After the final whistle, the Elkhorn High School student section celebrated victory.
“I believe!” the Antlers chanted in unison from the bleachers. “I believe that we just won! I believe that we just won!”
Barely.
A KXVO CW 15 television audience watched Thursday night as the 1-3 Blair football team held a 21-14 fourth-quarter advantage at Class B No. 2 EHS. After thwarting another Bear attack on their end zone, the Antlers evened the score with 3:33 left to go in the game.
Less than minute later, the second-ranked team in the state scored the go-ahead points on a yellow flag. BHS was called for an intentional grounding penalty from its own end zone, resulting in a safety and a 23-21 Elkhorn survival.
The Antlers (4-0 overall) and their supporters celebrated, but coach Bryan Soukup's belief in his Blair squad remained well intact.
“We're growing up and we're learning, and we're getting better,” he said. “And we're playing good ball.”
So good that the Bears outplayed No. 2 for much of Thursday's battle.
“I just kept telling the kids, 'Eventually, you keep putting yourself in this type of situation week-in and week-out, you can come away with wins eventually,'” Soukup said. “That's just where we're at.”
BHS started out front after freshman Brock Templar recovered a muffed punt at Elkhorn's 45-yard line. Bears quarterback Bode Soukup converted third down-and-6 and fourth-and-4 throws to J'shawn Unger and Shea Wendt, respectively, on the scoring drive that followed.
“We thought we'd be able to rollout and do some of those things, and we were pretty effectively doing that,” coach Soukup said. “Moved the ball pretty well.”
Livai Opetaia capped Blair's second possession of the first quarter with a 2-yard touchdown run, giving the Bears a 7-0 advantage.
Elkhorn tried to respond, but missed the field goal at the end of its own drive. The Antlers remained scoreless until just 43 seconds were left before halftime. Quarterback Connor Hunt snuck into the end zone from 1-yard out, but the home team's extra-point kick missed.
The Bears led 7-6 at the intermission.
“I just love this team and I love the way they fight,” Soukup said.
BHS fought its way into the end zone for a second time Thursday after Kaden Sears recovered an Elkhorn fumble to start the second half. Bode Soukup made the Antlers pay for their mistake, hitting an open Ethan Baessler in stride down the middle of the field for a 43-yard touchdown pass.
Sears' extra-point kick put the Bears up eight, 14-6 — their largest lead of the game. Opportunistic offense and an active run defense kept the pressure on EHS.
“That's just it, it was just fighting,” Soukup said. “Our kids are tough and they continued to go hard. That's been the strength of our defense.”
The D did surrender an 11-yard Elkhorn touchdown pass with 5:02 left in the third quarter, but Blair's special teams and offense answered back. First, Baessler returned the ensuing kickoff all the way down to the Antlers' 20 yard line.
From there, Soukup, the sophomore son of the coach, completed a fourth-down pass to Unger before running in a 5-yard score. The touchdown came on an athletic scramble that ended with the leaping Bears QB bowling over an Antler into the end zone.
From there, the BHS' defense held into the fourth quarter. It forced a punt and a failed fourth-down conversion along the way.
The Bears' offense just couldn't quite close the door on the second-ranked Antlers. A 78-yard Henry Kroger touchdown run and a safety later, the home student section started chanting about their victorious beliefs.
Coach Soukup, meanwhile, doesn't just believe his team is improving. He knows.
“Definitely played better than we did last week,” he said as his players left the field.
