Homecoming week has been a busy one for Westside. The entire week was accompanied by spirit days with themes, while powederbuff and powderpuff pitted the junior and senior classes against each other for a battle of supremacy, and a pep rally was held to get students excited for the rest of the school year. Tonight is the final big event before the Homecoming dance itself. At 7 p.m., the No. 2 ranked Westside football team will take on Benson High School.

The 4-0 Warriors are coming off of a 42-10 win at Fremont. Benson is 1-3 and unranked, and lost to Papillion-LaVista 49-8 last week. This will be the Warriors second straight opponent with a losing record.

Benson is a pass-heavy team, averaging 165 yards a game through the air, but only 46 on the ground. They are led by quarterback Jayden Swensen, who is completing 49 percent of his passes 585 yards and seven touchdowns. Swensen is averaging an interception per game.

The Warriors have relied mostly on a rushing attack this season, but last week senior Christian Hagan was 19-25 for 212 yards and three touchdowns. The rushing attack was not as strong, as the Warriors top two running backs rushed for only 103 yards.

Head coach Brett Froendt said the key for the Warriors to win this game is the rushing attack and controlling the line of scrimmage. The Warriors are still without starting offensive lineman Henry Dobson, who went down with an injury against Grand Island two weeks ago, and the team is still finalizing the offensive line rotation.

Benson head coach Tony Kobza, who is the husband of Westside business instructor Sydney Kobza, said the key for his team to win is to stop Westside’s running attack, spearheaded by seniors Lane Yates and Drew Fitzmorris, who have combined for 582 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns. In addition, he is hoping his team will limit fumbles, as they have fumbled the ball 11 times, turning the ball over six of those times.

“We are going to throw the ball quite a bit, so interceptions are going to come,” Kobza said. “Actually, the more interceptions we have, the more aggressive our quarterback is. So, we are going to live with those. The fumbles are what we just can’t live with. So, we’ve got to focus on taking care of the football and when we’re in a crowd, making sure that we cover up.”

Kobza said his wife would be wearing Westside colors for the game.

The teams face-off tonight at 7 p.m. The game will be at Phelp’s field. The game is the first district game for the Warriors. There will be fireworks after the game.

If you are unable to come to the game, you can follow us on Twitter @westsidewired for live updates and watch our LiveWired stream of the game, which will include play-by-play and color commentary.