The magical season is still alive for the Nemaha Central football team after last week exploding for 44 points in a 44-28 win over previously unbeaten Humboldt to make it to their first sub-state championship game since 2016.

It will be another tough task for the Thunder this week as they will face a perennial power in Riley County who defeated Silver lake 14-7 last week and finished runner-up to Phillipsburg in Class 2A last season.

In last week’s win over Humboldt the Thunder led just 6-0 at halftime but scored on every possession in the second half racking up 295 yards in the second half and 419 yards of total offense including one interception which gives Nemaha 19 on the year.

It was shaping up to be a defensive battle in the second half but early in the third quarter it turned into an 8-man game with both teams trading blows back and forth scoring touchdowns on each possession.

Nemaha Central started the scoring with an 8-play drive that lasted over four minutes and ended with Duryea’s second rushing touchdown from a yard out while Dylan Schultejans tacked on the 2-point conversion giving the Thunder a 14-0 lead.

From there the Thunder would score on their next four offensive possessions as Duryea added two more rushing scores while Tyler Gerety added a 36-yard touchdown run and Schultejans a 51-yard passing touchdown to Austin Ahlquist.

Gavin Duryea continued his tear as of late rushing 35 times for 165 yards and four touchdowns while Dylan Schultejans added 153 yards through the air in the win with Austin Ahlquist recording four catches for 104 yards and a touchdown in the second half.

Duryea is now up to 727 yards on the ground with 10 touchdowns while Gage Palic is back from injury and brings 338 yards and eight touchdowns to the offense.

Dylan Schultejans has also thrown for 1,572 yards and 21 touchdowns compared to just nine interceptions with his favorite target being Andrew Leonard who has racked up 481 yards and nine touchdowns while Tyler Gerety has added 418 yards receiving and five more scores.

Riley County meanwhile beat Silver Lake in the sectional round for the second straight year breaking a 7-7 tie with a rushing touchdown by Avery Brokenicky which proved to be the game-winner.

Brokenicky also recorded a pick-six for the other Falcon touchdown while Deon Barnes ran 20 times for 97 yards and the defense racked up three interceptions.

Riley County is extremely balanced offensively averaging 129 yards passing and 185 through the air per game. Senior Garrett Harmison leads the charge as one of the only returners from a year ago and has thrown for 1,345 yards and 15 touchdowns compared to only nine interceptions on 152 attempts.

Harmison holds four school records at Riley County including most passing yards in a game (353), most passing yards in a season (1,981), most completions in a game (24) and the most completions in a season (148).

The biggest factor for the Falcons this season has been the emergence of senior running back Deon Barnes who has run for 1,106 yards and 17 touchdowns while sophomore Trey Harmison has 41 carries for 691 yards and six scores.

Brokenicky leads the receiving core with 558 yards receiving and nine touchdowns while defensively Bryan Hopper leads the team with 58 tackles.

The winner of this game will play either Norton (8-3) or Hoisington (11-0) in the state championship game next in Salina.

Kickoff for Friday night’s sub-state game is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Seneca with live coverage on 92.1 KMZA and pregame scheduled to begin around 6:30 p.m.