The Seward football team saw its season end Oct. 23 with a 49-12 loss at Waverly. SHS ends the year with a 1-8 record.
“This was not the win total that we had hoped for this season, but I am still beyond proud to coach this group of young men,” Coach Jamie Opfer said.
After Waverly scored its first touchdown, the Jays responded with a 78-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Kade Benson to cut the lead to 7-6. The Vikings added another touchdown, then Brayden Bremer found Brennan Burhoop for a 69-yard scoring strike, cutting the lead to 14-12 at the end of the first quarter.
The rest of the game was all Waverly, as the Bluejay offense struggled, Opfer said.
“In my opinion, Waverly has the best roster in the state, and we just were not able to do enough on offense or defense to give ourselves a chance to win the game,” he said.
Bremer finished the night completing 13 of 23 passes for 137 yards. Burhoop caught four for 92 yards.
Henry Johnsen led the defense with seven solo tackles and five assists. Barrett Wiesen added four solo tackles and three assists. Landon Pelset added an interception for the SHS defense.
Opfer said he was proud of the character the players showed throughout the season.
“When things don’t go the way you want them to go, it gets easy to blame others or quit giving the effort your team and teammates need, but this group was amazing to work with,” he said. “I was blessed to coach a group of great young men that came to work each and every day with a positive attitude and continued to work hard regardless of circumstances. Would we have liked to win more games, absolutely, but that does not diminish the respect I have for these boys and espically the senior group of players.”
This year’s seniors are Brecken Matzke, Riley Jacobsen, Isacc Hiser, Sean Mines, Kolten Green, Ryler Parr, Nicholas Wegman, Alex Kinney-Daniels, Henry Johnsen, Sam Cooksey, Barrett Wiesen and Collin Sveeggen.
