Football · Wildcard Watch
Wildcard Watch: Nebraska high school football playoff projections before Week 9
77 teams have clinched. The Week 9 games that decide district titles, the last spots and top seeds in every class. Projection, not official.
Seventy-seven Nebraska high school football teams have clinched playoff spots with one regular-season week left, by NEB Preps' count of NSAA's points. In seven of the eight classes, a single Week 9 game decides a district title, a playoff spot or the top of the bracket.
Data as of 9:04 a.m. CT Monday, Oct. 19, from NSAA wildcard points and schedule exports. Every clinch, elimination and seed here is a NEB Preps projection, not NSAA's. Clinched and eliminated calls are NEB Preps' math, which runs every Week 9 result through NSAA's full point formula (NSAA football manual, p. 40).
Week 9 runs Oct. 22-24, and every scheduled game is Thursday, Oct. 22, or Friday, Oct. 23. It is the last week that counts. Points stop at the end of the regular season (Wild Card Criteria #6, manual p. 37).
The board
| Class | Clinched | Top game |
|---|---|---|
| A | 10 | Westside at Millard South |
| B | 12 | Crete at Blair |
| C1 | 10 | Roncalli at Boys Town |
| C2 | 10 | GICC at Gothenburg |
| D1 | 9 | Ravenna at Sandy Creek |
| D2 | 9 | SRC at Aquinas |
| D3 | 7 | Hyannis at DCS |
| D6 | 10 | Arthur County at Paxton |
"Clinched" means a berth in every combination of Week 9 results. Any team not listed as clinched or out is not yet determined.
Class A
Omaha Westside (8-0) plays at Millard South (8-0) on Friday. Both are in, and the winner is guaranteed no worse than the No. 2 seed. Lincoln Southeast is out if it loses to Lincoln East. Five more teams clinch with a win, and the Lincoln North Star-Lincoln Southwest winner Thursday is one of them. Class A outlook.
Class B
Crete at Blair on Friday is win or go home. Both are 3-0 in B-4, whose champion is its only qualifier, and B-4 teams cannot take wild cards (manual p. 48). The rest of the field is the top three in B-1 to B-3 plus six wild cards, also under the p. 48 rule. Six teams chase the last three spots. Class B outlook.
Class C1
Omaha Roncalli Catholic visits Boys Town on Thursday, and the winner takes the C1-1 title. Both are already in. Lincoln Christian, O'Neill, Central City and Cozad clinch with a win. Auburn and Alliance hold the last projected spots but cannot clinch on their own result. Class C1 outlook.
Class C2
Grand Island Central Catholic, No. 1 by points, takes the C2-5 title and the projected No. 1 seed with a win at Gothenburg on Friday. Unbeaten Bergan Catholic at unbeaten Yutan decides C2-1, and both are in. Scotus Central Catholic and Fillmore Central clinch with a win. Class C2 outlook.
Class D1
Ravenna at Sandy Creek on Friday decides D1-6, and the winner is guaranteed no worse than the No. 2 seed. Johnson-Brock and Cross County have already clinched their district titles on head-to-head results (manual p. 55). Wisner-Pilger, Elmwood-Murdock, Amherst and Alma clinch with a win. Class D1 outlook.
Class D2
Shelby-Rising City (8-0) takes the D2-1 title with a win at Aquinas Catholic on Friday. BDS is in with a win at Superior, and Hemingford is in with a win. Fullerton and South Loup are tied for the last projected spot, and that tie is unresolved. Class D2 outlook.
Class D3
Hyannis at Dundy County Stratton on Friday decides the D3-7 title, and the winner is in. Hyannis is out with a loss. A Dundy County Stratton loss leaves it not yet determined as a wild card. Central Valley at Burwell decides D3-4. Burwell, Deshler and Twin Loup are tied at Nos. 6-8, and that order is unresolved. Class D3 outlook.
Class D6
D6 takes the 16 best averages. Arthur County at Paxton and Crawford's and Southwest's home games are Thursday, and a win puts each of those three in. Four teams are tied at No. 16 at 39.7143, and that tie is unresolved. Class D6 outlook.
What's still unknown
Every seed and first-round pairing is not yet determined, and NSAA has not posted brackets. Week 9 also changes opponents' records, which moves every average, so teams that win can still slide. Ties not broken by a 2026 head-to-head result are listed in NSAA's page order, which is not a tiebreak result.
This replaces Wildcard Watch: Week 8, which used NSAA's Oct. 12 standings.
Sources
Nebraska football scores and schedules → · Football playoff tracker →