Everyone knows the adage “offense wins games, defense wins championships.” But where does special teams fit in?

“The odds are in the defense’s favor when the other team has to drive the length of the field,” said special teams coach Chad Schmeckpeper, who uses the moniker special forces for his special teams unit. “So anytime they have to drive 80 yards there’s better odds that our defense is going to make a play somewhere along the lines to stop them, compared to whether they have to drive 50 yards.”

So, special teams helps defenses win championships. And for the Warriors, senior quarterback, kicker and punter Christian Hagan has been the man leading the charge. Thanks to a big leg that has helped him boot the ball through the uprights on kickoffs, he has kicked touchback after touchback (and has not missed an extra point kick, although that is a testament to his accuracy rather than his power).

“Christian is a definite strength,” Schmeckpeper said. “It’s a big benefit to your defense when the opposing team always starts at the 20, which has happened 72 out of 80 times, I believe, this year on kickoffs. And we’ve won the field position battle every game but one and that happened to be the game we lost.”

In the Class A State Championship Tuesday, Nov. 26, Schmeckpeper expects the Warriors to have the edge in special teams.

“I think we have a special teams advantage every week though,” Schmeckpeper said. “We just have explosive playmakers returning the ball and we’ve got one of the best kickers in the state, so yes [I think we will have an advantage against Omaha North].”

The four most notable “explosive playmakers” returning the ball are seniors Drew Fitzmorris, Jamaal Conway-Smith, Lane Yates and Malek Pittman. While the four have only returned one kick or punt for a touchdown this season, they have repeatedly given Westside excellent field position.

As for Omaha North’s special teams unit, Calvin Strong — one of the, or quite possibly the most prolific runner in Nebraska high school football history — returns the ball, and the Vikings have an aggressive kickoff team.

“They’ve got some guys that fly down and are very physical, but we have ways to counter that,” Schmeckpeper said. “Their punt game’s not outstanding. All we have to do is catch the ball. The last game we didn’t catch the ball and that added some more yards for Millard West than we needed to give them. [Omaha North is] not the best special teams team we’ve seen. There’s not a real big threat there. I guess Calvin’s their return guy, so you do have to watch out for that. I’d said [last week] we didn’t want to kick it to Monaghan, but we’re not supposed to kick it to Calvin either.”

The game is at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. Kickoff, which will give us an initial idea of how the special teams battle will go, is at 7:15 p.m.