OMAHA — Top-rated Omaha Westside once again lived up to its billing.
One week after routing Omaha Creighton Prep 57-7 in its season opener, the Class A defending state champion Warriors put together another convincing performance in a 45-0 win against Grand Island Friday night at Phelps Field.
“Westside is very good — I take my hat off to them,” Grand Island coach Jeff Tomlin said of the Warriors, whose program has made four consecutive appearances in the Class A state championship game. “They have a talented and veteran bunch back from last year. I thought our kids competed very hard.”
Quarterback Anthony Rezac was the catalyst, completing 14 of 20 pass attempts for 233 yards and two touchdowns and the senior also rushed five times for 64 yards and two more scores as the Warriors (2-0) amassed 461 yards of total offense. Running back Jahmez Ross carried 14 times for 92 yards and two TDs and wide receiver Caleb Benning hauled in five passes for 103 yards as the Warriors triggered a running clock in the second half.
Grand Island (1-1), rated No. 7 in Class A by the Lincoln Journal Star, struggled to establish its offense, gaining 106 total yards. The Islanders had one drive in Westside territory, but turned the ball over on downs at the Warriors’ 28-yard line midway through the second quarter.
“Against Westside’s defense, your margin of error is so small,” Tomlin said. “You have to block a play perfectly to get a crease.
“We showed some signs, offensively, of putting a few things together in the second quarter and got a good drive going. We had some guys kind of emerge a little bit that we were waiting for, so that was a positive thing.”
Grand Island senior quarterback Bode Albers was 9 of 23 passing for 72 yards Riley Holling led Islander receivers with two catches for 28 yards, while Nelsyn Wheeler, Ryker Booth and Kobyn Bolton each had two receptions and Justyce Hostetler caught one pass for 22 yards.
Tomlin said playing Westside was a good measuring-stick game for the Islanders, who returned just three starters from last season.
“I thought we got better tonight as a football team, even though we’re walking off the field with a different outcome than last week,” said Tomlin, whose team edged North Platte 28-27 in its season opener. “I thought we had a good week of practice and our kids put everything that they had out there on the field.
“Our kids that didn’t have a lot of experience know what it’s about now.”
Grand Island will have to bounce back on a short week as it travels to play at Norfolk next Thursday night.
“Next week is a pivotal road game for us,” Tomlin said. “The short week is always a challenge, but it’s a challenge for both teams. It appears that we got out of this week pretty healthy, which is a blessing, so now we’ve just got to get after it as far as preparation because Norfolk is a good team and is playing super football.
“We’ll be challenged, but I like our team and I like the way that we’re shaping up.”
Omaha Westside 45, Grand Island 0
Grand Island (1-1)
0
0
0
0—0
Omaha Westside (2-0)
13
22
7
3—45
First Quarter
OW—Anthony Rezac 24 run (kick failed), 9:42.
OW—Keynan Cotton 7 pass from A.Rezac (Will Bauerly kick), 6:28.
Second Quarter
OW—Jahmez Ross 6 run (Bauerly kick), 6:08.
OW—Ross 4 run (Bauerly kick), 2:25.
OW—Caleb Benning 27 pass from A.Rezac (Benning pass from A.Rezac), 1:18.
Third Quarter
OW—A.Rezac 24 run (Bauerly kick), 6:46.
Fourth Quarter
OW—Bauerly 37 field goal, 10:03.
GI
OW
First downs
6
26
Rushes-Yards
19-34
37-228
Passing Yards
72
233
Att-Comp-Int
9-23-0
14-21-0
Total Offense
42-106
58-461
Return Yards
0
3
Kickoff Returns
0-0
1-24
Fumbles-Lost
0-0
0-0
Punts-Avg.
8-25.4
2-22.5
Penalties-Yards
1-10
10-81
Third down
2-11
4-10
Fourth down
0-1
0-4
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing—GI, Booth 3-20, Douglass 1-16, Richardson 4-2, Panowicz 1-1, Hostetler 1-1, B.Albers 2-minus 1, Wheeler 7-minus 5. OW, Ross 14-92, A.Rezac 5-64, Goc 4-19, Nielsen 2-11, Spady 1-9, Ryan 2-9, Christensen 5-9, Benning 1-8, Shannon 1-6, Warren 1-5, Metoyer 1-minus 4.
Passing—GI, Albers 9-23-0 72. OW, A.Rezac 14-20-0 233, Warren 0-1-0 0.
Receiving—GI, Holling 2-28, Hostetler 1-22, Wheeler 2-12, Booth 2-6, Bolton 2-4. OW, Benning 5-103, Spady 2-71, Jones 1-23, Cotton 2-14, Shannon 1-10, Ross 2-8, Beutler 1-4.
Missed FGs—None.
