The Thunder went boom in a big way last Saturday as Nemaha Central traveled to Silver Lake and won a battle of unbeaten and Top five teams in Class 3A in the Regional round of the playoffs to earn a spot in the Elite Eight of the 3A playoffs. Nemaha Central draws a home game in Sectionals and gets a team in Wellsville that made the Sub-State round last year.

The Thunder has been stout on defense all year helping guide them to their 11-0 mark and they will need another strong performance again to continue their season. Wellsville has developed a winning culture with their program with seven straight appearances in the playoffs and at least one playoff win each of those years including a run to the Sub-State game last year where they lost to eventual State champion, Rossville but beat Big Seven League team in Sabetha in the Sectionals to get to that game. This year a strong amount of experience returned for the Eagles and they have played well all year with a 10-1 record and their only loss to Santa Fe Trail by five points. Eagles’ offense is putting up nearly 370 yards per game with 228 on the ground and 142 through the year while averaging 38.4 points per game. Senior quarterback, Trajen Smith has thrown for 1,547 yards on the year with 14 touchdowns and six more rushing, while the Wellsville offense really works through senior tailback, Reece Williams who has ran for 1,104 yards with 19 touchdowns and is the team’s leading receiver with 540 yards and five touchdowns.

Defensively the Eagles are only giving up 10.5 points per game this year and have held nine of their 11 opponents to 12 points or less this year. Wellsville carries a +10 turnover margin and have recorded 15 sacks on the season. Wellsville earned a spot in the 3A Sectional round of the playoffs for the third straight year with a 54-6 first round win over Humboldt and then beat Galena 27-22 in the Regional round of the playoffs.

Nemaha Central is on their deepest playoff run as Nemaha in quite some time and have enjoyed another strong year with because of a balanced offense and strong defense. The Thunder have rolled up plenty of offense throughout the with 375 yards per game (238 rushing & 138 passing) while averaging 46.9 points per game. The Thunder have offensive playmaking depth at many skill positions with senior quarterback, Ryan Hasenkamp leading the team with 1,251 yards passing with 13 touchdowns and 12 more rushing touchdowns. Senior, Jacob Koelzer is only 27 yards shy of 1,000 for the season with 23 touchdowns, while Mitchell Henry has amassed nearly 900 yards of total offense with nine touchdowns as 12 different guys have scored two or more touchdowns this season.

It was the Thunder defense that carried them to the 21-14 win over Silver Lake in the Regional round of the 3A playoffs after a 61-6 win in the first round over Pleasant Ridge. All year the Thunder defense has been strong limiting teams to 10 points per game with only two teams scoring more than 14 points against them in a single game. Nemaha Central has totaled 12 sacks and 17 turnovers on the year.

Nemaha and Wellsville have only played twice in school history in 1985 and 1973 with each team claiming a win. The Eagle beat then Nemaha Valley in 1985 7-6 on a late fourth quarter touchdown in the round of eight in the playoffs that year, while Nemaha Valley beat Wellsville 20-6 in 1973 in the playoffs. The two schools are also familiar with each other as both volleyball teams played each other at State this year and the Thunder 3A State baseball Champs beat Wellsville 2-1 in the State Semifinals last school year.

The winner snags a spot in the Final Four of Class 3A and moves on to earn a date with the winner of the Caney Valley at Rossville contest. Listen to the Wellsville at Nemaha Central game on 92.1 KMZA and MSCSports.net with pregame starting at 6:30pm and kickoff at 7:00pm.