Are you ready for some football?

With the snow and sub-freezing temps, most minds aren't on football. But for those hardcore prep football fantatics, Friday was like a belated Christmas. The Nebraska School Activities Association released the districts for the 2008-09 seasons, giving teams a hint of what their schedules will look like.

In Class A, Grand Island Senior High is in the six-team District 1. They remain in the same district as Fremont, Lincoln North Star and North Platte. They are joined by previous non-district opponent Lincoln High along with Lincoln Northeast.

Class B now features eight four-team districts. Grand Island Northwest is paired with traditional area rivals Aurora and Hastings along with Class B newcomer Adams Central. That should feature some interesting matchups.

Grand Island Central Catholic was placed in the Class C-1, District 7 six-team group. They remain in the same district as Central City and St. Paul. Former non-district opponent Fillmore Central remains on the schedule. The Crusaders will also get to renew a rivalry with Hastings St. Cecilia and also take on Doniphan-Trumbull, who moves up from C-2.

Heartland Lutheran will compete in the Class D-2, District 7 field. The Red Hornets remain in the same district as Litchfield, North Loup-Scotia and Pleasanton. They are joined by former non-district opponent Hampton and Sargent, which gets shifted south and east into a new group.

In other notes, area teams Greeley-Wolbach and St. Edward are making the move to six-man, giving that group 15 teams across the state. Also, Heartland Community moves to eight-man but due to its enrollment number won't be eligible for the playoffs. Burwell also is switching from 11- to eight-man.

To see all the district assignments, go to: http://www.nsaahome.org/fbdistassign.php

Prep Girls Basketball

With all the weather-related delays and postponements, it seems odd to think that it's already two weeks into the winter sports season. After all, with the recent streak of storms, area teams have played anywhere from one to seven games.
After Thursday's action, the list of area undefeateds is down to Giltner (5-0), Grand Island Northwest (1-0), Heartland (2-0), Loup County (3-0), North Loup-Scotia (4-0) and Twin River (1-0).
Northwest just might have some rust to knock off when it hosts Kearney on Friday. Due to consecutive Saturday games being snowed out, the Vikings haven't played since their opener, a 25-22 win over Central City on Nov. 30.
Grand Island Central Catholic, on the other hand, played its seventh game of the year on Thursday. The Crusaders' unbeaten start was snapped by Class C-1 No. 3-rated Minden 50-33. GICC now stands 6-1 overall and 5-1 against teams that received preseason ratings from the Omaha World-Herald. That's not too shabby.

Prep season gets started

It looks like there will be some good basketball in Grand Island this season. A couple of players who returned to action Friday will give their teams a big boost.

The Grand Island CC boys got Spencer Fahey back from a knee injury and the junior promptly scored 19 points to lead the Crusaders past Columbus Scotus. GICC had been playing tough defense all season, but Bill Gavers' team needed Fahey's offensive punch.

Grand Island Senior High's Stacia Robertson made her season debut and scored 18 points in the Islanders win over Fremont. Robertson will provide the Islanders with a big boost. It should be a good season for Kelli Jeffries' team