Anselmo-Merna beats No. 1 Lawrence-Nelson 52-36, reaches Class D3 final

No. 12 Anselmo-Merna beat previously unbeaten No. 1 Lawrence-Nelson 52-36 on Friday at Lawrence-Nelson in a Class D3 semifinal. Anselmo-Merna entered 9-2 and is 10-2 after the win. Lawrence-Nelson entered 11-0 and finished 11-1. Anselmo-Merna, the lowest remaining seed in D3, had won 36-30 at No. 5 Wausa and then beat Guardian Angels Central Catholic 46-20. Lawrence-Nelson had beaten No. 16 St. Mary's 42-26 and Wynot 58-24. The teams had no common opponents this season, so Friday was their first meeting of 2026. No trusted play-by-play with quarter, clock, and score-after was posted, so individual scoring plays cannot be listed. The scoreboard checkpoints that were reported still frame the game.

Anselmo-Merna led 24-0. The quarter for that score was not reported. It was 32-14 at halftime. How those scores happened was not reported in the trusted notes.

Anselmo-Merna led 46-14 at the end of the third quarter. Lawrence-Nelson scored in the fourth quarter to make it 46-30. Anselmo-Merna scored a touchdown with 2:39 left, with no scorer named, to make it 52-30. Lawrence-Nelson scored late to make it 52-36. No further play detail was reported.

Dane Duryea entered the game with 1,423 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns and led the Anselmo-Merna defense with 74 tackles. Caenyn Priest had 867 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns. Kacen Martin had four sacks, and Tim Myers had three interceptions. Anselmo-Merna's two losses came early: 41-38 to Burwell on Aug. 28 and 45-12 to Twin Loup on Sept. 11.

Lawrence-Nelson quarterback Wyatt Frey entered with 1,149 passing yards and 16 touchdowns and 1,291 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns. Kade Peters had 854 rushing yards. Jace Hoelting had 35 receptions for 552 yards. On defense, Cooper Heikkinen had 83 tackles and eight sacks, and Camden Wehrman had five interceptions. None of those season totals can be tied to a scoring play on Friday, because no trusted play-by-play was posted.

It is Anselmo-Merna's third state final appearance. The program has never won a football state title. Anselmo-Merna will face Central Valley in the Class D3 final on Friday, Nov. 20, at 1:10 p.m. at Cope Stadium in Kearney. Central Valley beat Archangels Catholic 52-32 in the other semifinal.

Scoring summary

No trusted scoring plays with a named scorer, and no complete play-by-play with quarter, clock, and score-after, were posted for this game. Trusted board checkpoints:

Anselmo-Merna 24, Lawrence-Nelson 0 (quarter not reported)

Halftime: Anselmo-Merna 32, Lawrence-Nelson 14.

End of third quarter: Anselmo-Merna 46, Lawrence-Nelson 14.

Fourth quarter: Lawrence-Nelson scored to make it 46-30.

Q4 2:39: Anselmo-Merna touchdown, 52-30.

Late in the fourth: Lawrence-Nelson scored for the 52-36 final.

Sources

Updates from trusted accounts. Season stats from MaxPreps. Seeds, records and prior playoff results from the NSAA bracket.

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