Clark’s Corner, 8/30/22: Elmwood-Murdock’s 95-point outburst against eight-man power FCSH surprised many, even the Knights’ coach.

Unless you were at the Oak Bowl last Friday, seeing the final score possibly had you questioning your eyesight (am I seeing this right?!). Double- and triple-takes filtered throughout the #nebpreps world.

Elmwood-Murdock had just hung 95 points on eight-man football power Falls City Sacred Heart, and Lance Steffen was receiving calls and texts for confirmation of the score.

“Tons of them,” the Knights’ head coach said. “Newspaper guys … Huskerland Bob. I had coaches trying to figure out, ‘Were you on the other side of that?’”

Steffen takes no offense. The coach was a bit surprised, too.

He liked his team’s chances to win, and thought it would be a fourth-quarter game.

“But I certainly did not see something like that coming,” Steffen said of his team’s 95-44 win. “Our boys were ready to go and took advantage of mistakes that Sacred Heart made.”

Sacred Heart led 28-20 in the second quarter, and then the Knights entered Super Tecmo Bowl mode in Peru. They scored 42 points in the second quarter alone, taking advantage of some Irish turnovers. It took just 24 minutes for the Knights to score 65 points.

More impressive is Elmwood-Murdock ran just one offensive play in the fourth quarter (It resulted in a touchdown). Senior running back Cade Hosier rumbled for 317 yards and six scores on 14 carries.

The scoring outburst came against an Irish program rich in tradition under longtime coach Doug Goltz. The Irish, playing in Class D-2, have won eight state titles.

Is it a win to build on? Absolutely. There’s still a ton of football to play, however, and Steffen is confident that a veteran group will not get caught up in such a feat.

By Monday morning, the Knights, who are in Class D-1, were in a scouting report meeting thinking about the Week 2 opponent, Freeman.

“Probably as much as me and my assistants, they are as excited about preparation as I’ve ever had with a team,” said Steffen, who is an Elmwood-Murdock graduate. “Whenever we get into that scouting report meeting, everybody has a pencil, everybody is attentive, it’s 6:30 in the morning.”

“I’ve had comments from teachers that all they think about is football and it’s hard for me to get upset about that.”

Splendid Spartans

Let’s give a couple shout-outs to the school near 84th and A streets in Lincoln.

Lincoln East sophomore infielder Berkley Hatten had two (two!) three-run home games in a doubleheader against Lincoln North Star last Thursday. The Spartans won both games.

Six home runs over the course of a season is pretty good. But six home runs in one night?!?!

According the NSAA records, Hatten became the 14th player in Class A history to hit three homers in a game. She appears to be the only to do it twice.

Did we mention she’s just a sophomore?

???????????????????????? #workhardplayhard pic.twitter.com/JtEJVWZznE

— East Softball (@EastHighSBall) August 26, 2022

The Lincoln East volleyball team had a great weekend, winning the ultra-competitive Bellevue West Invitational, which included most of the top teams in the state.

It marked the Spartans’ first title in Bellevue West tournament since 1994.

Friday Night Rush

Someone check to see if Jake Garcia needs a pair of new cleats. His current pair got quite a workout in Omaha Gross’ 41-7 football win at Beatrice on Friday.

Garcia, a senior, ran for 294 yards and three TDs on 14 carries. Game ball to the Cougar offensive line, too, which paved the way for 349 rushing yards.

The win propelled Gross to No. 5 in Class B.

The Viking-Husker pipeline

Waverly – Class B Waverly – is officially a pipeline for the Nebraska volleyball program. Over the weekend, a photo posted on social media showed former Vikings Annika Evans, Whitney Lauenstein and Bekka Allick donning their Nebraska uniforms with their high school coach, Terri Neujahr, after a win at the Devaney Sports Center.

Got to see these three light it up tonight with the Huskers!! Smiles all around, especially for this proud coach. Former Waverly Vikings turned into Nebraska Huskers. What a blessing to be a part of each of their journeys!! #proudcoach pic.twitter.com/WZhCGGU5pH

— HappyGirl (@tlneujahr) August 28, 2022

All three had key roles in wins over the weekend.

Kelly Hunter and the Rolfzen twins (Kadie and Amber) come to mind when thinking of Nebraska high schools (Papillion-La Vista South) that had three players competing for John Cook in the same time window. I can’t imagine there being another instance, but if you know of anyone else, let us know.