Football · Preview · Class D1
Class D1 football playoff outlook: Johnson-Brock and Cross County have locked up district titles
Who has clinched in Class D1, the D1-4, D1-6 and D1-7 title races, the teams that clinch with a Week 9 win and a projected first round.
Johnson-Brock and Cross County have clinched their district titles, though NSAA's standings page does not mark clinches. In each case the two teams that could tie the leader play each other in Week 9, so only one can, and the leader beat both of them. The head-to-head step settles that tie (NSAA football manual, p. 55).
That matters most for Cross County. It is 5-3 and tied for 14th by points, but the D1-3 title puts it in the field. The top game is Ravenna at Sandy Creek: the winner takes D1-6 and is guaranteed no worse than the No. 2 seed. Nine D1 teams have clinched, and four more clinch with a Week 9 win: Wisner-Pilger, Elmwood-Murdock, Amherst and Alma.
Data as of 9:04 a.m. CT Monday, Oct. 19, from NSAA wildcard points and schedule exports. Every Week 1-8 final is posted, and Week 9 games are Oct. 22-23. Everything here is a NEB Preps projection until NSAA seeds the field. Clinched and eliminated calls are NEB Preps' math, which runs every Week 9 result through NSAA's full point formula (football manual, p. 40).
If the season ended today
NEB Preps projection, using NSAA's bracket (manual, p. 55). District leaders are counted as champions, so Amherst stands in for the D1-7 winner, which is not yet determined. Teams with identical averages are listed in NSAA's page order, which is not a tiebreak result. Elkhorn Valley and Ponca (40.6250) and Amherst and Cross County (40.2500) are tied, so the 5-12 and 13-4 games, and the 3-14 and 15-2 games, could swap opponents.
- No. 1 Johnson-Brock vs. No. 16 Tri County, a rematch of Johnson-Brock's 54-8 win on Sept. 25
- No. 9 Wisner-Pilger vs. No. 8 Exeter-Milligan-Friend
- No. 5 Stanton vs. No. 12 Elkhorn Valley
- No. 13 Ponca vs. No. 4 Sandy Creek
- No. 3 Crofton vs. No. 14 Amherst
- No. 11 Elmwood-Murdock vs. No. 6 Hartington-Newcastle
- No. 7 Sutton vs. No. 10 Centura
- No. 15 Cross County vs. No. 2 Ravenna, a rematch of Ravenna's 56-14 win on Sept. 18
How D1 qualifies
The seven district champions qualify, plus the nine highest averages among teams that did not win a district (manual, p. 55). The 16th-best average is not automatically in.
Who's in
District champions: Johnson-Brock (D1-1), Exeter-Milligan-Friend (D1-2), Cross County (D1-3) and Crofton (D1-5). Johnson-Brock is 4-0 in D1-1, and Tri County and Thayer Central, both 3-1, meet Friday; Johnson-Brock beat them 54-8 and 49-26. Cross County is 4-0 in D1-3, and Nebraska Christian and Tekamah-Herman meet Friday; Cross County beat them 34-12 and 14-6.
By math: Ravenna, Sandy Creek, Stanton, Hartington-Newcastle and Sutton. Each finishes with an average that too few wild-card teams can reach in any Week 9 outcome. Fourteen teams are out in every outcome, including Freeman.
The bubble
Ranks and points are NSAA's. Status is NEB Preps' projection math.
| Team | Pts (rank) | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Wisner-Pilger | 41.5000 (9) | In with a win |
| Centura | 41.2500 (10) | Not yet determined |
| Elmwood-Murdock | 41.0000 (11) | In with a win |
| Elkhorn Valley | 40.6250 (T-12) | Not yet determined |
| Ponca | 40.6250 (T-12) | Not yet determined |
| Amherst | 40.2500 (T-14) | In with a win |
| Tri County | 39.7500 (16) | Not yet determined |
| Alma | 39.1250 (17) | In with a win |
| Pender | 38.8750 (18) | Not yet determined |
| Nebraska Christian | 38.7500 (19) | Not yet determined |
| Elm Creek | 38.5000 (20) | Not yet determined |
A loss alone does not eliminate any team from Wisner-Pilger to Alma; for Pender, Nebraska Christian and Elm Creek, status after a loss is not yet determined. Centura clinches with a win if Alma or Crofton also wins. Gibbon and Kimball are out with a loss.
Games that matter
Amherst at Alma, Friday. The D1-7 title runs through this game. Alma, Amherst and Elm Creek are all 2-1. Alma clinches the title with a win, because it beat Elm Creek 45-44 on Oct. 2. An Amherst win also clinches Amherst a spot. Amherst takes the title if Elm Creek loses to Kimball. If Elm Creek wins, Elm Creek takes it on its 61-6 win over Amherst.
Stanton at Wisner-Pilger, Friday. Stanton (8-0) clinches D1-4 with a win. A Wisner-Pilger win clinches it a spot and the D1-4 title. If Ponca also wins, the three tie at 4-1, each 1-1 against the others; Stanton and Wisner-Pilger would both be 8-1, and Wisner-Pilger wins on head-to-head (manual, p. 55).
Ravenna at Sandy Creek, Friday. Both are 3-0 in D1-6 and already in. The winner takes the title and is guaranteed no worse than the No. 2 seed. Sandy Creek is the 2025 state champion.
Thayer Central at Tri County, and Ponca at Pender, Friday. Tri County (16th) and Ponca (T-12) are inside the projected field but cannot clinch on their own result.
Possible quarterfinals
If every higher seed wins in the first round (a NEB Preps projection):
- No. 1 Johnson-Brock vs. No. 8 Exeter-Milligan-Friend
- No. 4 Sandy Creek vs. No. 5 Stanton
- No. 3 Crofton vs. No. 6 Hartington-Newcastle
- No. 2 Ravenna vs. No. 7 Sutton
Still unknown
The D1-4, D1-6 and D1-7 titles, every seed and the last wild cards are not yet determined. NSAA's district standings page does not mark clinches; these two rest on the head-to-head step (p. 55).
Every class: Wildcard Watch: Week 9.
Sources
Nebraska football scores and schedules → · Football playoff tracker →