Wood River and Raymond Central are breaking a long Nebraska high school drought

Two feel-good stories in the high school football playoffs are Wood River and Raymond Central.

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Both are in the Class C-2 quarterfinals, breaking long droughts.

Wood River is present for the first time since 1996. The Eagles (9-1) won their first district title since then by beating Doniphan-Trumbull before beating the Cardinals 42-30 in an immediate first-round rematch last Friday.

“These guys were 1-8 a year ago, so that means a lot,” Wood River coach Austin Raskamp said after the first win. “We always tell the guys, ‘Go 1-0 every week.’ We weren’t thinking about the district title, we weren’t thinking about going 8-1. We were just thinking about what we can do to improve this week? What can we do to be better today?” And that means a lot.”

Raymond Central (8-2) did it for the first time since 2000. The Mustangs — 2-7 last year — beat Boone Central, last year’s Class C-1 champion, 21-19 in Albion last Friday, stopping the Cardinals on a 2-point conversion.

Former Omaha Benson and Lincoln North Star coach Tony Kobza is in his third year with the Mustangs. His top assistant is former Lincoln Northeast and Lincoln Southwest coach Mark King, who returned to coaching after retiring as Elkhorn’s athletic director.

Kobza said last month that starting the season with a win over Fillmore Central, which was a road win in last year’s C-2 championship game, was a turning point.

“Faith just grew and grew and grew,” he said. “And it’s like anything — you see success and you want to do it again and again.”

The Raymond Central quarterfinals will be at Norfolk Catholic, which is riding a 36-game winning streak. Wood River hosts Kearney Catholic.

Dad’s double duty

The only thing that could have gone better in Terrence McKee’s first playoff game as coach was walking daughter Yolanda down the aisle.

They both happened on Friday night.

The Omaha Central coach came to Seemann Stadium in a suit, went to a wedding to give it away, came back to coach the game and came back for a reception.

The only thing that went wrong was the final score of the game. Central lost to Papillion-La Vista 14-7.

Comment ratings

Top 10/Class A: No. 9 Central and No. 10 Millard West ended their seasons.

Class B: McCook returns at No. 9 after previous No. 8 Elkhorn lost 35-14 to Elkhorn North. #7 Norris and #10 Gretna ended their seasons.

Class C-1: Chadron, which is back at No. 8, defeated Lincoln Christian 42-16 to move the Crusaders from eighth to 10th. Columbus Scotus is eliminated after second loss to Columbus Lakeview. No. 9 O’Neill, which lost to Auburn 9-7, and Lincoln Christian saw their seasons end.

Class C-2: #5 Oakland-Craig, #9 Valentine and #10 David City Aquinas saw their seasons end. Oakland fell to No. 3 Hartington Cedar Catholic 22-16, its third close game in four games against top-four teams. Wood River remains unranked as Doniphan-Trumbull and Boone Central (a 37-14 loss) were their only playoff opponents.

Eight Man-1: Nebraska City Lourdes won 36-33 at then-No. 3 Dundee County-Stretton, the Tigers drop to No. 9 and Lourdes is ahead of them at No. 8. Then-No. 6 Shelby-Rising City beat No. 5 Arapago 30-22, dropping the Warriors to No. 10 as no other team advanced. Plainview moved up from 10th to seventh by beating then-No. 9 West Point GACC 42-20, knocking the Jays out of the rankings.

Eight Man-2: No. 9 High Plains and No. 10 Bancroft-Rosalie ended their seasons. High Plains was seventh before losing to Overton 32-20.

Six Man: Diller-Odell returns at No. 9. No. 5 Pawnee City is ineligible for the postseason due to registration. No. 10 Ensley-Litchfield is the only other team not to advance to the quarterfinals.