After sixty minutes of bright lights, lukewarm pizza, and repetitive chants it became clear that Elkhorn High School’s coaching staff was set on running their style of game against Norris. The Antlers ran the ball 58 times for 282 yards in a convincing 21-7 win over the Titans on September 1st.

“The offensive game plan was to just run right at them and see if they can stop it, and they did not,” Head Coach Dan Feickert said. 

In senior running back K.J. Schenck’s second start as the bell-cow back, he took on a heavy load rushing for 206 yards in a school-record 37 attempts. 

Elkhorn’s only flaw offensively was another turnover-heavy first half. The Antlers had three turnovers, two fumbles, and an interception on the first drive of the second half. Elkhorn also had two turnovers in the season-opening win against Waverly.

Two first-half fumbles inside the red zone for the Antlers may not have been costly this game, but Feickert said they could be crucial later in the season.

“If we clean the turnovers up we’re up 28-0,” Feikert said. “We’re stopping ourselves and that was what I challenged the guys with, let’s take care of the football,” Feickert said.

Feickert said the team successfully controlled the clock in the second half, making the second drive of the half last 8:01 and taking the 14-0 lead into the 4th quarter before quickly scoring to go up by 21.

Defensively, the Antlers were a brick wall against the rushing efforts of Norris.

“They had decent success running the football against Seward, so our number one focus was to stop the run,” Feickert said.

His team did just that. Norris was held to 11 yards on 11 rushes largely due to the senior-heavy Antler defense being fully healthy this week. Senior Jaxson Ninete returned from illness to produce 3 tackles and 1 tackle for a loss. Senior outside linebacker Tristan Welch set the defensive tone early for Elkhorn with a booming suplex tackle for a loss sparking the high energy across the entire defense.

The Antlers play another run-heavy and gritty team in Gross Catholic at Omaha Bryan Field on September 8th.

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