Football Preview: Bellevue West Thunderbirds vs. Kearney Bearcats
Bellevue West and Kearney are an even 3-3 against one another since October of 2018, but not for long. The Bellevue West Thunderbirds will face off against the Kearney Bearcats at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
Bellevue West is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They came out on top against Lincoln North Star by a score of 14-6. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Thunderbirds.
Meanwhile, Kearney hadn't done well against Millard West recently (they were 0-5 in their previous five matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Friday. Kearney strolled past Millard West with points to spare, taking the game 21-7. Winning may never get old, but the Bearcats sure are getting used to it with their seventh in a row.
A big part of Kearney's victory came down to the chemistry between Griffin Novacek and his top target Zaire Lagrone. Novacek threw for 128 yards and two touchdowns while completing 72.7% of his passes while Lagrone gained 84 total yards and a touchdown. The dominant performance also gave Lagrone a new career-high in rushing yards (45).
Kearney was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 228 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 185 rushing yards in four consecutive matches.
Kearney didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off four passes before the game was over. It was truly a group effort as Cayden John, Josh Dolence, Lagrone, and Carson Baker picked up one apiece.
Bellevue West is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 7-3 record this season. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 38.3 points per game. As for Kearney, their win was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 9-1.
Bellevue West couldn't quite finish off Kearney in their previous matchup back in September of 2023 and fell 16-14. Can Bellevue West avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
