The Sandhills/Thedford Knights will face Wynot today for the Class D2 state football championship at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. This marks the third appearance in the last four years in the D2 championship game for Sandhills/Thedford. The Knights were state runners up in both 2020 and 2021. Sandhills/Thedford is 11-1 with their only loss coming in the regular season against South Loup. The two met again in the state semifinals with Sandhills/Thedford picking up the victory. South Loup took an early lead in the semifinal matchup scoring on their first offensive play and built a 12-0 lead in the opening quarter. Sandhills/Thedford head coach Tyson Cox visited with KCNI/KBBN sports and said the poise his team showed after falling behind early was a key factor to the win.
“I thought it was huge. I never felt like you looked in their faces and seen that they were down and out. We went in at halftime and there was no…I never had any feeling like they didn’t think they could do it. You could just see it in their face that they were determined to do it and they did.”
The Knights are averaging just over 53 points per game this season, 394 yards per game, including 295 yards rushing per game. Quarterback Kyle Cox has filled up the stat sheet this season entering today’s game with 2414 rushing yards for the season including 49 rushing touchdowns. Cox has also thrown for 970 yards this season and has 11 passing touchdowns. Coach Cox said their offensive success all starts up front on the line of scrimmage.
“That’s kind of been their MO all year. That’s what we want to do is win the line of scrimmage. Winning the line of scrimmage against South Loup is not an easy task and I don’t know if we necessarily won it all game long. We won it when it counted though and that was huge. That’s where it all starts for us is right there on the line of scrimmage with those big guys that do such a good job for us.”
The Knights will face undefeated Wynot for the D2 title. This will mark Wynot’s first appearance in a state championship game. The Blue Devils are led by quarterback Dylan Heine who has thrown for over 2,000 yards this season and has 25 touchdown passes this season. Cox said that Wynot will present a little different look than what they have faced for most of the season.
“They’re a little bit different than what we’ve seen all year. They like to throw the ball around a lot. The quarterback does a good job of getting the ball out of his hand and finding receivers. They’re tall and athletic kids. We just have to match their athleticism. I think we can hopefully win the physical side. That’s what we’re kind of going for is just to be physical and win the line of scrimmage and get pressure on the quarterback. I think that will be big.”
Today’s D2 state championship game between Wynot and Sandhills/Thedford will be broadcast on KBBN 95.3 FM and kbbn.com. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:45 p.m.
Listen to our full interview with S/T head coach Tyson Cox.
