Hawks, Huskies playoff bound

Aurora Huskies
Aurora Football
Hampton Hawks
Hampton football
  • Hampton kicks off the D6 playoffs at home on Halloween, hosting Wallace.
    Hampton kicks off the D6 playoffs at home on Halloween, hosting Wallace.
  • It's a rematch in the opening round of the C1 playoffs as Aurora visits Central City on Halloween.
    It's a rematch in the opening round of the C1 playoffs as Aurora visits Central City on Halloween.

    The Hampton Hawks and Aurora Huskies have officially clinched playoff spots and begin the road to the championship on Halloween.

    The Hawks (7-1) have qualified for the playoffs the past four seasons but for the first time in that stretch will host an opening round game. Hampton earned the No. 7 seed and hosts No. 10 Wallace (6-2) Friday night with a 7 p.m. kick. Hampton is also still in search of its first playoff victory since 2009. 

    Hampton's lone loss of the season came on the road to the defending champs of Stuart, who has the No. 4 seed. The Hawks also have one win over a playoff team, defeating No. 12 Pawnee City 27-24 in September. Wallace has two losses on the season to a pair of playoff teams, No. 3 Southwest and No. 6 Sumner-Eddyville-Miller. Wallace also features a pair of wins over playoff teams, including No. 9 Arthur County and No. 15 Wauneta-Palisade. 

    The winner of Hampton-Wallace will play the winner of No. 2 Red Cloud (8-0) or No. 15 Wauneta-Palisade (4-4) Nov. 7. Other opening round D6 matchups include No. 1 Garden County (8-0) vs No. 16 Crawford (4-4); No. 8 Silver Lake (6-2) vs No. 9 Arthur County (6-2); No. 5 Leyton (7-1) vs No. 12 Pawnee City (5-3); No. 4 Stuart (7-1) vs No. 13 Meridian (5-3); No. 3 Southwest (8-0) vs No. 14 Lewiston (5-3); No. 6 Sumner-Eddyville-Miller (6-2) vs No. 11 Potter-Dix (5-3).

    As for Aurora, it won't take much research for its opening round playoff game as the Huskies get a rematch with Central City. The Huskies (6-3) climbed to the No. 10 seed while Central City (8-1) dropped to No. 7, setting up a rematch from the regular season finale.

    This time, the game will be at Central City with a 7 p.m. kick on Halloween. Last night, Aurora used a potent, physical rushing attack to hand the Bison its first loss of the season, 27-12. Aurora started the season 0-3 with losses to Pierce, McCook and Wahoo before rattling off six in a row to claim a district championship. Aurora has three wins over playoff teams, including Northwest in Class B, No. 16 Milford and No. 7 Central City. As for Central City, they entered last night's thriller with Aurora unbeaten before the Huskies handed the Bison its first loss. Central City features wins over playoff teams like Ord in C2 and No. 16 Milford. 

    The winner of Aurora-Central City will play the winner of No. 2 Lakeview (9-0) vs No. 15 Boys Town (5-4) Nov. 7. Other opening round C1 matchups include No. 1 Wahoo (9-0) vs No. 16 Milford (6-3); No. 8 O'Neill (8-1) vs No. 9 Mount Michael (7-2); No. 5 Syracuse (9-0) vs No. 12 Omaha Gross (6-3); No. 4 Ashland-Greenwood (8-1) vs No. 13 Chadron (6-3); No. 3 Sidney (9-0) vs No. 14 Pierce (6-3); No. 6 Fort Calhoun (7-2) vs No. 11 Gothenburg (8-1). 

    For live updates from the sidelines follow us on X @SportsANR and see next week's News-Register for full coverage.