Bears rally late, edge Scottsbluff 13-10 in playoffs
Published 3:54 pm Tuesday, November 10, 2026
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Bears rally late, edge Scottsbluff 13-10 in playoffs
Don Harrold, Contributor
SCOTTSBLUFF — Landry Larsen ran 8 yards for a touchdown with 1:55 left, capping an 82-yard drive that included two fourth-down conversions, and Blair held on to beat Scottsbluff 13-10 on Friday night in the second round of the state playoffs. The Bears are now 10-1, one season after going 1-8.
Blair coach Will Lansman credited the win, seven hours from home, to toughness. “They did a great job handling all the extra things that come with traveling across the state. Scottsbluff was a very physical team and our guys went out there and played physical and handled adversity through the whole game.”
Blair plays at Gretna East in the semifinals Friday, Nov. 13. The state championship is Tuesday, Nov. 24, at Memorial Stadium.
Both teams came in at 9-1. Blair’s only loss had come against Skutt Catholic, and Scottsbluff’s against Grand Island Northwest.
The Bearcats played without leading rusher Mason Schmer, who had knee surgery this week. They ran their single-wing offense through quarterback Carver Nemnich and running backs Jorden McCarty and Daniel Young.
Blair won the toss and took the ball. Barrett Brown returned the opening kickoff to the 17, and Larsen, a sophomore who has rushed for more than 1,000 yards this season, broke two tackles on a jet sweep for an early first down.
On the next play, quarterback Brevin Leggott’s flea-flicker pass to a wide-open Brown went off Brown’s hands. Riley Stricker sacked Leggott on third down, and Luke Donner punted.
Blair’s defense forced a three-and-out on Scottsbluff’s first series, with Larsen and Jaxon Logan stopping McCarty on third down. On the Bears’ second drive, Leggott pitched to Easton Kosch, who was back after missing last week’s game with an injury, but that drive also ended in a punt.
Scottsbluff muffed that punt but recovered at its own 22. Nate Murray chased down Nemnich from behind to stop a long run on the drive, then made a tackle for loss.
On third-and-7 from the Blair 48, Nemnich faked a handoff and found Young behind the defense for a 48-yard touchdown. Cole Dedic’s extra point made it 7-0 with 2:10 left in the first quarter.
Brown returned the ensuing kickoff to the Blair 36, and the Bears answered. Leggott’s swing pass to Andrew Smutny, with a block from Kosch, picked up a first down near midfield. Smutny added 7 yards on a jet sweep, and Larsen converted a fourth down to the Scottsbluff 40 as the quarter ended.
On third-and-1 from the 31, Leggott threw down the seam to Brown, who laid out for the catch at the 1. Larsen was stopped inches short, then scored on the next play.
Scottsbluff was flagged for offsides on Donner’s made extra point. On the retry from the 1½-yard line, a high snap threw off the timing and the kick was blocked, leaving Scottsbluff ahead 7-6 midway through the second quarter.
Sabala returned the kickoff to the Scottsbluff 40. On third-and-1, a measurement showed Nemnich half a yard short. He picked up the first down on fourth down, but Larsen hit him hard at the end of the run.
On the next play, Smutny intercepted a Nemnich pass that fell behind Young. The Bears went three-and-out after the interception; Caleb Burda broke up their third-down pass to Isaak Schultz, and Eric Sabala returned the punt to the Blair 42.
McCarty carried the ball on most of the Bearcats’ next drive, which reached first-and-goal at the 3 with three minutes left in the half. A delay-of-game penalty backed Scottsbluff up to the 8.
From there the Bears held, stopping McCarty for a 1-yard loss and Nemnich short of the goal line. Dedic kicked a short field goal for a 10-6 lead with 1:20 left.
Brown returned the kickoff to near the Blair 40, but the drive stalled at the 45 when Donner caught a pass just out of bounds on third down. Donner then punted to the Scottsbluff 1, where Jonah Tabor and Larsen downed the ball, and Tucker Storjohann tackled Nemnich at the 3 as the half ended.
Young returned the second-half kickoff to the Scottsbluff 45. Jase Lantry made a tackle in the backfield on the first play, and Brock Warner sacked Nemnich to force a three-and-out.
Blair then drove from its own 32 to the Scottsbluff 9, running much of the quarter off the clock. Penalties hurt the drive twice. An illegal man downfield call erased a Schultz catch for a first down, but on third-and-8, Leggott lofted a pass that Donner caught over his shoulder at the Scottsbluff 36.
Larsen broke several tackles for a first down, later ran to the 12, and Schultz caught a pass at the 5. Larsen then scored on a shovel pass, but holding brought it back.
Facing fourth-and-6 from the 9, Leggott ran toward the sideline. He went out of bounds just short of the first-down marker.
Scottsbluff took over at its own 4, and Young broke a run the length of the field. Holding brought that one back as well.
Tyce Craig-Larsen and Warner stopped McCarty after a short gain, and on third down Craig-Larsen got into the backfield and stopped Young for a loss. Scottsbluff had to punt from its end zone. After another high snap, the low punt glanced off Smutny, and Gavin Ceplecha recovered for the Bearcats at their own 31.
Brown was shaken up on the next play but returned. Scottsbluff drove into Blair territory before a reverse pass to McCarty fell short on third down early in the fourth quarter. William Green downed the punt at the Blair 18.
On the first play of the winning drive, Leggott lost the snap. Larsen scooped up the ball and ran for a first down.
A delay-of-game penalty put Blair in second-and-13, but Larsen got most of it back on a swing pass. On third-and-1, Smutny caught a short pass and, with another Kosch block, ran to the Scottsbluff 47 for a first down.
On fourth-and-6 from the 43, Leggott hit Smutny for a gain to the 22 with 5:33 left. A false start wiped out a Larsen run to the 9.
After a Blair timeout, a third-and-11 pass was caught a foot short of the marker. Larsen ran for the first down on fourth-and-1.
Larsen then ran to the 12 and to the 8, and Scottsbluff called timeout. On third-and-6, he went up the middle, kept his legs moving and spun into the end zone. Donner’s extra point, with Murray holding, made it 13-10.
“I think we saw a lot of maturity from the offense,” Lansman said of the drive. “We call those ‘got to have them’ moments. No one blinked or panicked, everyone executed at a high level and made the plays we needed to make to keep our season alive.”
Donner’s first kickoff went out of bounds. On the re-kick, Blair’s coverage stopped the return at the Scottsbluff 32.
Nemnich escaped pressure on a bootleg and found Sabala at the Blair 49. Larsen then stayed home to blow up a screen pass, and Sabala gained only a yard on the next play.
On third down, Easton Kruse pressured Nemnich off the edge and Warner brought him down for his second sack, setting up fourth-and-8. Nemnich’s pass fell incomplete with 1:02 left, and Leggott knelt to run out the clock.
With the semifinal next, Lansman said, “We need to continue to prepare the way we have all season. Continue to make the most out of our practice reps and continue to study film and get our bodies ready for another physical game.”
