In what was one of the games of the year last season we get the rematch Friday night with a spot in the Class 2A State Championship on the line as No. 3-ranked Nemaha Central hosts No. 1-ranked Rossville.

It’s a rematch from the second round of the playoffs a year ago where the Thunder outlasted the Bulldogs in overtime 29-21 but this season the stakes are much higher with both teams riding hot streaks.

Nemaha Central has won seven straight games since a 1-2 start to the year and last week grinded out a 7-0 win on the road at Osage City.

The Thunder scored the only points of the game on a 3-yard run by Zac Kramer which was set up after a long run by Gage Palic.

Palic had 58 yards rushing and 21 receiving to pace the Thunder and Kramer threw for 189 yards hitting five different receivers. Tyler Gerety had 87 yards on six receptions while Landen Baker hauled in 67 yards on his three catches. 

On the season Kramer has thrown for 1,566 yards and 11 touchdowns to 7 interceptions, while he is nearing 1,000 yards rushing with 18 touchdowns. Palic has added six scores on the ground while Gerety has caught 45 passes for nearly 900 yards and six scores.

Gavin Gudenkauf leads Nemaha Central defensively with 51 tackles and two interceptions while Palic is second with 38 stop and four picks.

Rossville meanwhile has yet to suffer a setback this season with only two close games including a 58-57 win over Rock Creek in week two and a 50-35 win over Silver Lake in week seven.

Last week the Bulldogs blew out St. Mary’s Colgan 56-7 as four different Rossville players scored their first four touchdowns of the game.

Junior quarterback Torrey Horak threw for 144 yards and three touchowns and added 89 yards rushing and two more scores. Woodrow Rezac and Tyree Sowers each ran for a score and caught a touchdown pass.

On the season Horak has thrown for 1,134 yards and 21 touchdowns to just two interceptions while he has done most of his damage with his legs running for 1,339 yards and 27 touchdowns. Rezac has added 830 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground while Corey Catron has run for 635 yards and 12 scores.

Bo Reeves leads the receiving core with 351 yards and eight touchdowns while Rezac has added 271 yards and five trips to the end zone.

Defensively the Bulldogs are led by Kaiden Brown who has 61 stops on the year and five tackles for loss while Catron is right behind with 57 tackles and four stops behind the line.

The winner of Friday night’s sub-state game will represent the East in the 2A title game next weekend in Salina with kickoff for Friday scheduled for 7 p.m. in Seneca with live coverage on 92.1 KMZA.