Ten weeks ago, Kirk Peterson says, he and his Millard West football staff half-wondered if they would win another game.
The Wildcats, Class A’s defending state champs and preseason No. 1, had a 1-2 record after back-to-back losses of 24-7 and 28-0.
But the Wildcats since have reeled off nine straight wins to reach Monday’s Class A final against rival Millard South, the same team they beat for the title a season ago. Over a seven-week stretch, they averaged just under 49 points a game.
This from a team that totaled 19 points in its first three games.
“It seems like we’re in a completely different season,” running back Darius Evans said. “I don’t really even remember those games.”
Evans was one of the few key holdovers from last year’s championship team. The Wildcats lost four first-team All-Nebraska players: do-everything wide receiver Tyler Niederklein, running back Kohlman Adema-Schulte and linebackers Jake Herweyer and Charles Viers. They also lost starting quarterback Nate Hauptman, four of five starting offensive linemen and nine defensive starters.
So they didn’t panic over their slow start — even after falling behind then-No. 2 Omaha Burke 28-13 in the first half of their fourth game.
“That whole week of practice before the Burke game, we didn’t feel down,” running back Vincenzo Guido said. “Coach Pete was yelling at us all week, messing around and telling us how bad we were. But even at halftime of that game, we weren’t thinking ‘we’re going to lose another game.’”
They didn’t — they scored 46 straight points and beat the Bulldogs by 28. Guido scored on touchdown runs of 23 and 95 yards. Evans caught an 80-yard touchdown pass. And maybe most important, Peterson said, the retooled offensive line started to see its potential.
The offense “just started clicking,” Peterson said. “Everyone kind of got a bounce in their step and realized, ‘we’re all right.’”
One key to the Wildcats’ growth has been the quick recovery of wide receiver Brian Buttry. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound senior suffered a knee injury last spring that Peterson feared might knock him out for the season. Instead, he startled doctors by returning in time for the Burke game. Buttry has 357 receiving yards and six touchdowns, including a score in last week’s 35-14 semifinal win over Lincoln Southwest.
At running back, the combination of the 6-1, 185-pound Guido and the 5-9, 170-pound Evans made up for the loss of Adema-Schulte, a 1,000-yard rusher last season. Guido has run for 1,274 yards, and Evans has added 897 rushing yards and 424 receiving yards with 17 total touchdowns.
At quarterback, Peterson’s staff decided early in the season to go with junior Zach Whitham instead of senior Zach Leinbaugh.
The 6-2 Whitham gave the Wildcats more size in the pocket than the 5-10 Leinbaugh. And Leinbaugh, freed up to focus on playing defense and returning kicks, has been a big-play threat all season. He returned an interception 100 yards for a touchdown against Lincoln Southwest. He also brought back a punt 76 yards for a score in the comeback win over Burke and returned a kickoff 86 yards for another score in a 56-38 win over then-No. 5 Papillion-La Vista.
With the big personnel losses from last season, Peterson said he knew it might not all come together quickly this season.
“You read previews and comments that say ‘All they do is reload.’ That’s just not true,” Peterson said. “You don’t just put five new guys in there and have the right chemistry and have them understand how fast the game moves. It just took us a lot of time to understand how fast things were.”
Now, though, the Wildcats are back in the title game for the fifth time in 12 years. And this team does have players with big-game experience. Evans and Guido both played roles in last year’s title. Evans returned the state final’s opening kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown. Guido was the team’s third-leading rusher with 49 yards.
“We’ve been there before,” Evans said. “It won’t be anything too different or new. “
Nor will the opponent. The Wildcats beat Millard South 21-8 in last year’s title game. The Patriots were the team that handed Millard West its 28-0 beating in early September.
“They’ve been on a mission this year,” Peterson said. “And they’re as good a team as I’ve seen in the last several years. We’ve got our hands full.”
Contact the writer:
850-0781, nickrubek@hotmail.com
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