Where is Meridian High School?

By Clare Wiltse

Sports Contributor

Where in the world is Meridian High School?  That was the question that Cougar fans asked when the Nebraska Class D-2 football brackets were released on Saturday.  The Cougars will face off against the Mustangs in first round game on October 31 at 5:00 P.M. on their field.

Meridian is located in Jefferson County, next to Kansas.  The school is at Daykin  which is 29 miles west of Beatrice.

The game should be a highly contested game as Meridian is the number eight seed in the East Bracket with a 41.375 power rating. Northeast is number nine with 41.00.

The Mustangs finished the season with a 5-3 record.  Their most notable win was the 14-6 season opener against Lawrence -Nelson who had a 6-2 record.  Meridian was defeated D-2’s number one seed Fall City Sacred Heart 49-6.

They averaged 44 points per game while giving up 29.25.  Coach Maresh says that they are not a particularly big team, but they are capable of putting up the points.  They have an I-Back who has rushed for about 1000 yards.

The Cougars finished the season with a 7-1 mark.  Power points were harder to come by as the first five opponent finished in the division 3 with losing records.  A division three win is worth 40 points.

No team can run the read option like the Cougars.  They rushed for 339 yards per game as Northeast amassed 2715 yards with 40 TDs on the ground.  Teams that tried to stop the run paid for it as LDNE  connected on 35of 62 passes for 676 yards and 15 TDs.

Alex Brehmer, the quarterback,  had a school record 1526 yards with a 10.6 average per carry.  He connected on 31 of 55 passes for another 14 scores.  Junior Chevy Henneman took the pressure off Brehmer as he totaled 1078 yards for a 7.05 average and 15 TDs.

The receivers are led by Dakota Riecken with 17 catches for 310 yards and 7 TDs.  Marcus Hegy has 8 catches with 3 TDs and Taylor Fuston has 2 catches, each going for a score.

Dakota Riecken led the defense that held opponents to just 1494yards, just 187 per game rushing while giving up 98 yards/game passing.  Riecken has 144 tackle.  Alex Brehmer tallied 102.  Chevy Henneman and David Bishop are other top tacklers with 63  and 50 respectively.

The Cougars have out scored their opponents by twenty points.  They average 48.3 while giving up 28 points per game.

A win on Halloween most likely would create a match up against the number one seed, Falls City Sacred Heat, on November 6 .  Lyons-Decatur would-be the host team.