THE BULL
Nebraska’s annual state high school football playoffs, along with sub-district volleyball, will begin to close the curtain on the fall sports season this week. Volleyball postseason tournaments began this past Monday, while the football playoffs get underway this Friday night around the state in eight different classes.
Sandy Creek and Sutton had a unique setup in the Class D-1 State Playoffs, as the Cougars and Mustangs could square off in the second round of the tournament if they both can secure wins in opening- round action.
The two teams open the 2026 playoffs at home, with game times slated for 6 p.m. for each team. The Cougars will host the Ponca Indians on “The Hill” with the Cougars entering the playoffs with an 8-1 record, while the 5-4 Indians make the three-and-a-half hour, roughly 205-mile trek to Sandy Creek High School for the opening round.
Wisner-Pilger returns to south-central Nebraska for the football playoffs after traveling to Sandy Creek for a second-round game last season. The Cougars defeated the Gators 51-6 in that 2025 match up.
This year, the 7-2 Gators will make the 144-mile, approximately 2½-hour trip to face the 7-2 Sutton Mustangs.Sandy Creek is the second seed overall in the tournament,behind Johnson-Brock, who gained the top seed and is the only team that could stop the Cougars this year, earning a week-two 34-26 win at Sandy Creek.
Sutton enters the playoffs as the seventh overall seed, while the Gators prove to be the 10th overall seed.
SPEAKING OF TRAVELING
Playoff season often finds some schools traveling across the state, and this year is no different.
I was “roasted” several years ago on social media by people from the Nebraska Panhandle for sharing my thoughts on how far some schools have to travel for post-season games.
I’ll never forget that, as I was covering state wrestling when I shared my thoughts on travel distances for district girls basketball teams, specifically the girls district finals.
This fall season, as the football playoff pairings came out I am still blown away by how far some teams will travel this Friday for the first round of games.
The farthest is Auburn traveling to Chadron, an estimated 520 miles for the Bulldogs to travel to take on the Cardinals.
Omaha Gross Catholic heads to Scottsbluff, a trip that covers over 450 miles.
Six other teams, including Alliance, Hay Springs, Meridian, Aquinas Catholic, Mitchell and Leyton, will trek over 300 miles, one way, for their playoff openers.
I totally realize that Western Nebraska schools travel long distances all the time. Heck Cozad, for one of their regular season made the 270-mile trip to Chadron to play. It’s just how it works and plays out. Aquinas Catholic makes the trip to Hemingford, which covers 352-miles from David City to just north of Alliance.
Take, for instance, Omaha Gross traveling the 454 miles to Scottsbluff for their game. On Google Maps, if Gross Catholic had to play a team on the western side of Chicago, it would be a 471-mile trip for the Cougars.
I’m not complaining about the travel distances some teams have to look forward to this Friday, but you have to admit, it is mind boggling, at least it is to me.
GOOD LUCK
So as the Cougars and Mustangs open their postseason, and understand that in round two, the same two teams that opened the 2026 football season in Sutton with a 42-20 Cougar victory could very well face each other again, however, that game will be at Sandy Creek should the best of both worlds happen and Sandy Creek upends Ponca, while Sutton takes out Wisner-Pilger.
No coach in the world, nor should any players, look past this first playoff game, but I certainly can, to which I say to both teams, good luck.
Sandy Creek is searching for their third straight Class D-1 title, but to get to Lincoln for the Nov. 23 championship game, the Cougars need to win three games in order to defend their back-to-back state championship.
Again, good luck to the Cougars and to the Mustangs. Give’em heck on the field this week!
