Three local football teams qualify for state football playoffs

The Sidney, Leyton and Peetz high school football teams have all qualified for postseason play.

Sidney’s 13-9 win over Gering on Friday night earned the Red Raiders a spot in the Class B state tournament. Sidney is the No. 14 seed and will play at Elkhorn South on Friday at 5 p.m. CDT.

There will be no classes on Friday for all Sidney schools from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. The time off school will give students and staff who wish to attend the game an opportunity to get there, according to Sidney Public Schools Superintendent Jay Ehler.

“We believe the educational experience reaches beyond the classroom, and in order to provide that complete learning experience the school must take advantage of a variety of opportunities,” Ehler wrote in an e-mail sent to parents and media. “These out-of-classroom activities allow students to build things like camaraderie, confidence, relationships, global views and memorable experiences in general.

“This is why the district does things like support state playoff teams, invite guest speakers into the schools, and take field trips that will result in a loss of formal classroom time,” he added. “Dismissing classes for state championships has gone on for many years.”

For the convenience of families, Cool Kids will have an all-day event for students. Activities will start at 7:30 a.m. and run through 5:45 p.m. at North Elementary.

Students who already attend CKC and those who attended the all-day event last Friday do not have to register, but need to contact the CKC staff indicating they plan to attend.

Any new students attending can pick up and drop off a registration form at any of the elementary school office or the Cheyenne County Community Center. For more information, contact Coleen Langdon at (308) 249-6572.

On Thursday night at 7, Leyton will travel to square off against Garden County in the first-round of the 32-team Class D-2 state playoffs.

Leyton finished its regular season at 3-5 after defeating Potter-Dix 36-14 on Friday night. Garden County – the No. 2 seed in the West Division – downed the 15th-seeded Warriors 70-24 on Oct. 16.

Peetz, the No. 10 seed, will play a cross-divisional playoff game this week against No. 7 seed Cheraw. The game will be played either Friday or Saturday. The date and time of the game was scheduled to be released after press time on Monday.

The eight winners of those games are then reseeded and advance to the state quarterfinals the following week.

For complete state tournament pairings, see Page 8A.