BRUNING, Neb. - Trailing by double digits at halftime, #2-seeded Bruning-Davenport/Shickley (10-0) outscored #7-seeded Overton (9-2) 18-0 in the second half to rally for a 32-25 win in the quarterfinals, booking the Eagles a spot in the 2024 Nebraska D2 Football state semifinals next Friday night.  

The game was originally scheduled to be played in Shickley, but weather and technical issues on a rainy Friday night forced the game to be moved over to Bruning, the site of last week’s triple-overtime thriller. The staff of the school district made the site switch work as smoothly as possible in the span of only a couple hours, and once the game actually began, the BDS players appeared unfazed by the last-minute change of plans.  

In a matchup of two teams called the Eagles, the home team came out flying: on their first two possessions, BDS created a 43-yard passing touchdown from Levi Kamler to Brayden Gardner and then a 50-yard rushing touchdown from Carson Loos to jump out 14-0 with four minutes left in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Overton didn’t even manage a first down on its first two series, and BDS looked to be in full control in the early goings.  

That all changed in a hurry when Overton executed a trick play which resulted in top wideout Dawson McCarter linking up with quarterback Hayden Muirhead for a 58-yard score. That connection typically works in the other direction for Overton, but this time it kickstarted the visiting Eagles into a 25-0 run to end the half.  

Overton scored touchdowns on four straight possessions starting with that Muirhead receiving score: the quarterback ran one in from 15 yards out, hit Eli Luther with a deep bomb, and then Luther scored on the ground before a rare made extra point from Jaison Gonzalez gave Overton a 25-14 lead with 2:29 to go until halftime.  

BDS’s strong start had been nullified and then countered by Overton’s excellent second quarter, but BDS prepared a counterpunch of its own over the course of the second half. It started with the BDS defense, which spotted Overton those 25 straight points in the first half but then forced the visitors into three straight punts to begin the second.  

On the other side, a game-changing 65-yard scamper from Loos flipped the switch back on for the BDS offense. Overton pinned BDS at its own 1-yard line with a great punt and a five-point lead, but the Eagle offense marched the length of the field, capped by a 25-yard catch-and-run from Kamler to Loos, which put BDS back in front 26-25. After another Overton punt BDS converted again, this time on a 15-yard pass from Kamler to Jacob Beavers, and BDS extended the lead to 32-25 with less than two minutes to go.  

BDS failed on a critical two-point conversion, which left the door open, slightly, for Overton, trailing by seven with less than two to play. Muirhead led the Eagles across midfield but Overton ultimately turned it over on downs with an incompletion with a second left, and BDS took back over and sealed a spot in the semifinals with one final kneel down, wrapping up an exciting 32-25 win.  

The Eagles will now go on the road for the first time this postseason after Riverside, the #6 seeds in Class D2, pulled an upset of #3-seeded Sandhills-Thedford in a 73-50 shootout win later on Friday. BDS will travel to Spalding, Nebraska to face the Chargers with a spot in the state championship game at stake: this Friday’s game will kick off at 5 PM, and you can listen to all the action live on Ol’ Red 99.5 and online at olred995.com.