North players proud of their effort

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BY KEN HAMBLETON / Lincoln Journal Star

Maybe nobody knew just how much the North offense had to offer before the 50th annual Shrine Bowl football game Saturday night at Memorial Stadium.

“I don’t think anybody knew anything about our offense, not even us,” said North running back Skyler Luxa of Blair, who was a runner-up for offensive player of the game. “Heck our defense smothered us in practice for more than a week. I don’t know how anybody else could play us tougher.”

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Skyler Luxa of Blair was a runner-up for offensive player of the game Saturday. (Michael Paulsen)

Skyler Luxa of Blair was a runner-up for offensive player of the game Saturday. (Michael Paulsen)

The North lost but it wasn’t from a lack of effort and performance.

The North rushed for 188 yards, including 103 by Luxa, and passed for 106 yards, including 63 yards on six completions by Joel Nixon of Wakefield.

“You know we had so many guys from Class C and Class D, and nobody expected us to do anything on offense,” said Nixon, who led the North on a final drive that sputtered with two fumbled snaps on quarterback sneaks ending the potential upset bid.

“We had the mistakes, but you can’t say we got outplayed on offense or defense,” said Nixon. “One play, their big opening play (the South scored on a 68-yard halfback pass on the first play from scrimmage), and the rest was us. We just had a couple of missteps, a couple of fumbles and some penalties. But you can bet we proved a point. We controlled everything but our few mistakes.”

Luxa said the difference in the play of the game was the North defense shutting down almost everything, but the one play, attempted by the South.

“I know how our defense played against us in practice, and it was all iron all the time,” he said.

The North defense limited the South to 52 yards rushing and 22 yards passing, excluding the long touchdown early in the game.

North defensive lineman Zach Klapperich of Lincoln North Star was one of the keys to the stout defense.

Along with defensive player of the game Colin McDermott of Creighton Prep, Kurt Chvatal of Bishop Neumann and Kyle Hinton of Alliance, the North defensive front was strong all game long, said North head coach Jeff Tomlin.

“Those guys on the line worked so hard on stopping the veer offense, and they did a great job tonight,” he said. “I think we had some super players, and you could see it in our defensive line.”

On offense, the plan was simple.

“It was ‘Double D on three’ every time we called a play in the huddle,” said Cody McCarthy-Fultz of Lincoln High. “‘Double D’ is desire and dedication. We tried to hammer them every play. We were out there to show we could take anything. After visiting those kids in the Shrine Hospitals this week, we knew that what was going on in a game was nothing compared to what those kids go through.”

And the North played with a chip on its shoulder.

“We were told we didn’t match up with the South, but I think we did every way possible but the score,” he said. “Our offense did an awesome job, but we didn’t score. That’s not what we’re going to remember.”