Columbus High football set to travel to Lincoln to face Fremont, Scotus to host Aurora
For a second time in Columbus High football's history, the Discoverers will take the field at Memorial Stadium at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
Columbus will play against rival Fremont for the F&C Cup Saturday. On Friday, the Scotus Central Catholic Shamrocks will host Aurora.
The 1-2 Discoverers will square off with the 2-1 Tigers starting at noon Saturday. 2-1 Scotus will start its game against the 0-3 Huskies at 7 p.m.
Coming off its first win of the season — beating Omaha South 59-13 — Columbus has had eight days to prepare for its Memorial Stadium showdown against Fremont.
"These practices are tough, they know we're going to be hard on them and now they have an extra day to rest. We're really going to be hard on them and you can tell it's Fremont week," Columbus coach Craig Williams said. "They're looking to forward to getting better this week and getting out there for the game."
While having an extra day, Columbus used Monday to focus on scouting the Tigers.
Fremont has had its best start to a season since 2021 going 2-1 through three games, picking up wins over Bellevue East 49-7 and Lincoln High 49-6 while losing to Omaha Westview 21-7.
"They've been successful so far this year," Williams said. "I'm pretty certain they lost to Westview, they probably felt like they were going to be 3-0 heading into this week. It's a team that does what they do very well. We're going to have to be very physical."
Through three weeks, Fremont has held opponents to 34 points with 21 scored by Westview.
"The key to this game the last two decades has been who wins the line of scrimmage," Williams said. "Offensively, we have to win at the line of scrimmage. We have to play physical up front and if we do those things we'll be fine."
On top of being a rivalry matchup, the Discoverers and Tigers are facing off at the home of the Huskers.
"They have to remember that the field is the same, back of the endzone to the back of the endzone is still 120 yards," Williams said. "The only difference is that the goalposts will be a little closer together. Other than that, after the first surge and you look into the crowd, wave to mom and dad, you kind of block that stuff out and concentrate on where you play the game."
The Tigers are seeking their first win over Columbus since 2015 with the two schools only meeting four times since their last win. Columbus beat Fremont last season 31-7 and currently have bragging rights in the rivalry.
For those attending the game, parking lots are set to open at 10 a.m. Columbus will be hosting a pregame pep rally in lot 12 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Parking maps and additional information regarding the pep rally and stadium policies can be found on columbuspublicschools.org .
The Shamrocks remain at home after a 33-14 home loss to Ashland-Greenwood and are now looking for a bounce back game against Aurora.
"Based on the way we have prepared this week, I feel like our boys are back in business," Scotus coach Tyler Linder said. "We will need to be better in a couple of areas in order to be successful. Our pass defense will need to be better as we face another dynamic passing attack from Aurora. We will also need to find ways of converting on third down."
Leading the Huskies is quarterback Booker Scheierman. The Shamrocks will look to try to limit the senior and keep Aurora scoring down.
"We need to find success on first down and try to make them one dimensional," Linder said. "It is really hard to eliminate a dual-threat QB from the game completely, but we will have to get pressure on him and be very disciplined on the back end of our coverage."
Aurora enters week four with a 0-3 record as the Huskies who are typically in the win column now seek their first win of the season. The Huskies have compiled a record of 58-16 since 2018, heading into this season.
"Make no mistake, Aurora is a good football team with a lot of pride and tradition," Linder said. "Once again, we are competing against one of the best coaches in the state. Kyle Peterson always finds ways to win. We cannot look at records. There is no time to look in the rearview mirror. Our only focus is on where we are heading Friday night."
The Huskies have lost 41-28 to Pierce, 33-14 to McCook and 66-24 to Wahoo.
To prepare for this week, Scotus' offense has put a focus on blocking with the entire offense not just the Shamrock linemen.
"I want us to win the battle of the trenches and make a huge stride in our perimeter blocking as well," Linder said. "We have a lot of maturing on the offensive line that we need to do in order to be a November football team. Blocking is not just an offensive line thing. We expect all of our players to be excellent in our run blocking and pass protection."
The Shamrocks seek a 3-1 start, with turnovers being the key to the game.
"We will need to extend our own drives on Friday," Linder said. "Our third down offense needs to be better and that comes from finding success on first down. We will also need to be better with our pass defense. At the end of the game, whoever wins the turnover margin and plays the cleanest game will be the victor. Great teams do not beat themselves."
