Fan bases of the Sandy Creek Cougars and Sutton Mustangs are set up for a real treat this Friday night, as the two Clay County rivals will kickoff their respective seasons against each other beginning at 7 p.m. on the Mustangs home turf.
Sandy Creek comes into this annual clash with guns blazing winning the last two Class D1 state championships and owners of a combined 42-6 record since moving to the eight-man football ranks.
Both teams enter their fifth season of playing eight-man football, and it’s Sandy Creek that has fared the strongest, and sits on top of Class D1 as one of, if not the strongest program in the field of eightman teams in Nebraska, as the Cougars, after missing playoff action since the 2011 season, have grown into being the powerhouse team the past three season, and have advanced to the playoffs each of the last four seasons.
In contrast, Sutton has a combined record of 16-19 since joining the eight-man ranks, missing the playoffs in 2022 with their 2-6 record, and then bowing out of the post-season each of the past three season, finishing the 2023 season with a 3-6 record, finishing the 2024 season with a 5-4 record, and wrapping up last season with a 6-2 mark.
Sandy Creek was 6-4 in 2022, going 1-1 in the playoffs that year, before setting the stage for the past three magical seasons for the Cougars program. Sandy Creek was 11-1 in 2023, falling in the semifinals to Stanton 48-36.
That 12-point loss to Stanton fueled what has become one of the most dominant teams in the Class D1 field, winning back-to-back state championships, and avenging the 2023 loss to Stanton with a 44-42 win over Stanton in the D1 title game in 2024.
Sandy Creek stubbed their toes one time last season, suffering a 32-24 loss on the road at Shelby-Rising City.
The Cougars, however, quickly “righted the ship” and dominated through six more regular-season games and winning five playoff games, capped with a bonecrushing 66-26 win over Crofton in the D1 title game a year ago.
THROW OUTTHE RECORDS This Friday night in Sutton, one can easily say that throwing out the records of years gone by will be a fact, as the Mustangs and Cougars “duke it out” in the trenches.
The Cougars come in as the
preseason top ranked team in Class D1, while Sutton holds the number four ranking in the class.
Records mean little when it comes to the battles on the football field, or during any athletic contest between Sutton and Sandy Creek. Coaches will say, “both teams are 0-0,” no matter if it’s the first game of the season or the ninth. When Sutton and Sandy Creek compete, one can be assured that the competition will be fierce, it will be at a high level, and it will certainly get each of the teams best efforts out of each student-athlete on the field and it will be a “chess match” of sorts between the two coaching staffs on the sidelines of Friday night’s game.
While Sandy Creek has rolled past the Mustangs each of the past four years in eight-man play, the Mustangs, outside of a two-year break in the rivalry, during the 2012 and 2013 seasons, had won 10 of 11 games over the Cougars, dating back to the 2009 season, when both teams battled in 11-man play, in either Class C1 or C2.
Sutton had a pair of state runner-up season’s in Class C-2, finishing second in 2012. Their only loss during the 12-1 season that year for Sutton was to Aquinas Catholic in the championship game, falling 35-20.
In 2019, Sutton finished the year with an 11-2 record, falling only to Kearney Catholic during week six of the season, losing 27-14, and then falling 19-0 to Oakland-Craig in the Class C-2 championship.
Sutton’s lone loss to Sandy Creek since 2009 was a 35-28 Sandy Creek win in 2011, which was also the only time since 2009 that Sandy Creek qualified for the state playoffs in Class C1.
THIS SEASON
Sandy Creek and Sutton will play in two different districts this year, with the Cougars playing in the D1-6 District, against the likes of Arcadia/Loup City, Centura, Hastings St. Cecilia, and Ravenna. Sutton’s district D1-2 play is against schools east of Sutton, including Centennial, Conestoga, Elmwood- Murdock, EMF, and Freeman.
After the battle between the Cougars and Mustangs this Friday night, the Cougars’ season is loaded with a talented group of eightman teams. Sandy Creek returns home during week two to host the preseason third-ranked team in Johnson- Brock, Sept. 4, followed by the long road trip to fifth-ranked Pender, Sept. 11, and then returns home to host the D3 top ranked team, Central Valley, Sept. 18.
District play opens at Arcadia/Loup City, Sept. 25, followed by two home games against Amherst, Oct. 2, and a district home game with Centura, Oct. 9, before taking the short trip to Hastings’ Duncan Field to take on St. Cecilia, Oct. 16, and wrapping up the regular season at home against preseason ninth-ranked Ravenna, Oct. 23.
Sutton will head to Cross County, who is a ratings contender in Class D1 to start the season, as Sutton and Cross County play Sept. 4. The Elm Creek Buffaloes, also a D1 ratings contender, come to Sutton, Sept. 11, before the Mustangs head west Sept. 17 to take on the Buffaloes of Gibbon High School, before ending the month of September with the EMF Bobcats, the preseason sixth ranked team in the D1 field.
In October, Sutton has back-to-back road games, heading to Freeman, Oct. 2, and then heading to Elmwood- Murdock, Oct. 9, to play the preseason 10thranked team in Class D1. The final two games of the season bring the Centennial Broncos to Sutton, Oct. 16, before heading back east to take on Conestoga, Oct. 23.
THE PLAYOFFS
The Class D1 state playoffs, because there are now three eight-man divisions this year, have just four weeks of playoff games, instead of the traditional five-week run, which are set to begin Oct. 30 with the first round. The quarterfinal round Nov. 6,
