Nemaha Central Football

The Nemaha Central Thunder opened the 2019 high school football season slow out the gates losing two of their first three games to start the season off 1-2.

Those two losses though were to the two-time defending 3A State Champion Sabetha Bluejays and the Holton Wildcats who turned out one of the better seasons in Northeast Kansas in 2019.

After those two losses the Thunder made some changes and it seemed to work as Nemaha Central capped off 10 straight wins Saturday afternoon with a Class 2A State Championship victory over Norton in dominating fashion 19-0.

The title was the first in football for the Thunder since the consolidation of Nemaha Valley and Baileyville B&B back in 2014.

Nemaha Central and Norton both struggled offensively in the first half with the only score coming on a 31-yard pass from Dylan Schultejans to Tyler Gerety giving the Thunder a 7-0 lead at halftime.

Nemaha Central took control with two touchdowns in the third quarter on a 4-yard run from Gavin Duryea and a 17-yard pass from Schultejans to Bryce Uphaus giving the Thunder a 19-0 lead going into the fourth quarter.

The Thunder put the game away with two interceptions in the fourth quarter including one from defensive lineman Easton Emmons which gave the Nemaha defense five interceptions in the game while holding Norton to only 67 total yards off offense in the game.

Gavin Duryea had another big day on the ground for the Thunder with 130 yards and one touchdown, while Dylan Schultejans threw for 146 yards and two scores including one to Tyler Gerety who finished with four catches for 94 yards.

The defensive and offensive lines for Nemaha dominated throughout the game while Trent Schmitz was great with three sacks, one interception and multiple tackles for loss.

In the win the Thunder put themselves into the Class 2A record books with the second fewest yards allowed (67), sixth least rushing yards allowed (38) and tied for the most interceptions in a title game (5). 

The state championship victory was the perfect description of the Thunder with each guy stepping up and playing their roles and because of that Nemaha Central can forever call themselves Class 2A State Champions for 2019.