Northeast

#7 Lincoln East (5-0)

vs.

#8 Lincoln Northeast (4-1)

Lincoln, NE. - The Spartans go into Friday Night's game ranked 7th in the state and will take on the Rockets from Northeast, ranked 8th in the state, at 8:00 p.m. The Rockets will be the home team at Seacrest and the Spartans will be the visitors. Both teams enter District 2 play with a 1-0 record. Getting ready for a cross town rival should leave little doubt that practices will have full focus this week. The rival between Northeast and East has grown over the past years. This year the Spartans should have a lot of motivation this week for the Rockets. Three years ago, during Coach Svehla first years, the Spartans scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to break a 17-17 tie and win 31-17. Matt Dingledine was the hero for the Spartans that day by intercepting a pass and going 50 yards for the touchdown. Matt had been a Northeast Rocket the

previous year.

The 2003 win must of not sat well with Coach Svehla because a week after the 2004 Brady Beran incident, in which East was still fearing for Brady, the Rockets put it to the Spartans 52-7. The Rockets, with the first string still in the ball game, saw their starting running back, Fisher, run 27 yards to a touchdown with less than 2:00 minutes to go in the game. Northeast was not felling very remorsefull that evening as the Northeast sideline enjoyed passing on 3rd downs to keep the drives alive. Cole Weihe, Jim Ebke and Garek Petry were sophomores at the time. Tyler McMannaman was also a sophomore at the time and was on the

Coach Dave Svehla on the right, enjoys is starting running backs run with less than 2:00 to put the Rockets up 52-14 in 2004.

receiving end of a 77 yard touchdown catch in 2004. An East come back effort in 2005 was shutdown with a fumble and an interception that allowed Northeast to maintain a victory 38-23 . McManaman was on the receiving end of a 27 yard touchdown catch in that ball game too. Tyler has since moved on to become a Rocket for his 2006 senior season. Tyler is one of the Rockets leading receivers and has two touchdown receptions to his credit. The Spartans look forward to re-aquainting themselves with Tyler this coming Friday.

The game should have plenty of rivalry, excitement and motivation for the Spartans. The winner would have a leg up for the other cross

town showdown in the district, with Southwest. The game has plenty of playoff implications. Spartans are calling upon all fans to show up and be loud. As we've been discussing each game this season, the Spartans need to Get ER Done. We in Spartan land expect nothing but the best of sportsmanship and are not looking to revenge the 2004 game but, motivate themselves for 2006. Hopefully, the Spartans will not get over hyped but, remain focused the entire game and put their best ball game together. The 5-0 Spartans have played excellant but, maybe this week they can put together a full game package for the Rockets.


	The 2004 game was a painful game. The kids had dedicated the Northeast game to Brady Beran. But, it was too painful that year and some fourth quarter action by the Rockets made the pain even worse. A 4th quarter touchdown drive, with less than 2 minutes gave the Rockets at a 52-14 victory with first string athletes still competing. The following series of pictures were taken on the final Rocket drive and the reactions to penalties, passing and a touchdown run. It was painful then and motivating today. Sportsmanship must prevail or it could wind up as bulletin board motivation in later years. The coaches reactions were more interesting to film then his team running up the 52nd point of the contest and the pain the Spartans were feeling on that sad day they had dedicted to their hurting friend. It was those times that made this class of Seniors a very determined, dedicated and great group of athletes. You have to endure the low times to enjoy the high times. Good luck to the Spartans and remember to play hard and show great sportsmanship.