The number one ranked Westside Warriors will take the three-hour drive to Cope Stadium to take on the Kearney Bearcats on Friday, Sept. 4, at 7 p.m. Westside is coming off of a big win this week after shutting out their rivals Creighton Prep last Thursday. On the other side of the ball, Kearney is looking for redemption after a 14-10 loss to Lincoln Southeast. With Kearney losing in a close game they will be hungry and wanting a victory. Junior Dominic Rezac expressed that they know Kearney will be tougher but they are locked in and ready to play.  

“I think we do a good job of playing together. It’s a lot of the same guys from last year’s team and then a few other guys have really stepped up and mesh well with everyone else,” Rezac said. 

Westside has learned over the years that they aren’t just teammates. Head coach Brett Froendt and the Westside football program have worked hard to teach their players the meaning of brotherhood. This helps keep everyone accountable and allows the players to grow and learn from what they might be doing wrong.

“We have to concentrate on the mistakes we made last week. Kearney is a different opponent than Prep so it’s more important to focus on us,” Froendt said 

With cleaning up mistakes from last week’s game and improving their skills, Westside has the mindset to be the best. To get to that level there are many factors that have to come together on and off the football field. For senior Taylor Bruber, trust is their biggest factor for success. 

“You gotta be able to trust the guys around you, trust that they will do their job and [that] they will have your back,” Bruber said. “If you don’t trust the guy on each side of you or around you then it won’t work like the playbook wants it too.”

Friday’s matchup will kick-off at 7 p.m. at Kearney as the Warriors look to stay atop of the pole. The game can be watched here at https://striv.tv/channel/kearney/#.