It’s round two of the Class D2 eight-man state football playoffs. It will be an all-area matchup tonight in Merna when Anselmo-Merna hosts Sandhills/Thedford at Clark Adams Field. This will be the second meeting between the two this season. They met in the season opener back on August 29th with AM winning 36-34. Anselmo-Merna is now 8-1 and have won their last five after defeating Lyons Decatur Northeast in round one of the playoffs 58-22. The Coyotes feature a powerful running attack led by Dane Duryea who is among the state leaders averaging 190 yards rushing per game. Anselmo-Merna head coach Troy Gilligan visited with KCNI/KBBN radio and shared the keys to what has made the running game so effective.
“Yeah, mainly it’s just the guys up front buying in. It’s always tough to be the guy in the trenches that maybe doesn’t get your name in the paper, but they keep grinding, they keep working. They do an excellent job up front controlling the line of scrimmage. And then when you have a back like Dane Duryea behind them, it makes their job easy too.”
Sandhills/Thedford is 7-2 on the season and have won six in a row. The Knights advanced to the second round with an impressive 46-12 win over Winside last week in the opening round. Sandhills/Thedford also features a powerful running attack led by Maurice Robinson who is averaging 163 yards rushing per game. Sandhills/Thedford head coach Tyson Cox visited with KCNI/KBBN sports and shared how the Knights have changed and improved since week one.
“On the outside looking at it, we moved Maurice to quarterback. So we’ll have a different starting quarterback than we did the first time we played. We were plugging in a lot of young guys trying to figure out where they fit to gel the best. We’ve tried different situations and scenarios. I think for us, we’ve got it down to where we do the best right now.”
Tonight’s game between Anselmo-Merna and Sandhills/Thedford will be broadcast on KBBN 95.3 FM and kbbn.com. A live video stream of the game, accompanied by the radio call, will also be available through sandhillsexpress.com on the Sandhills Express Facebook Page and Sandhills Express You Tube Channel. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
INTERVIEW WITH COACH GILLIGAN
INTERVIEW WITH COACH COX
Twin Loup will go on the road tonight to face the #3 seed in the bracket Hitchcock County. The Wolves are now 6-3 on the season after knocking off Neligh-Oakdale in the opening round 56-22. Twin Loup finished with 316 yards rushing in their playoff win and held Neligh-Oakdale to just 91 yards rushing. Twin Loup head coach Mike Kozeal told KCNI/KBBN sports that he was very pleased with the play up front at the line of scrimmage.
“Yeah, we did. We thought we had an advantage going into the game in the line. We felt like we could be more physical and, you know, I just felt like we were better up front. I didn’t know how our defensive line would do. I didn’t know we’d get that much pressure, but we got a lot of pressure on the quarterback and caused them to throw the ball early, which turned into a lot of turnovers, which really helped us out. So were extremely pleased with our offensive and defensive line play on both sides of the ball.”
Hitchcock County is undefeated and advanced to the second round of the playoffs with a 42-14 win over Franklin last week. Tonight’s game will be broadcast on KCNI 96.3 FM / kcni1280.com / Free KCNI Pure Country App.
INTERVIEW WITH COACH KOZEAL
In other area playoff action, Mullen will travel to Wynot. The Broncos are 8-1 after knocking off Maxwell in the first round 54-13. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. central time. The Mullen / Wynot winner will advance to play the winner of Twin Loup / Hitchcock County.
Burwell continues its playoff run today when they travel to O’Neill to face #4 seed St. Mary’s. The two met back in week #2 with St. Mary’s pulling away for a 52-12 win. The Burwell / St. Mary’s winner advances to the quarterfinals where they will face the winner of Anselmo-Merna / Sandhills/Thedford.
SEM begins play today in the six man football playoffs. The Mustangs finished the regular season at 6-2 and will host Potter-Dix (5-3). Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. The winner will advance to the quarterfinals to face the winner of Southwest vs Lewiston.
