Jake Seina missed a field goal at Platteview in the 2019 finale, an overtime loss that cost the Fort Calhoun football team a playoff spot.
One year later, as a senior, he got another chance in a close game Pioneer coaches dubbed their “playoff game” all week during practice.
“I went out there and I was like, 'I've got to make this. It's huge,'” Seina said. “'It needs to go in.'”
And it did.
The senior kicker was true from 27 yards during the third quarter, propelling 3-6 Fort Calhoun to a major upset of the district champion Logan View/Scribner-Snyder Raiders, 3-0.
“To come beat Logan View on their home field ...” FCHS coach Adolph Shepardson said, shaking his head. “They're in the state playoffs. They've won seven in a row. It's huge.”
The Pioneers capped their season with a dominant shutout. Carsen Schwarz and Avery Quinlan intercepted passes, while Zane Schwarz and Justin Myer were among the defenders who applied pressure and harassed the Logan View quarterback.
Linebackers Dillon and Clint Dierks helped put a stop to the Raiders' running game as well.
“We knew we could win tonight, but we said all week that it was going to be a war,” Shepardson said. “It was going to be low-scoring, and we've just got to hang together and our kids did that, man. They've grown a lot and that's a huge win for our program going forward.”
Preparation was key, according to senior Dillon Dierks.
“We worked all week watching film and doing all that, and we mastered that offense completely,” he said. “Our scouts also did great keeping us in check.”
Logan View, which enters the Class C1 playoffs 7-2, gave the Fort Calhoun offense trouble, too, though.
“Their defense is great, I will say that,” Dierks said. “It was hard for us to score, but we were able to drive downfield and get that 3-0 win.”
The Pioneers drove deep into Raider territory twice during the first half, but came up empty until the third quarter. The possession started at their own 34 yard line, but moved onto LVSS' side of the 50 on a long, second-effort Dierks run that ended with a personal foul on the home team.
From there, Clint Dierks ran down to the 14 for another first down. The drive stalled, but Seina trotted out onto the field with a chance to give Fort Calhoun a third-quarter lead.
“I kicked it as fundamentally as a could and it sailed right down the middle,” Seina said.
The FCHS defense preserved its slim lead from there. Logan View started a fourth-quarter drive with 3:50 left, but it ended with a Michael Shirley pass breakup on fourth down.
Minutes later with just seconds left, another Raider fourth-down pass fell incomplete.
“Big props to my defense,” Dierks said. “My defense did great.”
The Pioneers' offense took the field and quarterback Ty Hallberg took a knee to end the game, and the season, with a win.
“We proved tonight that when we're on, we're the best team in the district,” Shepardson said without hesitation.
Fort Calhoun started the season 0-5, but won three of its last four games. It finished 3-2 in the district won by Logan View.
“They just hung in there,” Shepardson said of this team. “I've told them all year that I love coaching them. It's the best part of my day at work when I get to go out to football practice.”
For seniors like Seina and Dierks, Friday's upset was the end of line. Clint Dierks, a junior, stood by as his senior brother was interviewed for the newspaper one last time. When asked if he'd miss playing with his Pioneer teammates, Dillon grinned.
“Not him really,” he joked. “But everyone else, yeah. For sure.”
