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Some Nebraska high school football teams have taken to heart the cliché: "To be the best, you've got to beat the best." And while some programs have met that theory with plenty of success, many have not.
As we dove into our 11-Man and 8-Man/6-Man Nebraska football rankings and sifted through our strength of schedule data, we discovered that some of the Cornhusker State's premier football programs play schedules that match their level of play.
Class A's 12th-ranked Millard North has easily played the top 11-Man schedule through the regular season, putting together a respectable campaign against a schedule that features five Top 10 teams. In all, Mustang opposition has put together a 51-30 record collectively.
Defending Class C1 state champion and fifth-ranked Aurora is 6-3 against the state's second best 11-Man schedule, while Class B's sixteenth-ranked York has posted a 2-7 mark against the third best slate in the Cornhusker State. Waverly and Gretna round out the Top 5 in the No. 4 and No. 5 spots respectively.
In the 8-Man/6-Man ranks, Ansley-Litchfield put together a 1-7 campaign after tackling the state's top small school schedule on the season. The first three foes on the Spartan slate produced winning records, including eleventh-ranked Pleasanton (D2) and fourth-ranked Cambridge. In all, six of Ansley-Litchfield's eight opponents won more than they lost and produced a 44-20 record collectively.
Winside and Elgin/Pope John stake claims to the second and third strongest schedules, respectively, while Palmer and Wynot round out the Top 5 of Nebraska's sturdiest small school slates.
In terms of opponent's winning percentages, Millard North and Aurora competed against the top slate among our 11-Man Top 10s, while Ansley-Litchfield holds down the same honor in the 8-Man/6-Man ranks. Classes A, B and C1 are represented in our 11-Man Top 10 while Classes D1 and D2 placed teams in the Top 10 in the 8-Man/6-Man ranks.
Class C2's Norfolk Catholic has gone head-to-head with the best schedule in its classification while Sandhills Valley has proven its not intimidated by the big boys after battling the healthiest 6-Man schedule.
Check out our Top 10 Nebraska football programs that own the toughest schedules in both 11-Man and 8-Man/6-Man football. We have listed the school, (school's regular season record), opponent's combined record and MaxPreps' strength of schedule rating.
Nebraska's toughest 11-Man football schedules1.
Millard North (Omaha) (4-5), 51-30, 18.4
2.
Aurora (6-3), 51-30, 17.1
3.
York (2-7), 46-35, 16.7
4.
Waverly (8-1), 45-36, 16.1
5.
Gretna (3-6), 47-34, 15.7
6.
Northwest (Grand Island) (8-1), 41-40, 15.5
7.
Scotus (Columbus) (7-2), 45-36, 15.4
8.
Ralston (1-8), 49-32, 15.0
9.
Ord (6-3), 45-36, 14.8
10.
Seward (5-4), 42-39, 14.8
Nebraska's toughest 8/6-Man football schedules1.
Ansley/Litchfield (Ansley) (1-7), 44-20, 50.0
2.
Winside (0-8), 43-21, 44.2
3.
Elgin/Pope John (Elgin) (2-6), 41-23, 43.2
4.
Palmer (3-5), 39-25, 44.2
5.
Wynot (3-5), 40-24, 41.6
6.
South Loup (Arnold) (3-5), 38-26, 41.4
7.
Howells-Dodge (Howells) (8-0), 39-25, 41.2
8.
Burwell (6-2), 36-28, 40.8
9.
Amherst (2-6), 34-30, 40.7
10.
Loomis) (1-7), 41-23, 39.9
