After suffering a mistake-ridden loss, the Westside varsity football players huddled up facing the scoreboard; 41-0, it read. Not how a team that reached the state championship game last season expected to start this one.

“We got our butt whooped in every facet of the game,” head coach Brett Froendt said. “They were well-prepared and our inexperience showed.”

That inexperience was starting only three returners on offense and none on defense, as senior Drew Combs, who started at defensive back last year, did not play because medical reasons kept him out of practice in the weeks leading up to the game.

Early in the first quarter, however, Westside showed its talent, not its inexperience.

After junior AJ Nolin’s opening kickoff pegged Bellevue West at its own five-yard line, the Warrior defense held the Thunderbirds to a three and out. The ensuing punt put the Warriors at the Bellevue West 45-yard line.

The Warriors were able to move the ball to the Bellevue West 16, but a 33-yard field goal try by junior AJ Nolin was wide.

The Westside defense then forced another three and out, and started the next drive at its own 18 with 4:41 remaining in the first half. Here, the first mistake hit. On second and one from the Westside 27, junior Mitchell Hagan, who finished the game with 143 yards on 11-26 passing with two interceptions in his first varsity start, completed a six-yard pass to junior Alex Lindquist, but Lindquist fumbled the ball, and it was recovered by Bellevue West at Westside’s 33.

On the next play, Bellevue West’s junior Jadyn Kowalski completed a 33-yard touchdown pass to junior Cade Johnson, putting Bellevue West up 7-0 with 3:28 remaining in the first quarter.

“We just couldn’t stop some of their big plays,” Froendt said. “We stopped several drives; defensively we had some good opportunities and good situations, but they hit one big play on us and we couldn’t recover.”

Westside had its second turnover in as many offensive plays on its next drive, as Hagan’s pass intended for senior Kieran Carter flew over the receivers head and into the hands of Bellevue West senior Hunter Gage. Gage returned the ball 18 yards to the Westside two-yard line. Bellevue West scored two plays later when sophomore Jaylin Bradley carried the ball two yards for the score, making it 14-0 with 2:48 remaining in the first quarter.

Westside then made it three straight possessions ending in a turnover when, after putting together a six-play, 55-yard drive, junior Logan Duryee, who led the Warriors with 88 yards on 24 carries, fumbled the ball at the Bellevue West 25. Bellevue West recovered the fumble.

Bellevue West then marched down the field before Kowalski completed a 39-yard touchdown pass to Bellevue West sophomore Chris Finn, giving the Thunderbirds a 21-0 lead with 11:50 remaining in the first half.

After a Westside drive stalled, Bellevue West and Westside traded turnovers — a fumble by Bellevue West followed by a Thunderbird interception of Westside — before Bellevue West capped off first half scoring with 42-yard field goal with just over four minutes remaining in the first half.

Westside got one more chance at scoring in the half after senior Anthony Boone picked off Kowalski and returned it to the Bellevue West 43 and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Bellevue West gave the Warriors 15 more yards. A 10-yard completion from Hagan to junior Braxton Anderson, who had 46 receiving yards to lead the Warriors, with six seconds remaining set Nolin up for a 35-yard field goal, but his kick went wide.

Bellevue West would ultimately tack on 17 more points and Westside would never find its footing, giving the final 41-0 score.

The loss took the Warriors from fifth in the Omaha World Herald’s preseason rankings to being unranked. Meanwhile, Westside rival and week two opponent Creighton Prep took a 42-8 win over Papillion-La Vista to move itself from unranked to No. 9 in the state.

When asked what his team will do to improve the outcome of its week two game, Froendt had a simple answer.

“Work hard,” Froendt said. “Work hard: that’s all we can do.”