Westside looks to beat rival for third straight time, get to .500

If history tells us anything it’s that tonight’s game between unranked Westside and No. 9 Creighton Prep will be close, and most likely a nail-biter.

Over the past five years and six games, the rivalry between the two schools has had no team except the 2011 Warriors win by more than 12 (in 2011, Westside won 34-0), and has ended in games decided by a touchdown or less four times. Last season, Westside picked up two wins to take a 4-2 series lead over those games.

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This year’s version of the rivalry matches team’s coming in off of vastly different results, as Creighton Prep took a 42-8 opening night victory with 356 rush yards over Papillion-La Vista while Westside was shut out 41-0 with four turnovers. For Westside head coach Brett Froendt, last week’s performance wasn’t “Westside football,” and he said the team has made changes to flip the outcome for this game.

“[We will] play harder, play with more effort and play our assignments, because all of that fell apart last week, which is not typical of any Westside football team,” Froendt said. “It was a disappointment. The players were disappointed, the coaches were disappointed and we’ve worked to improve that.”

Meanwhile, Creighton Prep head coach Chris Nizzi said he expects the Warriors “are much better than the outcome of [the Bellevue West] game indicates.” He said the week one performances aren’t what matters.

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“You’ve got to take this week-to-week,” Nizzi said. “I don’t know that the previous week’s performance should have that much influence on your motivation or your confidence. I think that your week of preparation affects your confidence coming into the next competition, and I think our kids are working hard. I think they’ve been humble and have things they need to improve on. I think in that way it’s been a good week of preparation.”

Nizzi said his players; including star running back Micah Rensch, who carried the ball 26 times for 189 yards and three touchdowns last week; are preparing to run the ball just like they did last week.

“The keys to the game for us are being able to run the ball again and making sure that we perform our assignments better than we did last week,” Nizzi said.

Westside will be charged with stopping that running attack.

“[To stop the run, we will] put more guys in the box a little bit,” Froendt said. “We’re not so concerned about their passing game. We think we’ve got better ability at the corners than Papillion had last week. We’re going to concentrate on putting a lot of people in the box and hopefully stopping their big guys.”

On the offensive side, Froendt said Westside will look to return to its identity after struggling last week.

“[We need] to do what we do best: to rush the ball, to throw quick passes,” Froendt said. “That’s what Westside’s all about. We got away from that last week, so [the key is] to get back to our core fundamentals and our core purpose of offense. If we do that, we’ll be in good shape.”

Froendt added that the number one key for Westside to come out with a win is simple: effort.

“We did not have Warrior-like effort last week,” Froendt said.

The game will be played at Burke High School at 7 p.m. Tickets are available for purchase in the Main Office today.

Westside Wired will be providing live updates @westsidewired on Twitter and Instagram. Tweet using #CageTheJays before, during and after the game for a chance to be included in a Westside Wired and Lance story.

The theme for the game is “Prep t-shirts,” which say “Westside vs. Prep” on the front and “Cage The Jays” on the back. The shirts have been available for sale since Thursday morning, and are still available in the landing today.

Check back Monday for a recap of the game.