By: Max Garvey
Omaha, Neb. – Omaha Westside have been the defending Class A state football champions, having won two titles in the last three seasons. The Warriors have made it to the past four state championship games. Westside lost to Gretna in the 2021 Class A title game but the result was vacated due the Dragons receiving player eligibility violations.
The Warriors finish the 2023 NSAA regular season undefeated and number-one overall in Nebraska. Head coach Paul Limongi is building a proud, resurging dynasty for the school, and its community is showing allegiant support.
Westside senior and student section leader, John Van Gelder, is elated to have witnessed his school’s football dominate during his years honoring the Red and Black.
“They do a lot of team bonding stuff”, said Van Gelder, “So I think that’s worked out tremendously for our guys. It’s shown on the field that we’re a brotherhood and one pack moving together.”
The Warriors finish the regular season 9-0; outscored opponents 35-0 by the second quarter. (Photo/Max Garvey)
The Warriors outscored opponents 443-40 during the regular season. The team is aiming to reach a fifth-consecutive state championship game, a feat that only one other school has accomplished.
Arch rival Creighton Prep went to five-straight Class A championship games from 1985-89. The Junior Jays won all five in-a-row.
Prep offensive coordinator, T.J. Fyfe, opened up about what exactly makes Westside so powerful this year.
“Lack of weaknesses”, Fyfe said simply, “Across the board, they are very talented.”
The Prep-Westside rivalry runs deep for Fyfe, as a Creighton Prep alumni and former football player for the school.
Creighton Prep is the only Class A school to ever appear in five-straight Class A state championship games. (Photo/Max Garvey)
These two schools face each other again this Friday on Westside’s campus for the opening round of Class A playoffs. Westside demolished Prep 56-7 in both teams’ season opener. The Warriors’ run toward state playoffs history begins with their biggest foe and current holders of this piece of Nebraska high school football history.
