Unbeaten Bellevue West still on path to back-to-back titles
BELLEVUE, Neb. (BVM) — Defending a state title is not an easy feat for a high school football team during a normal season.
In this a year that is anything but normal, Bellevue West has managed to navigate its strangest season ever without a loss and still appears to be on the path toward back-to-back championships.
The No. 1-seeded Thunderbirds enter the quarterfinal round of the Class A playoffs after having played only six games this season. Normally, if a team plays a full regular season and reaches the state final, they will have played 13 games total, just as Bellevue West did a year ago when it captured the title. But this season due to various COVID-19-related cancelations and scheduling issues, the most games the Thunderbirds can hope to play is nine — with four in a row to end the year. Friday’s quarterfinal clash with No. 9 Kearney will mark just the third time this season that Bellevue West has played two consecutive games without a week off.
“We joke with the staff and with the kids, ‘Are we able to string four in a row if we can get there?,’” Bellevue West head coach Michael Huffman said. “I guess we’ll find out.”
When the Thunderbirds do get to play, they can take the field with plenty of confidence knowing they have the most future high-level Division I college players of any high school team in the state. Leading that star-studded group is senior wide receiver Keagan Johnson, a 6-foot-1 University of Iowa commit who’s caught 47 passes for 899 yards and 10 touchdowns and also rushed for 100 yards and five touchdowns while also running the team’s version of the Wildcat offense, the “Thundercat.”
Keagan is the third in line of a trio of talented Johnson brothers who previously starred in high school before taking their talents to Division I college programs. His oldest brother, C.J., was Nebraska’s 2014 Gatorade Player of the Year and broke state records for career receptions and receiving yards before moving on to play at the University of Wyoming. His other brother, Cade, played at South Dakota State where he became an FCS All-American.
Keagan has everything a potential star Big Ten wide receiver needs and more, according to Huffman.
“The thing that’s most unique about Keagan is he has all the flash, the speed, the shakes, all that stuff, but he’s incredibly physical,” Huffman said. “He takes a lot of pride in his blocking.”
A prime example of that occurred earlier this season when Keagan provided the key block on a long touchdown run by freshman receiver Daevonn Hall, who took a reverse 84 yards to the end zone thanks in large part to Keagan’s unselfish play.
“What superstar is not only not upset that he’s not getting the reverse call, but is out there pancaking a DB so a freshman can get his run?,” Huffman said. “He’s just a neat, neat kid. … He’s a good dude and he’s a leader and that’s what I’m most happy with. He’s always been a good player, but now he’s become a vocal leader and it’s just been really neat to see that development.”
Keagan might not be the only potential future Hawkeye on the Thunderbirds’ roster. Hall also already has an offer from Iowa, but the 6-foot-1, 175-pound freshman speedster who can already box jump 50 inches isn’t even close to reaching his full potential as an athlete. Hall is a standout basketball player who’s only in his second year of playing football.
“We’re just getting him to play fast and man, when he does it, he just has these jets,” Huffman said. “He’s barely scratched the surface. I would put it at a two out of 10.”
Bellevue West also has a pair of junior receivers/tight ends who will likely be playing FBS college football in a couple of years. The 6-foot-6 duo of Micah Riley (22 receptions, 304 yards) and Kaden Helms (21 receptions, 264 yards) play slot receivers in Huffman’s spread offense and have offers from several Big Ten programs. While they have a different skill set, they’re both matchup problems for opposing defenses.
“Micah has all of his offers because he’s nasty,” Huffman said. “He hits and he drives people when he blocks. … He’s not going to out-run a defensive back, but Helms on the other hand is. We can still get him out on verticals and corner routes. … Although it seems like they’d be the same player, they’re not even close. But they’re great to have.”
The same can certainly be said for junior running back LJ Richardson, who isn’t sitting on Division I offers — at least not yet — but is clearly one of Bellevue West’s most valuable players. He’s rushed for 1,042 yards and 14 TDs in just six games, only one of which the Thunderbirds didn’t pull their starters early after forcing a running clock. Huffman said that while Richardson doesn’t have the offers yet, he expects they’ll be coming soon.
“I think he’ll go from about zero offers to eight in about a week,” Huffman said. “He’s a handful. When things are blocked right, you can get your yards, but (LJ) gets yards when we screw up blocking. He’ll turn something that should be no gain into two, three, four yards and that doesn’t sound like anything but over the course of the game and 25 carries, that adds up.”
Junior quarterback Luke Johannsen is the big beneficiary of all the weapons the Thunderbirds have on offense, but the transfer from Bellevue East has also been a big help for his new team after winning the starting job in the preseason. After some early-season struggles, Johannsen has become more comfortable running a complex offense for the Thunderbirds and he’s thrown only two interceptions while completing 67% of his passes for 1,651 yards and 20 TDs.
“He is very intelligent,” Huffman said. “What I’m really excited about is the idea of having a two-year quarterback, because I’ve only had one of those, and the last time I had one he broke just about every record in the state. I’m pretty excited for that. He’s well exceeded my expectations.”
Expectations don’t get much higher than that which Bellevue West sets for itself. The Thunderbirds are 62-6 since 2015, including two 13-0 seasons which ended with state championships (2016 and 2019). They won’t have the chance to reach 13 wins this season, but they’ll settle for 9-0, with four games in a row to end what’s been a weird season.
Should the defending champs reach the title game, a date with No. 2-seed Omaha Westside likely looms in the final. The Warriors, who lost to Bellevue West last year in the title game, are looking to end a 38-year state title drought. And like the Thunderbirds, they’ll bring plenty of future Division I college players to battle.
“Both of us have work to do, but it would be exciting,” Huffman said. “As coaches you don’t talk about it with the kids and I’m sure their coaches aren’t either, but you’re oblivious if you think some people aren’t looking at that. It’d be fun because man, you want to talk about some star power, with those two rosters on the field, those are some big-time players, especially around this area of the country.”
