Friday September 24 vs. Bellevue West

Mustangs don’t let down, or let up

There was no sign of a letdown from Millard North on Friday night against Bellevue West.

A week after knocking off previous No. 1 Millard South, the top-ranked Mustangs cruised past the Thunderbirds 45-7 at West Stadium.

Mustangs coach Fred Petito said his team quickly regained focus in preparing for the Thunderbirds.

“There was a concern of a letdown, but once our kids saw Bellevue West on tape, it got their attention,” Petito said. “We had a good week of practice, and we got better tonight.”

The Mustangs (4-1) dominated on both sides of the ball as they rolled up 317 yards on the ground and came away with four turnovers.

Sophomore quarterback Isaac Aakre got the Mustang offense rolling with some big plays in the first half.

His 64-yard run set up his own 1-yard sneak late in the first quarter to put the Mustangs up 10-0.

A 38-yard completion to Devin Bass keyed a 71-yard Mustang scoring drive in the second that ended with a 2-yard run by Aakre.

Millard North’s defense delivered a major blow late in the half when Cole Fisher intercepted a Josh Valla pass and returned it 28 yards for a score, pushing the Mustang lead to 24-0 with just 22 seconds left in the half.

West recovered from a 28-0 deficit against Kearney a week earlier, but there would be no such comebacks in this one. Aakre scored on a 21-yard run and fullback Chris Bailey added a 12-yard scoring run later in the third quarter to extend the lead to 38-0.

“We knew what they were capable of, and our kids respect their opponents,” Petito said. “We’ve got some playmakers on the defensive side, and Cole made a huge play right before the half.”

Aakre led the Mustangs with 155 yards on just 16 carries while Bailey added another 86 yards on the ground.

With starting I-back Tim Neal still absent with an ankle injury, West could muster just 63 yards rushing and suffered four interceptions.

“The momentum got away from us, and they made some plays,” West coach John Faiman said. “They’re a very good football team.”

Millard North (4-1)...................10 14 14 7—45

At Bellevue West (2-3).....................0 0 0 7—7

MN: FG Andy Bayne 22

MN: Isaac Aakre 1 run (Bayne kick)

MN: Aakre 2 run (Bayne kick)

MN: Cole Fisher 28 interception return (Bayne kick)

MN: Aakre 21 run (Bayne kick)

MN: Chris Bailey 11 run (Bayne kick)

BW: Dominique Hawkins 17 pass from Caleb Heim (Dan Gengel kick)

MN: Devin Bass 25 run (Bayne kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: MN, Aakre 16-155; Bailey 16-86; Jacob Bergmeier 9-33; Bass 4-43. BW, Kyle Hanson 10-32; Hawkins 3-14; Heim 2-16.

PASSING: MN, Aakre 2-4-0-52. BW, Josh Valla 9-18-3-109; Heim 6-18-1-57.

RECEIVING: MN, Bass 1-38; Eric Christopherson 1-14. BW, Hawkins 6-90; Dominique Mays 3-34; Hanson 2-20; JJ Bockman 2-21; Trevor LaPoint 2-11.

Mustangs knock Patriots off top

Millard North’s defense rocked Millard South out of its comfort zone and out of the No. 1 ranking.

The Mustangs ended Millard South’s 16-game winning streak with Friday night’s 21-16 win before an estimated 7,000 at Buell Stadium.

“Once we caught up to their speed, I thought we played sound defensively,’’ Millard North coach Fred Petito said. “We tackled well.’’

Ben Jansen at linebacker and Iowa recruit Cole Fisher at free safety had big games and big hits for the No. 2 Mustangs (3-1). Fisher was part of a secondary that mixed up its coverages and kept Millard South senior quarterback Blake Headley from getting into his usual rhythm.

A 76-percent passer through three games, Headley was 14 of 39 for 212 yards, two interceptions and just one touchdown pass. In the second half, the Nebraska baseball recruit was just 8 of 25 with the interceptions made by Devin Bass and Josh Couch for the Mustangs.

Couch helped seal the victory, the first for the Mustangs over the Patriots since 2005.

He stripped the ball from Millard South receiver Brandon Clark on a fourth-and-7 pass from the Mustangs’ 24 with 3:14 left.

After the Patriots (3-1) got the ball back with 1:31 left at their 48 following a three-and-out by their defense, Couch sacked Headley on a second-down play from the Mustangs’ 41.

After a spike on third down, Headley and Clark weren’t on the same page and the quarterback threw well behind the receiver to start the Millard North celebration.

“This was huge,” Couch said. “We’ve been rebuilding for the past two years, and this means a lot to us.’’

Millard North trailed only once, at 16-14 after the Patriots scored the first nine points of the second half in less than four minutes.

Eddie Collins returned a punt 57 yards to cut Millard North’s lead to 14-13. A high snap led to kicker Joel Fickel missing his extra-point attempt.

After Jordan Wisdom recovered Millard North’s only fumble of the game, Fickel made a line-drive 41-yard field goal.

The Mustangs regained the lead early in the final quarter on back-to-back big plays.

Chris Bailey, who had popped for a 34-yard touchdown to open the scoring, picked up 18 yards before Isaac Aakre broke loose on an option play to his left for a 40-yard touchdown run with 10:06 left.

The sophomore again got everybody in the Mustangs’ backfield involved. Nick Bellus and Bailey, who led all rushers with 99 yards, had 13 carries apiece. Aakre had nine carries and Jacob Bergmeier, who scored Millard North’s other touchdown on a 25-yarder midway through the second quarter, had seven as Millard North ran for 246 yards.

Millard South hurt itself with a half-dozen errant snaps, high and low, and drops by its receivers.

“The snaps, that’s something we haven’t had trouble with all year,’’ Patriots coach Andy Means said. “We made a lot of mistakes, and that’s on me. We’ll get them corrected.’’

Including a snap on an early field-goal try that rolled for a 23-yard loss, the Patriots’ ground game ended with a net loss of 22 yards.

“It’s been our concern all year that we need to run the ball better,” Means said. “They played great defense. We just got to get better.’’

Millard North (3-1)..........................7 0 7 7—21

Millard South (3-1)........................7 0 9 0—16

MN: Chris Bailey 34 run (Andy Bayne kick)

MS: Brandon Clark 41 pass from Blake Headley (Joel Fickel kick)

MN: Jacob Bergmeier 25 run (Andy Bayne kick)

MS: Eddie Collins 57 punt return (kick failed)

MS: Joel Fickel 41 field goal

MN: Issac Aakre 40 run (Andy Bayne kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: MN, Nick Bellus 13-44, Aakre 9-36, Bailey 13-99, Bergmeier 7-66, Devin Bass 1-3, team 1-minus 2. MS, Tré Sacks 8-18, Quentin Urban 8-5, Collins 3-minus 4, Headley 4-minus 18, team 1-minus 23.

PASSING: MN, Aakre 1-4-0 13. MS, Headley 14-39-2 212.

RECEIVING: MN, Eric Christopherson 1-13. MS, Clark 2-52, Tony Gardner 4-43, Sacks 1-15, Elijah Tostenson 3-51, Collins 3-41, Urban 1-10.

Friday September 10 vs. Central

No. 3 Mustangs rally to top No. 9 Eagles

Millard North's Chris Bailey looks over his shoulder at Centrals Camron Payne on the first play from scrimmage at Buell Stadium Friday night.

Staring at a five-point halftime deficit against Omaha Central, Millard North coach Fred Petito challenged his team to step it up in the second half Friday night.

The third-ranked Mustangs responded, scoring three touchdowns after intermission and pulling away for a 22-7 victory over the ninth-ranked Eagles. The win boosted Millard North to 2-1 and dropped Central to 0-3.

“I told our guys that we had to quit shooting ourselves in the foot,'' Petito said. “The mistakes were killing us in the first half, and we did a much better job in the second half.''

The first shot into the Mustangs' foot came on the third play of the game, played in front of an estimated 3,000 fans at Buell Stadium.

A 36-yard run by junior fullback Chris Bailey on the first play from scrimmage and a 33-yard scamper by sophomore quarterback Isaac Aakre put the Mustangs in business at the Eagles' 1-yard line. But Aakre mishandled the next snap and strong safety Dennis Barfield pounced on the fumble for the Eagles.

Millard North still managed to take the lead four plays later when Central quarterback Will Burgess was whistled for intentional grounding in his own end zone, giving the Mustangs a safety. The score remained 2-0 until the Eagles scored their lone touchdown late in the first half.

Starting at their own 32, Burgess hit flanker Darian Barrientos Jackson on a crossing pattern for 26 yards. A 12-yard run by tailback Jackie Davis was followed by a 30-yard touchdown pass from Burgess to speedy flanker Teddy Lampkin, who made a nice over-the-shoulder catch in the end zone.

The Mustangs ground out 196 rushing yards in the first half but were stymied by a tough Central defense. Senior end Eddie Vinson helped lead the defensive charge as the Eagles took their 7-2 lead into the third quarter.

Millard North quickly grabbed the lead in the second half, scoring on its first possession. But it took a little gambling on the part of Petito to put his team back on top.

The Mustangs marched from their own 28 to the Central 17, where the drive stalled. But Millard North went for it on fourth down-and-1, and senior Jacob Bergmeier popped a 17-yard run all the way to the end zone.

After the Eagles were forced to punt on their next possession, Millard North went back to work. An eight-play, 76-yard drive was capped by a 31-yard touchdown pass over the middle from Aakre to Bergmeier.

The Mustangs had run that same pattern six plays earlier, but an open Bergmeier had dropped the ball. This time, he hung on and Millard North extended its lead to 15-7.

Bailey, the workhorse fullback, put the game away with 4:14 left when he broke up the middle for a 5-yard TD run. The touchdown was set up by an interception by senior defensive back Cole Fisher, who picked off a Burgess pass at midfield and returned it to the Central 18.

Bailey led the Millard North ground game, rushing 32 times for 193 yards. Aakre rushed 24 times for 158 yards as the Mustangs finished with 399 yards on the ground, compared with 35 for the Eagles.

“Coach said at halftime that we needed to come together,'' Bailey said. “The offense wasn't clicking, but we got it going in the second half.''

Central tried to rally in the second half behind the arm of Burgess, but the Eagles came up short. The quarterback completed 10 of 40 passes in the game for 171 yards and was intercepted five times — twice by Iowa recruit Fisher and twice by senior defensive back Devin Bass.

“It wasn't pretty, but we'll take it,'' Petito said. “Central played hard, but we were able to keep our poise and got the win.''

Om. Central (0-3).......................0 7 0 0— 7
Millard North (2-1).............................2 0 13 7—22
MN: Safety (Central penalized for intentional grounding in the end zone)
OC: Teddy Lampkin 30 pass from Will Burgess (Mykal Ramsey kick)
MN: Jacob Bergmeier 17 run (run failed)
MN: Bergmeier 31 pass from Isaac Aakre (Andy Bayne kick)
MN: Chris Bailey 5 run (Bayne kick)
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: OC, Jackie Davis 5-30, Teddy Lampkin 3-8, Paulino Gomez 1-1, Will Burgess 1- (minus 4); MN, Chris Bailey 32-193, Isaac Aakre 24-158, Kyle Erickson 2-28, Jacob Bergmeier 1-17, Nick Bellus 2-3.
PASSING: OC, Will Burgess 10-40-5 171; MN, Isaac Aakre 1-4-0 31.
RECEIVING: OC, Teddy Lampkin 5-59, Darian Barrientos Jackson 3-71, Trae Hollins 1-23, Calvin McCoy 1-18; MN, Jacob Bergmeier 1-31.

Thursday September 2nd vs. Burke

Mustangs running backs carry load in win

Millard North was back Thursday night to its running game, churning out 318 yards and throwing only four passes in a 21-10 win over Omaha Burke.

What’s different is that the No. 4 Mustangs aren’t making sophomore quarterback Isaac Aakre the workhorse.

Running backs Nick Bellus got 15 carries, for 93 yards and a touchdown; Chris Bailey 13 carries, for 58 yards; and Jacob Bergmeier six carries, for 128 yards and a touchdown against the No. 5 Bulldogs.

“We wanted to get north and south tonight,’’ Mustangs coach Fred Petito said. “We wanted to get our offensive line aggressive.’’

The change from a quarterback-centric offense is making defenses adjust.

“We tried to stay pretty simple and play our base defense,’’ Burke coach Paul Limongi said. “They got away from us a couple times. I was pretty pleased with how we played defense except for those breakdowns.’’

An estimated crowd of 2,600 at Buell Stadium saw Burke score first on Jimmie Forysthe’s pass to Dillon Plath for a 34-yard touchdown.

The lead lasted all of 74 seconds. Bergmeier, in motion on the play, broke a 70-yarder for a 7-7 tie.

Bellus scored from the 11, capping a 67-yard drive, with 48 seconds left in the first half for a 14-7 Mustangs lead.

Kyle Erickson, who started the past two years at quarterback, scored on a 8-yard run as a running back on Millard North’s first series of the second half.

The scoring ended when Burke got a 28-yard field goal by Ameer Pinto on its ensuing possession. Forsythe was called for an illegal forward pass, crossing the line of scrimmage, on third down.

It was one of 13 penalties marked off against Burke.

“We had a lot of mental errors, but those we can correct,’’ Limongi said.

Omaha Burke (1-1)..................7 0 3 0—10
Millard North (1-1)............................7 7 7 0—21
• Bke.: Dillon Plath 34-yard pass from Jimmie Forsythe (Pinto kick)
• MN: Jacob Bergmeier 70-yard run (Bayne kick)
• MN: Nick Bellus 11-yard run (Bayne kick)
• MN: Kyle Erickson 8-yard run (Bayne kick)
• Bke.: Ameer Pinto 28-yard field goal, 3rd.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: B, Jordan Nelson 16-91, Forsythe 18-16, DJ Avant 1-1, Jake Schneider 1-12, team 1-minus 2. MN, Bergmeier 6-128, Bellus 15-93, Chris Bailey 13-58, Isaac Aakre 9-22, Erickson 2-17.

PASSING: B, Forsythe 12-20-1 157, Plath 0-2-0 0. MN, Aake 1-4-0 37.

RECEIVING: B, Zach Oliver 2-50, Plath 2-41, Nelson 3-37, Taylor Hopkins 2-29, Avant 1-10. MN, Bellus 1-37.