Omaha, NE -   Friday night was East's first trip to downtown Omaha for a football game with top ten ranked Omaha Central.  The high school is nestled east of Creighton campus, to the north of downtown Omaha, and to the west of Century Link Center, Morrison Stadium and the new TD Ameritrade Park.   The beautiful surrounding turned ugly early for the Spartans before East figured out that the Central team put their equipment on the same way as East and maybe they could play ball against them.   By that time, the track meet was over and Central had scored a 41-12 victory.  Last spring the Spartans had Central tied in the district track meet prior to the last event before Omaha Central when on to win the state championship.  East needs to find a way to get over that hurdle and move to the next level.

East received the kickoff and went three plays and out before a 29 yard punt by Tim Kubert. Quickly the Eagles had gained field position with the ball on the East 39 yard line.  Four plays later Jackie Davis rambled 12 yards over the right end to score early for Central and gave them the early 7-0 lead with 9:21 to go in the first quarter.  Davis was one of two ball carriers over 100 yards for the Eagles on the night and he rushed for 144 yards on 9 carries and two touchdowns.  The speedy backfield also included Quentin Williams who raced for 118 yards on 7 carries and Devin Barfield who only had 3 carries but 49 yards.   All three backs were over 15.9 yards per carry for the night.  The next three possessions for the Spartans wound down the first quarter with a 3 play drive, a 5 play drive and a 4 play drive. Penalty yards gained lead the Spartans the first quarter with 35.   The Spartan defense, who have shown to be very good this season held the Eagles on their next two possessions to leave the score 7-0 in the first quarter.

The East defense continued to pound away at the Central line and held their great offense scoreless for 9:50 seconds of the second quarter.  The Eagles only need one block, one missed assignment or one missed tackle and its track time for them.  Quentin Williams raced over left end for 85 yard and an Omaha Central touchdown with 2:50 to go in the half.  The only bright spot for the Spartan offense during the second quarter was a 21 yard pass play from Grant Ozaki to sophomore Ryan Schrad.   Take away the 85 yard gallop and East had held Central to only 12 yards in the second quarter before the Eagles left for the locker room with a 14-0 lead.  Aaron Bohl had another outstanding defensive night for the Spartans with 12 tackles, followed by Blake Whitney with 8 and Josh Gawrick with 7.

Like the Southwest game one week ago, East came out the third quarter and was rolled for 21 points.   Ozaki, who had not thrown an interception this season, tossed the rock to the purple and Dennis Barfield set up a Central score with a 10 yard return to the East 17 yard line.  Three plays later, Will Burgess found Darian Jackson in the end zone for a 16 yard passing touchdown.  Later in the quarter with 5:49 to go, East feel asleep and let Jackie Davis put on another track show with a 66 yard scamper up the left side and an Eagle touchdown.  Down 28-0 East displayed their own 10 play drive running straight up the middle to get to the Central 27 yard line before giving up the ball on downs.  Brett Nelson set the drive up with a nifty 33 yard kickoff return.   Nelson had 3 returns on the night for 83 yards.   Third quarter was in the books with Central driving on the East 43 yard line and a 28-0 lead.

The fourth quarter found payday again for the Eagles on an 8 play 76 yard drive and Marze Ballard rushing up the middle for a 4 yard touchdown.  Central needed the extra point for the clock to continue to run according to NSAA rules.   But, the kicker slammed the ball into the East line and the YMCA dance was on.  Not on the side of sportsmanship, the Eagles were dancing on the field touting their 34-0 lead on the Spartans.  East gathered in the next kickoff and set sail for a 15 play, 78 yard, 6:35 possession drive to score for the Spartans.  Running up the middle by Blake Whitney and Ben Cruisinberry provided key first downs while Ozaki used his speed to ramble outside.  A very key pass from Ozaki to Schrad for 21 yards on 4th down provided the incentive for East to get into the end zone.   Blake Whitney rambled the final yard to provide East with the first score in three games.   Devin Barfield decided he hadn't displayed enough of his track abilities and rushed 46 yards to score for the Eagles with 3:10 remaining in the game.  One final possession for the Spartans was set up by a Brett Nelson return of 31 yards on the kickoff.  Junior quarterback, Eric Neeman, decided he needed to show some of his abilities and came out to drive the Spartans 63 yards on 6 plays to score with no time left on the clock. Neeman rushed 28 yards on 3 plays and passed 2 of 3 for 30 yards on the drive.   A Neeman pass to Austin Sankey moved the ball to the Eagle 7 yard line before East completed the final pass of the game from Neeman to Jesse Tenney for the 2 yard score.   Showing sportsmanship East declined the extra point.

According to the schedule last year, the Spartans are right on queue for the same scores, except North Star as a year ago so next week would favor an East win however, Lincoln High is much improved with their new coach and have 2 victories to their credit.  East came into the season with a very good off season and a number of good football players ready to play however, injuries have depleted the Spartans weapons and playing one of the toughest schedules in Class A Nebraska football, including 3 top 10 rated teams in the first 4 weeks.   Those statistics along with East being one of the lowest enrollment schools in Class A will damper any psychological edge the Spartans could find.  That Columbus game of a year ago is somewhere inside the belly of the kids and they have to find it.  Once they find it and become a team with leaders, the opposing team is going to wonder who these guys are.   Stayed tuned, maybe they come out of the closet next week against Lincoln High.  It’s not too late, next week starts District week and it’s a new ball game.  If you want more games and an opportunity to play at state then next week is very key to the Spartan 2011 campaign.