Lincoln - Spartan football does not get any easier as Kearney brought their 10th ranked Bearcats to Lincoln and squelched any possible upset for parent’s night 27-3. For the second week in a row, East met a big up front line and Kearney powered their way to four straight possession scores lead by Zach Maloley, who scored on two touchdowns and rushed for 100 yards on 15 carries.

Plagued with 3 and out the Spartans received the opening kickoff and continued the theme as East failed to make a first down on their opening possession. After a Drew Zobel punt to the Kearney 47, the Bearcats used 7 plays before Maloley put them on the board with a 12 yard rush and a 7-0 lead. The second Spartan possession was a duplicate of the first when they again failed to make a first down in three plays. East punted to the Spartan 49 yard line and this time East held them to a 30 yard field goal by Spence Lindsay with :28 seconds left in the first quarter. Kearney led after one quarter of play 10-0.

To start the second quarter the Spartans had a very nice drive as they chewed up 74 yards, 5:42 seconds on 14 plays. Bryce Bostwick called his own number seven times for 57 yards on the drive. Aaron Kilgore had a big run over his line for a 12 yard gain to the Kearney 18 yard line. Kearney defense stiffened and stopped the Spartans on the Kearney 12 yard line before Nick Kohler nailed a 30 yard field goal for the Spartans and make it a 7 point game. Kearney offense was not to be out done when they used 13 plays drving 67 yards to score with 1:00 remaining in the half. Brandon Landanger used his arm on the drive an finished it with a 11 yard pass to Zach Albrecht to give the Bearcats a 17-3 halftime lead.

To start the third quarter the Bearcats received the kickoff and used 5 big plays to cover 80 yards and roll on the Spartans 24-7. Landanger was responsible for passing 37 yards on two receptions before Maloley polished off the 33 yard touchdown run. The game became a defensive game in the third quarter except when Bostwick fumbled on the East 36 yard line. East defense managed to shut Kearney down on the drive, but Spencer again nailed a 33 yard field goal for Kearney . The Bearcats held a 27-3 score at the end of the third quarter and that was all the scoring for the rest of the game. The fourth quarter showed some bright spots on defense for the Spartans when they sacked Landanger on two fourth down situations. Colton Wolinski, Nick Grabowski and Conner Culligan were recorded with the sacks. The East drives were shut down in the fourth quarter with two interception throws by Bostwick.

T.C. Kirkendall led all Spartan tacklers with 7 tackles. Pete Meginnis added 6 tackles to his club leading total and Demetri Sanders, Nick Grabowski and Josh Hastreiter managed 6 tackles a piece to lead 16 Spartans in on tackles.

Next week the Spartans travel north to Norfolk to play their fourth ranked team of the year. East has a four game winning streak against Norfolk over the previous 3 years. Norfolk was sporting a 4-1 record into Lincoln this past week before Lincoln Southwest defeated them 21-11 at Seacrest field.