14 points. Two touchdowns is all the Warrior defense has given up in two games. In week two, the defense held strong and only gave up seven against No. 2 ranked Creighton Prep. The Warriors beat Creighton Prep 14-7.

“It [the game] was fantastic,” said head football coach Brett Froendt. “Anytime you beat Prep and go 2-0, it’s hard to beat.”

This year, the acts of rivalry started before the game. On Wednesday night, Prep students painted the ‘Courage’ rock blue, which angered the Westside football team and student body. Junior Alex Zimmerman printed pictures of the rock and Liz Karnes’ story and hung them in the football locker room.

The Creighton Prep football team was not pleased with the vandalism by their schoolmates. Senior football players Easton Stick and Michael Emodi collected donations for Liz’s Legacy during school on Thursday. They presented a $500 donation to Principal Maryanne Ricketts on Friday morning.

By Friday night, the only focus was on the game, and the Warriors came to play. Prep’s offense features two of the best players in the state, quarterback Stick and wide receiver senior RJ Urzendowski. The two form, arguably, the best quarterback-receiver pair in the state.

The Warriors played them well. The Warrior defense got to Stick early and often. Stick looked fairly rattled, and had trouble scrambling, a facet of his game that makes him difficult to defend. The Warriors played a quarterback contain defense, and it payed off. Urzendowski was able to get open and make catches, but was Stick and Urzendowski were never able to connect for a big play, something they are known for. This may have been due to the Westside game plan of providing help on Urzendowski, as Westside safety senior Drew Fitzmorris, the leader of the defense, switched to Urzendowski’s side of the ball every play.

The defense had trouble with the run, but in the end, the Prep offense goes through Stick and Urzendowski. Last week the Junior Jays scored 25 points, this week they were held to 7.

“The players wanted to win this game bad,” Froendt said. “Our kids were resilient, tough and they did a great job following the game plan.”

Offensively the Warriors were able to move the ball down the field, but were only able to put up 14 points. The offense was hampered by penalties, but were able to score on a fumble recovered by senior Matt Connelly, and a touchdown pass to senior Malek Pittman from senior Lane Yates. Yates, who usually scores on his legs rather than his arm, received a pitch from quarterback senior Christian Hagan, the defense bit and ran to stop Yates, and Pittman was left wide open in the end zone. From 20 yards out, Yates hit Pittman, making Yates 1-1 throwing, with one touchdown, on the season.

The Warriors were able to hold on to beat Prep for the second time in three years. Prep falls to 1-1 and a No. 4 ranking. The Warriors, 2-0, move up to No. 3 in the rankings. Westside goes on to play unranked Grand Island. Grand Island is 2-0 after beating Lincoln Southwest 21-3. The game is Friday, September 13 at 7 p.m. Prep goes on to play 0-2 Millard North, who is ranked No. 8.