Aurora football claiming ‘championship or bust’ aspirations

Local4 News at 10
Published: Aug. 11, 2022 at 10:52 PM CDT

AURORA, Neb. (KSNB) - It has been a bittersweet last two season for Aurora football. The Huskies made it to the Class B State championship game in 2020 and 2021, but finished runner-up both times.

A loss to Elkhorn was followed by a defeat to Bennington, leaving the Huskies with their most recent State title win in 2018 at the Class C1 level. Entering the 2022 season, the goals remain the same.

“Our expectations are pretty high every year,” Aurora football coach Kyle Peterson said. “This group of kids have experienced an awful lot of success and they fully expect to be back in that game. It’s a senior dominated team. This group of seniors has really been contributors since they were sophomores, quite a few of them. We have a really hard schedule, which is going to help prepare us, I think, for a playoff run that we hope to make.”

The Huskies return several key players and will rely on their senior depth. They also graduated dynamic athlete Mack Owens and all-conference lineman Gage Griffith. Despite those losses, the team is confident they can ride their experience to the top of the ladder in Class B this year.

“We know what it takes to get there, but we just need to finish this year,” said Wade Ohlson, Aurora senior inside linebacker and tight end. “It’s all about confidence. We’ve been there two times now and I think we just want to bring it home this time.”

The sour taste of defeat still resides in Aurora’s mouth. They are hoping to change the narrative.

“Remembering that we did get there the last two years, we know what it takes to win,” said Carsen Staehr, Aurora senior wide receiver and defensive back. “We know that we can compete there and we feel like we can win every single game this year. Championship or bust.”

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