayer Central.
Comments: Wakefield lost to Ponca 21-19 and tumbles but that was the only rated team to lose. Elm Creek and Malcolm are also unbeaten.
Key games: Friday-North Platte SP at Kearney Catholic, Stanton at Plainview.
Class D-1
Contenders: Axtell, Bancroft-Rosalie, Bertrand, Johnson-Brock, Maxwell, Overton, Palmer, Shelby.
Comments: The top five teams won to hold their spots. Overton lost to Bertrand, Bancroft-Rosalie lost to Clarkson and Silver Lake lost to Axtell and all three drop out, making room for Eustis-Farnam, Giltner and Hemingford, which switched to eight-man this season.
Key games: Friday-Burwell at Clearwater/Orchard, Maxwell at Elwood, Franklin at Silver Lake.
Class D-2
Contenders: Ansley, Chambers, Coleridge, Dodge, Falls City Sacred Heart, Pleasanton, Pope John, Prague, St. Mary’s, Sterling.
Comments: Lawrence-Nelson vaults into the ratings after beating Shickley 46-12. Elgin won the crosstown rivalry, beating Pope John 56-20 to knock the Crusaders out. Dodge lost its third straight game and drops out. Ansley is also undefeated.
Key games: Friday-Chambers at Elgin, Sterling at Falls City Sacred Heart, Dodge at Prague.
“If you had told me this would happen two months ago, I wouldn’t have believed you,” Ball said. “It’s been one of those years. We haven’t caught any breaks.”
There are factors beyond the control of coaches, particularly the schedule and injuries. Four of Central’s opponents this year are rated and the other two are or have been contenders.
“We’ve had a few injuries that hurt us, even before the season started,” Ball said. “We didn’t have any last year, but it caught up to us. It hasn’t been our year.”
When expectations are high and the results don’t come close, that may be a coach’s most difficult situation. How hard do you work the kids? Is there a fine line for constructive criticism?
“It’s hard. As a coach, you do some soul-searching,” Ball said. “My only answer is that you just have to keep working, keep trying. You tell the kids they have to buck up and try to get better.”
Does that translate into a different practice regimen or emphasis?
“You tend to say, ‘What can we do differently?’What can we do better during practice or in games?’ You evaluate the things you’ve done,” Ball said. “When it’s going as bad as this, you tend to evaluate the whole year, even the offseason work.”
Ball said the pressure of being the defending champion can take a toll.
“Sometimes when kids get put in positions of a little more pressure, things don’t work out that well,” he said. “We’re not done with this season. Technically, we’re still not out of it.”
It will be an uphill climb. Central is in District A-3 along with No. 2 Millard West, fifth-ranked Omaha Westside, ratings contender Papillion-La Vista, and Bellevue East and Omaha Bryan.
Things haven’t gone much better for Millard North, the state runner-up last year. The Mustangs also had a solid nucleus returning, including all-stater Nick Failla at quarterback.
But Millard North is just 2-4, with all four losses coming to rated teams. Their wins are against a pair of teams with a combined record of 1-11. Like Central, the Mustangs aren’t eliminated from playoff contention, but must contend with No. 4 Papillion-La Vista South, No. 6 Omaha North, No. 8 Bellevue West and No. 9 Omaha Burke in District A-4.
District reshuffle?
This year reinforces the idea that the Nebraska School Activities Association needs to review the policy on placing teams in districts in Class A. The current method places the 16 teams that belong to the Metro Conference in three districts, with the other 12 Class A teams divided into two districts.
The top three teams in each of the five districts qualify for the playoffs, along with the best fourth-place team.
That means every year two of those Metro districts have just five teams. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that it’s easier to finish third in a five-team district than in a six-teamer.
Some fuel to add to the redistricting fire is the woeful state of one of those Metro districts. Top-ranked Creighton Prep and No. 10 Millard South are joined by Omaha Northwest, Omaha Benson and Omaha South, each of whom was winless through the first five games.
Northwest just beat South, but it is conceivable that each of those three teams could finish with one win and a tiebreaker would determine which team qualifies. Or rather, which one would be the sacrificial lamb for the top-seeded team, which at this point looks to be Creighton Prep.
With gas prices what they are, it’s difficult to pitch additional travel. But if schools and their booster clubs would get on board, it wouldn’t have to be that painful.
Enrollment in Class A isn’t always a barometer of success. A far better plan would be to figure a three-year wild-card average and then serpentine the teams into the five districts. In basketball, the NSAA took the step last year to serpentine teams into districts based on the current-year wild-card average. The top teams had the best percentage to qualify for state, but it didn’t preclude a team from getting hot and winning the district title and a state berth.
A version of that plan may never happen in football, but there is certainly no reason that the advantage of having just five teams in a district should always be in the Metro.
Reach Ryly Jane Hambleton at 473-7314 or rhambleton@journalstar.com
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