3/21/25
#1 OMAHA SKUTT 2 – #9 GRETNA 0 (Skutt Invite first round)
Omaha Skutt started their quest for their sixth straight state championship strong with a win over Gretna. The win marks the first time since 2018 since the Skyhawks topped the Dragons.
“(It was a) good win,” Skutt coach Justin Zabawa said. “Wasn’t necessarily pretty, but that’s a good team. We knew they’re gonna be organized, they’re gonna be disciplined, so I was just happy that we came out (and) got a couple goals.”
The Skyhawks wasted no time getting on the board with Nick Oster scoring eight minutes in.
“I thought at times we possessed well,” Zabawa said. “But I also thought that too many times, we sloppily gave the ball away. But I think that when we settled in and we possessed, and we kind of stretched the field a little bit and opened it up and got some space for us, that’s when we were most successful.”
UNO commit midfielder Ben Schendt sealed the deal in the 69th minute, putting Skutt up by two goals.
“We just need to find ways to get (our playmakers) space, and dictate the game,” Zabawa said.
The match kicks off a new era in Gretna soccer, which returns to class B for the first time since 2018.
“I don’t think anything changes from us, class A, class B, it’s the same mindset,” Gretna coach Tyler Ortlieb said. “We’re gonna play the same way that we always play, and we’re going to go out and compete every single game. At the end of the day, if you compete, good things will happen.”
The Dragons also lost 12 seniors from last season’s team, which was the four seed in last season’s Class A state tournament.
“Overall, I’m not mad about how we played,” Ortlieb said. “There’s about 10-15 minutes that I thought we let off and then next thing you know, we’re down 1-0 with 10 minutes left, and we’re trying to throw numbers forward.”
3/22/25
#3 LEXINGTON 1 (4) – #1 OMAHA SKUTT 1 (3) (Skutt Invite Finals)
For the first time since 2021, The Lexington Minutemen defeated Omaha Skutt, securing the Skutt Invite title.
“t’s a regular season game, so it always feels good to come out with a win, more importantly, to be 3-0,” Lexington coach Joel Lemus said.,” But you know what, it’s very early on. Three games feels good. There’s a lot of things we got to work on. But hey, that’s what, four or five times defending state champion, so we’ll take it every time.”
Neither team was able to get on the board until Skutt’s Mason Finkenbinder snuck a ball just past the keeper on the top left side of the net in the 47th minute. Twelve minutes later, Lexington put the game back on equal footing.
The match then went into overtime, marking the third time in three days Lexington played and won an overtime match.
“We got depth,” Lemus said. “We’ve talked about it all year. What you don’t know it too, is we’ve had some some other things that have kept guys off the field, and we’ve had to reach deep with freshmen guys who’ve only played JV minutes, but we know we got a quality program in Lexington, in large part due to our our community, and our uni-foot program, our youth soccer program. I think it showed today, you don’t go 3-0 without having to go deep into your bench.”
After two scoreless overtime periods, the game went into a penalty shootout. Lemus decided to switch keepers from Gelvin Valle to Alexis Arrega.
“They’re both quality guys,” Lemus said. “They both played the last three days and played full minutes, full games. It’s a battle between those guys, which is what you want. We just felt confident in the guy who didn’t get to play today and his penalty kick abilities and ability to stop it.”
After missing their first kick, Lexington made their next four, and stopped two of Skutt’s to come out on top.
OTHER NOTABLE RESULTS
3/20
B #3 Lexington 3 – Columbus 2
Freshman Tyler Thorell scored twice for the Minutemen, providing a quality win over last year’s Class A No. 8 seed at state in an overtime match.
Lincoln Southeast 2 – Norfolk 1
Unranked Lincoln Southeast took down NEST Team to Watch Norfolk after a second half goal. Jayden Fullerton scored two goals, doubling his total from last year. A quality win for the Knights, who look to replace 31 goals from last year’s seniors.
3/21
#3 Lexington 1 – #7 Lincoln Pius X 0 (Skutt Invite first round)
In the Minutemen’s second overtime game in as many days, Edyn Cruz scored in the second overtime period to give Lexington the win.
Gretna East 4 – Elkhorn 0
Gretna East started their second year as a program off strong with a 4-0 win over a solid Elkhorn side. Former Gretna Dragons Ty Gilliand, Dallas Andrews, and Cade Bullard scored a goal apiece, and Zach Boley added one of his own.
3/22
Hastings 1 – Gretna East 0
In a battle of Class B teams to watch, Hastings was able to secure a favorable result.
#5 Papio South 4 – #9 Kearney 1 (Kearney Invite finals)
Papio South started their campaign with a statement win on the road at Kearney. Four different Titans found the net on the afternoon.
#9 Gretna 1 – #7 Lincoln Pius X 0
Following their season opening loss to Skutt, Gretna turned around the next day and found a favorable result against Pius.
Grand Island 2 (5) – #8 Omaha Central 2 (3)
Unranked Grand Island forced a shootout on the road and upset preseason #8 Omaha Central, putting the Islanders on our NEST radar.
B #2 Bennington 2 – A #10 S. Sioux City 0
Beau Pick, Austin Kaiser, and the Badgers earned a tough 2-0 win over the Cardinals. Last season, South Sioux City was the No. 1 seed at state before an upset loss to No. 8 Mt. Michael.
Fisher Madsen is a contributor for Nebraska Soccer Talk, currently studying Sports Media at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln.
