Lakeview football to host high-scoring Central City in C-1 quarterfinals
With a win over Scotus Central Catholic last Friday, the Lakeview football team earned itself another week and another game in the Class C-1 playoffs.
The No. 4 seeded Vikings host No. 5 Central City, today, Nov. 8, in the state quarterfinals with the opening kickoff set for 7 p.m.
"It's fun to get a new opponent this year, we get to play a team we haven't played in a couple of years," Lakeview coach Kurt Frenzen said. "It's exciting when you get to see new faces."
The Bison of Central City are coming off a 49-14 win over Fort Calhoun in the opening round of the playoffs while Lakeview beat Scotus 14-7 in its first round match.
The lone loss in Central City's 9-1 season came in a 56-55 overtime loss to Cozad while Lakeview remains unbeaten at 10-0.
Central City's offense has been one of the best at the C-1 level this season with its season-low scoring total coming in a 36-19 win against Broken Bow. The Bison have scored more than 40 points in eight games this season and more than 50 five times.
"A good offense makes you defend the field and they make you defend every square inch of the field," Frenzen said. "That's the biggest thing, they really try to stretch you vertically and horizontally."
The Bison offense has been fairly even with running and passing this season as they have recorded 2,349 yards through the air and 2,257 yards on the ground.
With the balanced offense, Lakeview's defense will be forced to defend both equally.
"I feel like Scotus did good of that as well, they wouldn't let you load up on either run or pass," Frenzen said. "I think it's a lot of the same things, it just comes back to everybody needing to do their job and you can't go out there and peak at someone else's job because they'll burn you."
Of the 2,247 rushing yards for the Bison this season, 1,743 have been recorded by junior Corbin Kyes. Along with the rushing yards, Kyes has run for 24 of the team's 29 rushing touchdowns.
"They have a really good running back and they can make you defend every gap in the run game," Frenzen said. "He really does a great job running behind the shoulder pads and in space. Most high school backs are good at one or the other and I can honestly say he's really good at both."
Lakeview enters the game against Central City with not much of a change in preparation as the Vikings defense has been strong this season, but the Vikings are looking to cut down on offensive mishaps.
"It's the same message, we need to play assignment football on defense and on special teams," Frenzen said. "On offense, we need to limit our mistakes and we haven't been great at that. We had too many mistakes in the first playoff game and we need to get those things fixed."
Barring a Sidney loss against Chadron Friday, this will be the Vikings' final game at home of the 2024 season.
"Anytime you play at home in this time of the year, it's a great thing. Your routines are really set in place," Frenzen said. "The routine of everything is good for us."
The keys for Lakeview against the Bison are to handle the ball on offense and not get down when Central City lands a shot against Lakeview's defense.
"I just want to see us come out and do the things on offense that isn't going to put (Central City) in a great position," Frenzen said. "We want to take care of the football, limit our mental mistakes, and they're a team that can score points in a hurry. They're going to have some big plays and we need to understand that is going to come a bit and be tough enough to overcome those things."
