The records could be 0-7 and Friday night’s game would still be one of, if not the biggest games of the season.
That’s just the nature of the Nemaha Central-Sabetha rivalry. No matter the sport or the situation, whenever the Big Seven League arch rivals meet, the emotions are high.
“It’s just Seneca vs. Sabetha and people have these games circled all year,” Nemaha Central head football coach Michael Glatczak said.
Not that it needed any extra juice, but there’s plenty when the rivals close the 2023 regular season Friday night in Sabetha. Both teams not only go in with undefeated 7-0 marks, but also ranked No. 1 and 2 in the KSHSAA Covered rankings – positions they’ve held the entire season.
Bragging rights, a league championship and the Class 2A District 4 title are all on the line in this week’s KSHSAA Covered Game of the Week.
“It’s very similar to last year where we were undefeated and they had one loss,” Glatczak said. “Our first goal as a team is the Big Seven championship and then you also want a district championship, and that’s all there on Friday. I’m trying to get the kids too worked up about what’s on the line, but the kids know, the town knows, Sabetha knows, the whole state knows. It should be a really fun night against a great team.”
“I’m happy for our kids, happy for our program to be in this situation,” Sabetha coach Garrett Michael said. “I just want them to have fun and enjoy the moment. I want our kids to go out and do what we do on the field and if we do that, I’m going to be satisfied.”
Both teams have been nothing short of dominant in making their way to Friday’s clash unblemished. Nemaha Central hasn’t had a game closer than 24 points, a 24-0 win over Minneapolis. Sabetha’s closest game was a 24-8 win over Holton, which avenged one of the Bluejays three losses a year ago.
The other two came to Nemaha Central, which ended up 13-0 and the Class 2A state champion. In both meetings, however, Sabetha went toe-to-toe with the Thunder, including holding a halftime lead in their regular-season meeting which Nemaha Central eventually came back to win in the second half 24-7.
“Last year, we played right with them and last year, the better team won both games,” Michael said. “Sometimes when that happens, you tip your cap to them and they did what they needed to do and we didn’t. It’s a deal where they won the state championship and we lost to two teams that played for state titles, one that won and the other that got second. I thought we had the best season we could have last year and I was proud of our guys. But there’s no question we were right there and expect to be right there again Friday night.”
Sabetha returned a large senior class of 23 and eight starters on each side of the ball for the 2023 season. Boasting a big and experienced offensive line led by the brothers Grimm – Josh (6-6, 320) and Jacob (6-5, 300) – and four-year starters in Marcus Bauman and Christian McAfee, the Bluejays have simply lined up and muscled past opponent after opponent this season, outscoring their foes 274-43.
Colin Menold and Chase Frey have been a strong 1-2 punch in the ground game, rushing for a combined 1,334 yards and 16 touchdowns with Menold leading the way with 791 yards and 11 scores. Mitchell Kramer has thrown for 423 yards and 6 touchdowns in five games at quarterback with Bauman adding 5 TD passes while also leading the team with 177 yards and 4 TDs receiving, just ahead of McAfee (176, 2 TDs) and Menold (151, 4 TDs).
“We’ve been good on both sides of the ball and these seniors understand the foundation that’s been laid here,” Michael said. “They just go to work and have fun together and they’ve been a group that’s been successful all the way up from middle school on. What we’ve done doesn’t surprise me or surprised them. They have high expectations for themselves and when you have a veteran team like that, most of the times it’s going to turn out the way it’s turned out for us.”
A huge offensive line led by Josh Grimm (left) has helped Sabetha to a 7-0 record and No. 2 ranking in Class 2A.
Though not as senior-dominant as Sabetha, Nemaha Central is almost a mirror image of their rivals in terms of personnel and results. The Thunder also lean heavily on a big and experienced offensive line that returned four starters led by seniors Holden Bass (6-4, 290), Abe Hilbert (6-6, 21) and Josh Gonzalez (6-2, 240). The unit has paved the way for a ground game that’s produced 252.3 yards per game.
The workhorse in the backfield has been sophomore Carter Hajek, younger brother of last year’s meal ticket, Cooper, who earned All-State Top 11 honors after rushing for 2,094 yards and 42 touchdowns in leading the Thunder to the undefeated state title season.
After biding his time a year ago as a freshman, Hajek has exploded on the scene this year at quarterback and carried the Thunder offense, rushing for 1,264 yards and 25 touchdowns. He’s also thrown for 514 yards and 5 touchdowns and accounts for 76% of the team’s total offense and 30 of its 39 touchdowns.
“During his eighth-grade year we knew he was going to be something special,” Glatczak said of Hajek, who broke a toe in his left foot just before the Thunder’s preseason jamboree, but has shown no ill effects of the injury. “Last year, we had seniors in the backfield so he didn’t get the minutes. But we knew once he got his chance, he was going to do great things for us.”
Knowing Hajek’s ability, Glatczak expected the Thunder offense to be the strength of this year’s team despite graduating senior starters at every skill position. Defensively, he said there were more question marks after the loss of all four starting linebackers and big pieces in the secondary.
Instead, the defense has been lights out. After giving up a touchdown to Holton in a 31-6 win in the season opener, the Thunder haven’t allowed a point since. Nemaha is working on a string of six straight shutouts, during which it has outscored its opponents 257-0.
“I think there were more new faces on defense and we made some position changes, so that side of the ball has really impressed me,” Glatczak said. “Kids are really buying in to what Coach (Mark) Mayberry wants and it’s working so far.”
A bit of a question mark going into the season, Nemaha Central's defense has been smothering this season, allowing a state-low 6 points in seven games.
Juniors Abram Keim and Sam Nordhus filled the voids at linebacker and have led the Thunder in tackles, while the defensive front remains a strong suit despite losing All-3A lineman Connor Deters.
After graduating 10 seniors off last year’s title team, Glatczak has been more than pleased with how this year’s team has gelled and kept the train rolling. The Thunder have won 20 straight games going into Friday’s showdown, the second-longest active streak in the state behind Axtell’s 33 straight wins.
“Everybody knows we lost a very talented senior group from last year, but as the preseason went on, we’ve seen guys really step up,” he said. “Our line was going to be good, but our skill kids have really developed and our defense obviously has been really good.”
But he knows the challenge is huge on Friday.
“As a 2A I like to think we’re big, but Sabetha is even bigger than us up front,” Glatczak said. “They’re really well-coached and hopefully we can limit the penalties and limit the mistakes. The game is going to be won in that third and fourth quarter and hopefully we can do what we need to do to come out on top.”
“It’s a testament to both teams,” Michael said. “Both of us want to run and be physical and for both of us it starts with the run game and you should do that with both our offensive lines. It comes down to what I’ve said for years, time of possession – keep their offense off the field – and win the turnover battle. The team that does those two things most consistently probably wins the game.”