Skyhawks Survive: Skutt Catholic avenges last year's loss by beating Bennington in 2024 Class B football title game
After losing to Bennington twice last season, including in the Class B championship game at Memorial Stadium, Omaha Skutt Catholic flipped the script in 2024, handing the top-seeded Badgers their only loss in the regular season and then defeating them again on Tuesday night in Lincoln.
The Skyhawks prevailed 29-26 after a tense, somewhat contentious, and certainly exciting second half in the 2024 NSAA Football Class B Championship Game, the final high school football game of the 2024 season in the state of Nebraska.
Skutt intercepted Bennington's Houston Hill three times in the first half and turned that into two rushing scores from Dylan Van Dyke to grab a 21-6 lead heading into halftime. But in the third quarter Bennington tailback Kyler Lauridsen took over, rushing for 218 yards and four scores in the game - the last of which gave the Badgers a 26-21 lead just seconds into the fourth.
The Skyhawks' No. 2, Joe Kolega, had a standout night as well, tallying 14 catches for 185 yards and the go-ahead score in the fourth quarter. Just about every borderline call in the game went the way of the Skyhawks, but either way they buckled down late and wrenched down a run from Lauridsen and then broke up a deep ball from Hill to secure the win, avenging their loss in this very game a year ago and ending Bennington's bid for a fourth state title in a row.