The weather changed from “put some hot dogs on the grill” to “put some logs on the fire” in about a week.  Luckily, that wasn’t a problem for the power-running, hard-hitting Creighton Prep Junior Jays.  The fourth-ranked team in Class A finished off their road trip quite nicely against Papillion La Vista South, able to coast to a 30-7 win and finish the regular season 6-2 and on a blistering 5 game winning streak.  

As always, Marty Brown and the defense set the tone early.  After some slow going in the early stages of the game, Brown took a handoff at the 9, burst left, broke a tackle and was gone, opening the scoring with a 91 yard scamper.  There was some drama after a botched snap for the point after, but Jack Piernicky collected the ball and threw to Joe Kieny for 2 points.  Later in the first half, Brown ran right and burst through the Titans’ defensive backs for a 20 yard touchdown that made it 15-0.  Though Papillion La Vista South was able to answer with a touchdown by Devyn Jones, Prep drove downfield quickly and a Ford Hamilton field goal made it 18-7 at halftime.  

The second half was more domination from the Junior Jays.  Jack Stessman was able to score from three yards out on the increasingly common wildcat formation and Jack Piernicky threw a dot to his favorite receiver, Thomas Leiden, to put more points on the board.  For the second straight game, backups on offense and defense played in multiple series, and the defense even forced a fumble.  The most impressive thing to me was how well the defense played even though in the moment, it didn’t feel as though there were a lot of big plays.  

Overall, it was another great all-around game.  The Titans were held to 112 total passing yards on 28 attempts and Brady Fitzpatrick, who had over 420 rushing yards heading into the game, was held to 6 yards on a measly 5 carries.  Ian Medeck, the Titans’ leading receiver, was only able to garner 55 receiving yards.  As for the Prep offense, they were able to rack up 283 rushing yards (191 from Marty Brown), and score 30 points despite 4 missed kicks.  

There really isn’t too much more that I need to say about this team.  I’ve been saying it all year, but if this team figures out a consistent offense to combine with an incredible defense, they could really end the year by bringing home a trophy.  This game proves it: Creighton Prep is (at least right now) not only the best-playing team in Class A, but also the most confident.  The fact that they are both of those things means that the sky’s the limit for them right now.