Plattsmouth recorded its first undefeated regular season in nearly 40 years, but it took a big game by the Blue Devils' undersized backup running back last week to get to 9-0.
Connor Hudson, who's 5-foot-5 and 140 pounds, ran for 146 of his 172 yards after halftime of the Class B No. 4 Blue Devils' 28-7 district-title win at Waverly. He was in the game after senior Gage Orton, a 1,000-yard rusher, left early in the second half with an ankle injury.
News Channel Nebraska reported that Orton was removed as a precaution and that coach Bob Dzuris said Orton will be held out of practice until late in the week and should be ready to go for Friday's home playoff game against Bennington. The Blue Devils beat Bennington 35-0 during the season.
After the win at Waverly, the Blue Devils presented Dzuris with the game ball.
"The 9-0 hasn't sunk in yet. I'm so excited for these players," Dzuris said. "I talked to my wife and both my sisters, who are here for the first time, and I said, 'Hey, it only took 31 years to get a perfect season.' It's crazy."
Undefeateds
Plattsmouth is undefeated for the first time since 1976. Next for the longest period between undefeated seasons is Class C-2 Gibbon, which is 9-0 for the first time since 1989.
Four teams also were undefeated in 2014: C-1 Wilber-Clatonia, C-2 Battle Creek, Eight Man-1 Creighton and Eight Man-2 Garden County. Class B Elkhorn South, Eight Man-2 Chambers/Wheeler Central and Six-Man Riverside notched their first.
As for the others, here's when each recorded its most recent perfect regular season before this year:
2013: Eight Man-1 BDS. 2011: Class C-1 Norfolk Catholic (won state), C-2 Hastings St. Cecilia. 2010: Class B Aurora. 2009: Class A Millard West (won state), C-1 Boys Town. 2005: Eight Man-1 East Butler and Amherst. 2004: Class A Bellevue West. 2001: Eight Man-1 Perkins County (as Grant).
All-state teams
The Nebraska Coaches Association has released its all-state teams for girls golf, boys tennis and boys and girls cross country:
All-state girls golf: Kirsten Baete, Beatrice; Kaylei Becker, Cozad; Rachel Blauert, Sidney; Lacie Fox, West Point-Beemer; Faith Harris, Grand Island; Ricki Hickstein, Chadron; Hannah Holloway, Scottsbluff; Lidia Jons, Lincoln Southwest; Elyse Keller, Adams Central; Brandi Lemek, Doniphan-Trumbull; Rachel Peabody, Elkhorn South; Kendra Placke, Seward; Shelby Poynter, Scottsbluff; Grace Rasmussen, Millard South; Spencer Roach, Papillion-La Vista; Murphy Sears, Crete; Nia Station, Omaha Burke; Morgan Thiele, Kearney Catholic.
All-state tennis - Class A first team: William Gleason, Lucas Dionisopoulos, Lincoln Southwest; Thomas Kennedy, Nathan Singh, Brett Slezak, Omaha Creighton Prep; Mason Williams, Lincoln East. Second team: Dillon Ketcham, Omaha Westside; Benjamin Faulk, Raymond Thai, Grant Hubbard, Millard North; Alex King, Omaha Creighton Prep; Duncan Works, Lincoln Southwest. Class B first team: Jacob Weber, Gretna; Matt Amao, Jackson Hitzemann, Alex Stoupa, Elkhorn Mount Michael; Haydn Muir, Elkhorn; Max Prochaska, Ralston. Second team: Grayson Arnold, Lincoln Christian; Mason Meier, Elkhorn South; Quinton Tarrence, Austin Pfeil, Elkhorn; Noah Bernal, Grand Island Central Catholic; Logan Baumberger, Elkhorn Mount Michael.
All-class all-state boys cross country-Class A: Seth Hirsch, Josh Klein, John Quigley, Andrew Dubas, Millard West; Milo Greder, Omaha Westside; Wyatt McLeod, Lincoln Northeast; Zach Lundberg, Omaha North; Andrew Vasquez, Omaha Burke; Abram Turner, Evan Johnson, Lincoln Southeast; Jacob Norris, Papillion-La Vista; Jared Yost, Lincoln Pius X; Jake Ralston, Papillion-La Vista South; Sage Reiger, Fremont; John Slagle, Omaha Creighton Prep. Class B: Jackson Larsen, Omaha Gross; Austin Yardley, Elkhorn; Josh Hergenreder, Scottsbluff. Class C: Tylin Masco, Milford. Class D: Elija Frasher, David City Aquinas. Class B all-state: John Mark Shields, Lexington; Grant Moody, Aurora; Corhan Kress, Plattsmouth; Zach Hytrek, Elkhorn Mount Michael. Class C all-state: Nathan Ostdiek, Columbus Scotus; Jaco Henning, Ogallala; Hunter Jensen, Milford; Edward Grentz, Mitchell; Grant Johnston, Blake Johnston, O'Neill. Class D all-state: Colt West, Omaha Christian; Nolan Kohmetscher, Brennan Nokelby, Nebraska Christian; Riley Ruskamp, Wisner-Pilger; Justin Vrooman, Hastings St. Cecilia; Alex Araujo, Bayard.
All-class all-state girls cross country-Class A: Taylor Somers, Millard South; Diana Lado Andrea, Lincoln North Star; Katherine Williams, Omaha Marian; Elsa Forsberg, Lincoln Southeast; Willa Koenig, Ellie Beiermann, Lincoln Pius X; Megan Means, Norfolk; Kaitlynn Johnson, Gabrielle McGinn, Millard West; Anna Milton, Papillion-La Vista South. Class B: Mazie Larsen, Gretna; Erin Lee, York; Whitney Riesen, Scottsbluff; Rebekah Rawlings, Gering; Emily Johnson, Elkhorn South; Jonna Bart, Aurora; Allison Goos, Columbus. Class C: Taya Skelton, Fort Calhoun. Class D: Haley Arens, Crofton; Madison Lambley, Dundy County-Stratton. Class C all-state: Zoe Ritz, Ord; Sophia Conant, Adams Central; Lucia McKeag, Ogallala; Ashlynn Baker, Boone Central/Newman Grove; Kiya Passero, Chadron; Celeste Cardona, Mitchell. Class D all-state: Madison Quist, Doniphan-Trumbull; Collette Williams, Lincoln Christian; Katie Cumpston, Nebraska Christian; Paige Thelen, Stanton; Chloe Korth, Ainsworth.
Classification committee
The Nebraska School Activities Association's classification committee will hold its second meeting Wednesday in Grand Island. The three representatives from each of the six NSAA legislative districts first met in July.
Committee members, by district:
District 1: Wendy Henrichs, Lincoln East; Tim Aylward, Lincoln Pius X; Dana Wiseman, Sutton.
District 2: Bob Reznicek, Boys Town; Jeff Johnson, Papillion-La Vista South; Dan Endorf, North Bend.
District 3: Jay Bellar, Battle Creek; Todd Strom, South Sioux City; Jon Cerny, Bancroft-Rosalie.
District 4: Mark Skillstad, North Platte St. Patrick's; Dave Barrett, Adams Central; Jason Alexander, Ord.
District 5: Dennis Shipp, Bertrand; Jon Davis, Alma; Kyle Hemmerling, Elwood.
District 6: Troy Unzicker, Alliance; Gus Brown, Valentine; Mike Brockhaus, Sidney.
Four of the 18 are from Class A basketball schools, two from Class B, five from Class C-1, three from C-2 and two each from D-1 and D-2.
On Wednesday's agenda are enrollment ratios, number of classes by activity, separation into boy and girls enrollments, one- or two-year classification cycles, class cutoffs by enrollments or by a set number of schools, football classification issue, school opt-ups and public-private school issues.