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The good feelings have left the launch pad at Lincoln Northeast.

For the first time since 2010, when this year's seniors were in preschool, the Rockets have a 3-0 varsity football team.

Week 1 this year brought the emphatic end of a 24-game losing streak. Two more shutouts have followed. So far, it's Northeast 167, Opponents 0.

For a team that too often in recent years has struggled to find enough players to field a competitive varsity program, times are good.

"It's so nice actually getting wins, and having a team that's strong and willing to go out there and put everything on the line into shutting these teams down," junior receiver Drew Van Dyke said. "It's been super fun."

Fun had been in short supply for a while at Northeast.

Prior to this year, the Rockets' last win came on Sept. 10, 2021, against Omaha Northwest. From that day through August 30 this year, Northeast lost every game it played. A few were close. Most were not.

When Javonta Boyd was promoted to head coach prior to the 2022 season, he knew the task ahead from his time as a Rockets assistant. It's taken time to instill the building blocks any successful team needs.

But they've started to take hold, Boyd said.

"We're at a point in our program where winning needs to take priority over some of the things that we do," Boyd said. "The expectation that you're going to win. And that's what we've been focusing on.

"Instead of saying, 'Oh we're going to be in that game and we're going to compete, it's, we're going to win that game. And we're going to finish that game."

So far so good.

In winning its first three games 48-0, 42-0 and 77-0, Northeast has already scored more points in 2024 than it did combined in 2022 and 2023. The point total is the most in a season since 2018, which was the last time the Rockets had a winning record while scoring 218 points in a 5-4 season.

There's been offensive balance — junior quarterback Grant Matson, a transfer from Lincoln East, has thrown for 297 yards and run for 245. Three other backs — Kaleb Poulson, Kamryn Bradford, and Zayne Scully — have all run for more than 160 yards. Senior tight end Levi Sherman has six catches for 90 yards and a touchdown.

On defense, six players have sacks. Sophomore Quincy Montoya, with three interceptions, leads a secondary that has picked off seven passes.

"For me to be a part of (this turnaround), it feels pretty good," Montoya said. 

A friendlier schedule has helped.

Northeast's first three opponents — Omaha Northwest, Omaha Bryan, and Omaha Benson — are a combined 1-8. Omaha Northwest has lost 29 straight games heading into Week 4. Benson has lost 13 in a row and 17 of its last 18. Bryan is 1-2 this year but has been outscored 92-7 in its two losses.

But Northeast won't and shouldn't apologize for who they've played. For the first time in a few years, they're on the other side of those lopsided games.

"That’s part of that growth. The focus throughout the week that we have to get better as a unit. But they’re expecting to win," Boyd said. "And I tell them, if that’s what the mindset is, that you expect to win, then the practice needs to show that, and the intensity needs to always be up. And as a program right now, that’s what we’re working on."

Next come the toughest tests of the season. First, a trip to North Platte this Friday to play a Bulldogs team that beat Northeast 75-22 last year, and 56-7 in 2022.

Next week it's a road trip to No. 4-ranked Omaha North. Then a city matchup against Lincoln Southwest. 

But it isn't hard to look at Northeast's next six weeks and see the two more wins it would take to finish over .500. Are the Rockets ready for that step? Time will tell.

For now, though, there's plenty to enjoy on North 63rd Street.

"What we're working on is, what's the line between fun and staying focused and getting the job done each and every day," Boyd said. "And like I tell them, they don't know what they don't know. But they're working hard, and that's all I can ask for."