Servine Leads Pirates to Playoff Win
by Max Renning
November 01, 2009
Last year, the Pirates lost to Hartington in the regular season. Hartington went on to win the district title with an undefeated record before falling to Emerson-Hubbard the second time around in the playoffs
This year has been very similar. On October 2, the Pirates went to Winside on a cold windy night and lost to the Wildcats 26-12. Winside went undefeated in the districts to take the title and gain home field advantage in a first round playoff game. They drew the Emerson-Hubbard Pirates.
Since the Winside loss, the Pirates had run off 3 straight wins and were playing their best football of the year. Once again, it was a cold and windy night. This time it was also raining and the field was very torn up. Emerson, for the 2nd year in a row, got a playoff win over the regular season district champs with a 22-14 win over Winside led by a career high 226 rushing yards on 39 carries by senior running back Scott Servine in one of the biggest rushing performances in school history.
Servine also scored all 3 E-H touchdowns. The first of which came on the 2nd drive of the game for the Pirates to take a 8-0 lead after the 2 point conversion. The weather took over from there, stalling out long drives by both teams with fumbles. The Pirates took a 8-0 lead into the locker room.
Winside would score next to make it 8-6, but the Pirates had another answer. In a 4th quarter suddenly full of scoring, another short touchdown run by Servine made it 14-6. Fullback Michael Hassler then took 2 Wildcat defenders with him into the endzone to make it a 2 possesion game at 16-6.
Winside was not done though, as they drove quickly down the field to make it 16-14. Emerson then took over at the 15 yard line for probably the biggest drive of the season. A first down got the Pirates to the 36 yard line, but they stalled out and faced a 4th and 2 on Winside's half of the field.
Coach Northwick let the boys go for it. Servine took the ball off the right tackle and went untouched 42 yards to the endzone on 4th down to put the Pirates up 22-14 with 4 minutes left.
Winside still would not go away. They got to the other end of the field before a 4 and out by the Pirate defense got them the ball back. Emerson then fumbled the ball back to Winside on 3rd down, giving Winside the ball on the Emerson 30 with just under 50 seconds to play. The defense held off the rally for the Pirates, as 4 incomplete passes in a row ended the Wildcats season at 6-3. With the 22-14 win, Emerson moved to 6-3 and got a home game for the second round of the playoffs.
Servine gave a lot of credit to the line on his big rushing night. "I had big holes to run through all night. They blocked really well."
In the second round of the Nebraska State Playoffs, Emerson will welcome the Exeter-Milligan Timberwolves to town at 5 on Wednesday night. Exeter won a 30-16 victory over Newman Grove in the first round at home. They bring a 7-2 record to the game and are ranked #9 in the state. This will be only the second home playoff game for the Pirates in the last 19 years.
