Way-Too-Early Look at Nebraska’s Wildcard Standings
As we wrap up the third week of regular season play in Nebraska, some class leaders are starting to emerge in the wildcard standings. Of course, this comes with one big caveat: these standings are subject to change. Still, there…
Access all of Prep Dig
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingAs we wrap up the third week of regular season play in Nebraska, some class leaders are starting to emerge in the wildcard standings. Of course, this comes with one big caveat: these standings are subject to change.
Still, there are some top-tier teams rising up the leaderboard in these early-season standings. If anything, this is an excellent way to get a broad view of the big winners we’ve seen so far this fall and look ahead at which teams will be vying for a postseason bid.
Here’s the breakdown.
Class A
This is new territory for the Spartans.
I think we’ve all grown accustomed to seeing an Omaha metro team at the top of the Class A wildcard standings. Heck, Papillion-La Vista South held that spot throughout all of last year by virtue of never losing a match. There’s now a new frontrunner, though, and that #1 spot belongs to Lincoln East.
Aside from a loss to Omaha Westside during pool play of the Bellevue West Invite, the Spartans have had a perfect start to their first nine matches. Of course, that includes a championship at that Bellevue West tournament and also factors in wins against intra-city rivals Lincoln Southeast, Lincoln North Star, and Lincoln Pius X. We saw some flashes of progress from Lincoln East over the past couple of seasons, but this is where the program’s veteran group has really started to put things together.
Speaking of Lincoln teams, the only undefeated Class A team left standing is Lincoln Southwest at the #2 wildcard spot. This is a stark response to any doubts that the Silver Hawks could replicate last year’s tournament appearance after losing some impactful seniors. Keep an eye on this bunch.
There are a few other new contenders in the wildcard standings to watch moving forward. Lincoln Southeast has made a dramatic turnaround to begin 2022 and is riding high in the early-season hierarchy. Meanwhile, Omaha Westside resides in this week’s top five after coming into the season as a popular championship pick.
Class B
The current top two in Class B are unlikely to surprise many people.
Elkhorn North leads the way so far. The Wolves have played a tough schedule to kick off 2022, including several contests with Class A competitors to open the season. It was no secret coming into this fall that Elkhorn North boasted some serious firepower, and that has materialized during this initial run to the top.
Norris is not going away after last year’s runner-up finish, either. The Titans are 11-0 and, much like Lincoln Southwest, are putting together an extraordinary start after losing some trailblazing athletes from the 2022 class.
In its quest for the eight-peat, Omaha Skutt Catholic still finds itself in the top four after a few weeks of action. Seward is the pleasant surprise of the top group, as the Bluejays sit third and have started off 9-2.
Class C1
We have a lot of goose eggs in the loss column to address here.
A huge log jam in the C1 wildcard standings is headed up by North Bend Central, which is currently 11-0. This looks to be a momentous all-around year for the Tigers after many of its volleyball players also helped propel the school to a girls’ basketball championship last spring. All they do is win.
Gothenburg also looms large in the top C1 group after making waves in the state tournament a year ago. The Swedes are trotting out a similar roster that experienced some of that tournament success, so I’d expect the Swedes to maintain their presence among C1’s elite. This season’s 7-0 start backs that up.
And we still have more to cover in the undefeated ranks. St. Paul already got a mention earlier this week for its fast start to 2022. Elsewhere in small-town Nebraska, Minden is proving tough to conquer after ten matches and no losses.
Powerhouses like Kearney Catholic and Grand Island Central Catholic are still up here, too. These two teams are quietly taking care of business and have proven that they know how to peak when the time is right. For now, the pair will fight for the peak of Class C1’s wildcard standings.
Class C2
More familiar names highlight the Class C2 standings.
Defending C1 champion Lincoln Lutheran is having no problems adjusting to life in a new class. The Warriors are 11-0 and have found a comfortable spot as the C2 leader. With the way Lincoln Lutheran is playing right now, it might be hard to bump this squad out of the #1 position before we hit the postseason.
Cross County and Bayard are a couple of fun frontrunners that have posted starts of 4-0 and 5-0, respectively. We’ll know more about these teams when we get a larger sample size of matches, but this is obviously a good start for the pair.
Four of last year’s tournament participants follow Cross County and Bayard in the C2 wildcard leaderboard. Archbishop Bergan, another new addition to Class C2, has started 11-1 after last year’s runner-up finish in D1. Closely trailing Bergan are Sutton, Amherst, and defending C2 champion Oakland-Craig.
Class D1
We’re setting up for quite a wildcard race in Class D1.
Norfolk Catholic is leading the pack and has delivered on some of our preseason hype. In a class that has only one undefeated team left standing–more on that in a moment–the Knights are in a great spot at 7-1 and have a host of high-quality victories.
The aforementioned undefeated D1 team is Maywood-Hayes Center. This almost feels like the start of a redemption tour after the Wolves came up just short in last year’s postseason, and now this talented team sits second in the wildcard points. We’ll see if anyone manages to take down this team in the coming weeks.
Plenty of typical championship contenders are lurking just behind Maywood-Hayes Center. BDS, Elmwood-Murdock, Axtell, and Nebraska Christian are well-positioned near the top and should keep up that momentum through the rest of September. Cambridge is another breakout team that we discussed in an earlier feature.
Class D2
The “one-loss gang” is hanging out at the top of Class D2.
Indeed, we’ve seen a lot of parity in Class D2 with Potter-Dix being the only undefeated team left standing. The top four D2 teams have just one loss, however, and you could make a strong argument for any of these teams winning a 2022 title. Overton has a solid lead from the top spot, and we’ve been quick to document the frontcourt talent that the Eagles wield this season.
There are a few worthy competitors looking to chase Overton down, however. Howells-Dodge is hanging out in the second spot and has made a solid transition to D2 after winning the 2021 D1 championship. Shelton and Paxton join the Jaguars with only one loss on the season, and Diller-Odell is lurking just behind at 6-2. Expect the D2 hierarchy to keep evolving.