#2 BDS’ bid for another perfect season ends in D2 state semifinals

SPALDING, Neb. - They were in hot pursuit of their second undefeated season and state championship in the last five years, but that chase was ended two stops early: #2-seed Bruning-Davenport/Shickley (11-1) was defeated by #6-seed Riverside (10-2) by a final score of 50-20 in the 2024 Nebraska Class D2 Football state semifinals on Friday evening, ending the Eagles’ unbeaten season and lifting the Chargers into the 8-man state championship game for the first time in program history.  

Looking to replicate their success from the 2020 campaign in which they won every game, culminating in a state title, the Eagles won every game (including one forfeit victory) in the regular season, cruised past Lyons-Decatur in round one of the playoffs and then survived a pair of nailbiters – the triple-overtime thriller against Kenesaw and the fourth quarter comeback against Overton – just to get to Friday’s semifinal.  

The Chargers, meanwhile, lost twice early in the year – to Central Valley and Archangels Catholic, coincidentally, the two teams that competed in Friday’s other semifinal – and haven’t lost since. In fact, Riverside has rolled through its postseason opposition, outscoring their first three foes by an average of 38 points.  

And on Friday, Riverside added a round 30-point victory to their tally, knocking off the previously undefeated Eagles in a game the Chargers never trailed. After turning the ball over on downs in enemy territory on their first drive of the night, the Chargers were hardly ever turned away the rest of the night: Riverside scored touchdowns on their next four possessions, including two passing scores from Larry Diessner to Nicholas Berger, and hit on two two-point tries to race out to a 28-0 lead with about two minutes left in the first half.  

The Eagles struggled to gain any traction on offense for most of the first half, but, playing on the road for the first time this season, BDS put together a critical mid-game rally to keep its season afloat. Levi Kamler plunged in on a quarterback dive and Carson Loos scored the two-pointer to get BDS on the board with 31 seconds left in the first half, and just over two minutes into the second Kamler hit Brayden Gardner for a 44-yard catch and run: a 14-point run by the Eagles had halved their deficit. 

But the Chargers mounted an immediate response. Diessner and Berger starred in the first half for Riverside, and running back Jack Molt stole the show in the second half, rushing for two touchdowns and passing for another – a 30-yard strike to Berger on an option from a Diessner pitch – to keep the Chargers firmly in control. BDS got one score back on another Kamler dive with 11 minutes to go, but Molt countered back immediately, scoring on a 33-yard scamper less than a minute of game time later to stamp out the Eagles’ surge and guarantee Riverside a spot in the championship game with the 50-20 victory.  

This was simply yet another impressive season by BDS, which has unquestionably earned the distinction as one of the best high school football programs in Southeast Nebraska in any classification, and certainly at the 8-man level. The team was playing this game with heavy hearts following the sudden passing in the days leading up to the game of two men that were integral pieces of BDS football past and present. Their losses hit both the team and the school community heavily, and served as both an inspiration and a reminder for the coaches and players during this whole semifinal week. Funeral services for those two men are scheduled to be held early this coming week.  

On the other side, Riverside is a former 6-man powerhouse: not even a decade ago, the Chargers pieced together many seasons that looked like BDS’ unblemished 2020 campaign at the 8-man level. But now the Chargers are at this level too, and they look like legitimate title contenders in 2024 with this dominant postseason run. In a matchup few would have predicted, #6-seed Riverside will face off #4-seed Central Valley in a rematch of the first game of the season for both teams in the 2024 Nebraska Class D2 Football state championship game next Monday at Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium, with kickoff scheduled for 10:15 AM. We’ll have coverage of every football state championship game on News Channel Nebraska.