The Papillion-LaVista South Titans will head out to challenge the Burke Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Papillion-LaVista South has five straight victories, Burke has three straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Papillion-LaVista South's defense heads into the matchup hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They claimed a resounding 72-0 win over Omaha South. That 72 point margin sets a new team best for the Titans this season.
The critical scores for Papillion-LaVista South came from Dallas Davison, Elon Washington, Logan Arch, Brady Alderson, Devin Cotton, Chester Mendoza, Joshua Thompson, Kale Mentzer, Jagger Cox, and Josiah Pearson.
Wins are hard to come by when you can't run the rock, something Papillion-LaVista South proved: they limited Omaha South to a paltry 2.5 yards per carry. The team can thank Pearson for the heroic effort on defense: he. Papillion-LaVista South didn't have any issues in that department, having averaged 9.3.
Special teams played a big role in the game for Papillion-LaVista South, adding 22 points to the final score. The biggest highlight from special teams (and perhaps the team as a whole) came courtesy of Davison, who ran a kickoff back for a touchdown. Another bright spot was a punt return touchdown from Thompson.
Meanwhile, Burke played a tough contest on Friday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They came up short against Norfolk, falling 38-15. The Bulldogs were down 38-7 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.
Burke's loss dropped their record down to 2-5. As for Papillion-LaVista South, their victory bumped their record up to 6-1.
Thursday's game might be decided in the trenches. Papillion-LaVista South has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 159.6 rushing yards per game. It's a different story for Burke, though, as they've been averaging only 93.3 rushing yards. How will they fare against such a dominant running game?
Everything came up roses for Papillion-LaVista South against Burke in their previous matchup back in October of 2024, as the squad secured a 47-8 win. In that matchup, the Titans amassed a halftime lead of 40-0, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Thursday.
