OMAHA — Teddy Prochazka, a heralded Husker recruit, is best known for his work on the offensive line, clearing paths for runners and buying time for passers.
In other words, he does a lot of the dirty work in the trenches. So when his sack on fourth-and-9 sealed Elkhorn South's seat in the Class A state final, Prochazka knew exactly what he had to do.
"I missed a sack earlier in the night and I wanted to make up for that, so I wrapped him up pretty tight and threw him down," the 6-foot-9, 300-pounder said.Â
"The next thing that popped in my mind was to throw the bones."
Prochazka sacked Kearney quarterback Preston Pearson with 2 minutes left in regulation, and his tip of the cap to his future school added an exclamation mark on Elkhorn South's 10-3 win over Kearney in a Class A football semifinal Friday at Elkhorn Stadium.
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The game, played in cold, windy conditions, was a battle of defenses. Never mind that both teams scored over 35 points last week. It didn't help that the Storm's starting quarterback, Dilan Krause, exited the game with an ankle injury late in the first quarter and did not return. There were turnovers, sacks, stuffed runs. The works.Â
"They're relentless," Elkhorn South coach Guy Rosenberg said of Kearney. "But we have outstanding players on our football team and they came together and found a way to get it done."
Cole Ballard helped pace the Storm's offense and scored the game's lone touchdown, a 1-yard dive with 1:06 left in the third quarter. Time and time again, Ballard helped move the ball with steady gains against a Kearney defensive line that wasn't willing to budge.Â
On Elkhorn South's other scoring drive, which resulted in Carsen Crouch's field goal, Ballard ran the ball on seven of the Storm's nine plays.Â
"We knew it was going to be a bar fight," Ballard said. "Hats off to our defense today, and our (offensive) line blocked great."
Trailing 10-3, Kearney probed its way into Elkhorn South territory midway through the fourth quarter. The Bearcats faced a fourth-and-1 on the Elkhorn South 9-yard line. Pearson attempted a quarterback sneak and was greeted at the line by Storm defenders for no gain. But the play didn't count due to Kearney coach Brandon Cool sneaking in a timeout moments before the ball was snapped.
More magic from Kearney, which stunned Bellevue West last week in overtime?
Not this time. Pearson tried to run behind his right guard to gain the required 12 inches. Again, the Storm didn't budge. And this time it counted.
"Our defensive staff did an outstanding job and I was especially impressed that it looked like we had a stop, and then we came out and did it again," Rosenberg said. "Hats off to those guys. That's mental toughness."
Elkhorn South, which won back-to-back state titles in Class B in 2015-16, reaches the top two in Class A, a feat Prochazka said the senior class in particular set as its personal mission.
"It's so special," Prochazka said. "We said that we would be the senior class that did it."