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The Student News Site of Millard West High School

The Catalyst
The Student News Site of Millard West High School

The Catalyst
The Student News Site of Millard West High School

The Catalyst
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2024 football recap

Wildcats make the playoffs and finish the season .500
Trey Jochims, Managing Editor
November 21, 2024
Wildcats start 0-4 before going onto a five- game winning streak to find a way into the state playoffs. The Wildcats would lose in the first round to the Kearney Bearcats. “When game five hit, I felt like I was able to limit my mental mistakes, for,” said senior wide receiver Michael Coleman said. “ The team had to put in a lot of hard work as well to be able to go on a winning streak, especially after dropping the first four games to good teams.” Photo By Sam Whittaker

On Friday, Nov. 4, the Millard West Football season came to an end against the Kearney Bearcats in the state playoffs giving the Wildcats a 5-5 record to finish the year.

The Wildcats ended the season prior with a 9-3 record with a few State playoff victories. The Wildcats would have some adversity for the new season due to the amount of change in the starting lineups from the previous season due to transfers and graduating seniors. The Cats would start with one of the hardest schedules in the state with the defending State Champions Westside Warriors,and big rival Millard South Patriots.

“I just told the guys to go out and play hard, “senior tackle Brady McDonell said.”Some guys were making a switch from playing Freshman A team and JV to varsity, and that is a big difference. The game is played so much faster, but as the season went on, I thought that the unit as a whole got better,  and was playing more physicaly.”

The Wildcats would start the season at home at Lyle Buell Stadium with a close game with Millard North just falling short at the goal line losing the season opener with a 21-29 loss. After a devastating week one loss, the Cats would get embarrassed by their Q Street rival Millard South 56-0 where the offense was unable to create positive plays in the run- and- pass game while the defense could not get off the field until the Patriot back-ups were put in.

The Wildcats would host the defending State Champions, the Westside Warriors. The Cats kept the game closer down 21-6 in the third as they were looking to score a touchdown late in the quarter but were called short on a controversial call which would lead Warriors to score and later a kick return for a touchdown to put the game out of reach 34-12. After starting 0-3 the Wildcats looked to take down Creighton Prep. The Wildcats would start down 7-0 early in the first, but shortly after senior wide receiver Michael Coleman scored off of a school- record 98- yard receiving touchdown. Millard West had the lead till the final offensive drive from the Jr. Jays. Due to a few mistakes defensively the wildcat defense allowed a touchdown to give Prep the lead and win 15-10.

“Since it was my first season really getting playing time on varsity, my goal was just to contribute what I could that would allow the team to win, “Coleman said. ” Scoring that touchdown was pretty cool since it was a school record but at the moment it gave the team the lead and that was all that mattered at the time.”

The Wildcats would play their first game away from Buell stadium as they paid a visit to the Grand Island Islanders. Both teams were looking for their first win of the season as they both sat with an 0-4 record. The Cats’ offense played their best game of the year as Coleman was able to score a 96- yard touchdown along with a 20- yard touchdown. Millard West scored all their points in the first half and would win 42-14. The next two games were even more dominant for

the Cats as they would beat Bellevue East 56-3 and Omaha Northwest 52-0. For the team’s  three- game winning streak, the starters never played in the second half.

With the season on the line, the Wildcats would face Lincoln North Star for the District and a spot in the playoffs. Despite having an offensive showing the past three weeks the game was all defense as the Wildcats had the lead 6-0 caused by two field goals from junior kicker Carter Chapp. The second half would show more actions as both defenses were able to create multiple turnovers. Late in the fourth, the Cats put the game away with a QB draw from Junior Logan Kracht. The Wildcats would win 12-0 and were able to secure a spot in the playoffs. In the final week of the season, the Wildcats would run right past the Westview Wolverines 34-7 to give them a face- off against Kearney in the first round of the playoffs.

“I think the team was able to overcome the 0-4 start because we had a really good core,” senior wideout Bradyn Johnson said”. The team stayed together and we knew that we all had to work harder and not point fingers at each other.”

In the first round of the playoffs, the 14th- ranked Wildcats traveled to Kearney to play the 3rd- ranked Bearcats. Both offenses started off well with both teams able to put a touchdown in the first quarter. The rest of the game was controlled by the Bearcats as they forced 4 interceptions and shut out the Wildcats the rest of the game. Despite the Wildcat defense being able to create 4 fumble recoveries the offense was unable to move the ball. The Cats would end the season 5-5 after a 21-7 losse in the 2024 playoffs.

With the season starting so poorly for the Wildcats, the team was able to overcome adversity and win the final five games of the regular season to make the playoffs but eventually losting in the first round to go 5-5 on the season.





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About the Contributor
Trey Jochims
Trey Jochims, Staff Reporter
Trey is a senior here at Millard West. This is Jochims’ third year on staff and is thrilled to continue Journalism. Jochims enjoys reporting sports here at Millard West. Jochims has won multiple awards during his time in Journalism.