Lincoln Standing Bear football ‘being resilient’ halfway through first Class A season

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Through the first five games of the season, the Lincoln Standing Bear Grizzlies are 3-2. This is also the first year the school is now in Class A.

Last week, Standing Bear defeated Lincoln East 14-12, and that win has sparked some assurance among the team, as head coach Adam Schiltz and senior quarterback Chase Loecker said.

“The biggest thing is that we’ve had the physicality that we wanted,” Schiltz said during practice on Wednesday at Standing Bear High School. “We’re getting to the point last week where we finished game. We were down at halftime. So one thing that we’ve struggled with as a program is coming out of halftime and regaining the lead, and then maintaining it. And so, last week, we were down. Got a stop, got a touchdown, and then we were able to run out the game the rest of the way and finish the game. So that was really big for our confidence of our guys.”

“We’re just building on stuff and being really relentless with what we do and how we approach the week,” Loecker said. “A lot of growth from that win (over East).”

Both said the move up to Class A has been positive for this team.

“It’s encouraging. I think these guys like playing their buddies who they’ve grown up around. So it’s really fun for them, but it’s also just . . . when you take another step it’s, hey, can we compete at this level? We have guys who want to go play college ball. And . . . you want to compete at this level so that you can prove that you can go to the next one.”

“We get to play people we know, we get to play closer teams,” Loecker said. “People have played together like all through their lives.”

Loecker said the Grizzlies have proven they’re resilient, as Standing Bear now looks to make a push for the playoffs.

“Every day we come to practice, work hard, we get stuff done,” Loecker said. “I think it’s just that mindset that, you know, we’re just relentless. And we want to prove ourselves that we belong in Class A from the jump from Class B. I think . . . that’s just important to us. I think we got a lot of people to prove wrong.”

Following Friday’s nights game at Omaha Benson – due to playing in Week 0 – Standing Bear will have a bye week. Schiltz said it’s a unique thing for a high school team to have.

“Never had it before, so managing it, it’s fun because we get to kind of figure out, hey, where are we at?” Schiltz said. “A week and a half to work on things that we need to get better at. And so, it’s really nice that we like to be able to give our guys some rest, give them a weekend off. And so when they come back for the last four, it’s like, we’re ready to roll. We’re back in football mode.”

The Grizzlies face the Mighty Bunnies on the road Friday night at 7 p.m.