Football · State semifinals · Class D2 · Recap
North Platte St. Patrick's, Loomis advance to Class D2 final
No. 2 North Platte St. Patrick's beat No. 3 Laurel-Concord-Coleridge 70-20 and No. 4 Loomis beat No. 8 Hemingford 68-42 in Friday's Class D2 state semifinals, setting up a title game at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.
St. Patrick's entered 11-0 and is 12-0 after the win. LCC entered 10-1 and finished 10-2. Loomis entered 11-0 and is 12-0 after the win. Hemingford entered 9-2 and finished 9-3. St. Patrick's and Loomis will meet in the Class D2 final on Monday, Nov. 23, at 10:15 a.m. at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. St. Patrick's beat Hemingford 68-20 on Sept. 25.
St. Patrick's beat LCC 70-20 at North Platte St. Patrick's, reaching its first state title game since 2004 and its first since moving to Eight-Man in 2022. St. Patrick's had beaten Howells-Dodge 25-8 in the quarterfinals and Bertrand 58-22 in the first round. LCC had edged Wilcox-Hildreth 24-22 and beaten BDS 68-18. No trusted play-by-play with quarter, clock, and score-after was posted, so individual scoring plays cannot be listed.
St. Patrick's led 22-8 at the end of the first quarter. The Irish were 3-for-3 on touchdown drives in that quarter, and Ben Heirigs had 162 rushing yards by then. The Irish led 35-14 during the second quarter and 56-20 at halftime. By the break, St. Patrick's had 293 total yards, had forced three turnovers, and had a kickoff return for a touchdown. Heirigs had five total touchdowns. The Irish led 63-20 at the end of the third quarter and finished 70-20. Who scored after halftime, and how, was not reported in the trusted notes. Heirigs finished with a career-high 222 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns on 20 carries. He also caught one pass for a 3-yard touchdown, returned a kickoff 65 yards for a score and threw a 51-yard touchdown pass, accounting for six touchdowns in all. The complete board checkpoints are in the St. Patrick's recap.
Loomis beat Hemingford 68-42 at Loomis. Loomis reaches its second state championship game in program history and its first since 1998, when it fell to Butte in the D-2 final. Loomis had survived No. 13 Neligh-Oakdale 62-60 in the first round and then beaten Lourdes Central Catholic 76-34. Hemingford had beaten No. 9 Aquinas 58-35 and won 50-44 at top-seeded Shelby-Rising City. No trusted play-by-play with quarter, clock, scorer, and score-after was posted for most of the game.
Loomis led 8-6 with 6:30 left in the first quarter and 16-6 at the end of the first. Zaine Feist scored a touchdown with 3:50 left in the second, and Lucas Sulzbach added the two-point conversion, making it 24-20. How the game went from 24-20 to the next reported score was not reported in the trusted notes. Loomis scored a touchdown with 9:04 left in the third, with no scorer named, making it 36-26. Hemingford cut it to 36-34 with 4:10 left in the third. Loomis later led 42-34, then 52-34 at the end of the third quarter. No trusted scoring plays were posted for the late scores that took the game from 52-34 to the 68-42 final. The complete board checkpoints are in the Loomis recap.
North Platte St. Patrick's and Loomis will play for the Class D2 title on Monday, Nov. 23, at 10:15 a.m. at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.
Scoring summary
North Platte St. Patrick's 70, Laurel-Concord-Coleridge 20 board checkpoints, with no trusted scoring plays with quarter, clock, and score-after, are listed in the St. Patrick's recap. Loomis 68, Hemingford 42 published scoring, which is partial and is mostly board checkpoints, is listed in the Loomis recap.
Sources
Updates from trusted accounts. Season stats from MaxPreps. Seeds, records and prior playoff results from the NSAA bracket.