Eleven man and six man football classes begin play in the state football playoffs today while 8 man football in classes D1 and D2 move into the second round of the playoffs today.
Ansley/Litchfield has qualified for the six man football playoffs and will open on the road against Silver Lake today. It’s Ansley/Litchfield’s first season in six man football. Head coach Kurt Kulhanek visited with KCNI/KBBN sports this week and talked about how the Spartans have transitioned to the six man game.
“Before we started playing (this year) we knew there would be a transition but you think ‘Oh we’ll just get through it’ but once you get on the field it’s kind of a whole different deal. The third game of the year we kind of came out and we just decided we’re 0-2 because we started with SEM and Silver Lake and we decided we gotta go now or we’re never going to go so we made some adjustments, we’re really young, so we’re glad where we’re at. We’ve made the adjustments, worked hard, and gotten better every week.”
Silver Lake (6-2) and Ansley/Litchfield (5-3) met earlier this season back on September 6th with Silver Lake winning 34-14. Tonight’s game will take place in Bladen, NE and will be broadcast on KCNI 1280 AM / 96.3 FM / kcni1280.com / Free KCNI Pure Country app. Kickoff for the game is scheduled for 7 p.m.
KURT KULHANEK INTERVIEW
SEM is the top seed in the six man football playoff bracket. The defending state champs put together another undefeated regular season. SEM will host Wauneta Palisade today. The two met back on October 4th with SEM winning 48-20. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
South Loup will travel to Summerland today for a second round matchup in the Class D1 playoffs. Summerland is a school district based in Antelope County. The district’s service area includes Clearwater, Ewing, and Orchard. South Loup advanced to the round of 16 with a 22-14 win over Perkins County while Summerland advanced with a 45-8 win over Elkhorn Valley. Today’s game will be broadcast on KBBN 95.3 FM and kbbn.com. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Sandhills Valley will face top seed Sandy Creek in the D1 playoff bracket today. Sandhills Valley advanced to the round of 16 by knocking off previously unbeaten Pleasanton last week. The Mavericks will take on the challenge of another undefeated when they travel to Sandy Creek who advanced to the second round with a 63-14 win over Niobrara-Verdigre. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Sandhills/Thedford will continue their playoff run in Class D2 today when they host Axtell. The undefeated Knights are the #3 seed in the D2 bracket. The defending state champs advanced to the round of 16 with an opening round win over Maxwell 68-12. Axtell knocked off Mullen in the first round 44-20 to advance. A live video stream of tonight’s game will be available through sandhillsexpress.com on the Sandhills Express Facebook page and Sandhills Express You Tube Channel. Play by Play audio will be provided by Central Nebraska’s Sports Source. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Twin Loup will travel to Humphrey today for a Class D2 second round matchup against top seed Archangels Catholic. Twin Loup pulled off one of the top surprises last week in the opening round when they knocked off previously unbeaten Loomis 36-34. Today’s game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. kickoff.
Cozad begins play in the Class C1 playoffs. The Haymakers finished the regular season at 7-2 and are the #11 seed in the C1 bracket. Cozad will travel to Boys Town tonight. Boys Town finished the regular season at 8-1.
Links to playoff brackets for all classes are posted below
