This Thursday, the 1-3 Lincoln East Spartans will host the 0-5 Bellevue East Chieftains in East High’s homecoming game.  The Spartans come off a heartbreaking 14-12 loss against Lincoln Southwest, while the Chieftains follow a 61-0 loss versus Papillion-LaVista.  In 2017, East topped Bellevue East 13-7. The Spartans’ run game and defense have proven to be strong during the past few weeks. “Passing was a lot better last week but just, on everything we can improve on just getting more physical in the game,” said senior AJ Muthersbaugh.

The Spartans’ next three opponents currently have a combined 2-11 record, but East isn’t overlooking the task at hand.  “We’ve been really getting more focused during practices,” said Muthersbaugh. “Sometimes we haven’t been doing as well in practice, but we’re trying to get our head in the game, because we wanna win these next three games to go to the playoffs.”  The health status for East is also not something to be overlooked. “We’re pretty banged up,” said Muthersbaugh, “but most of us are gonna step in there and play still.” Muthersbaugh also expressed that East has “a lot more guys stepping up this week” and that it’s going to be helpful for those guys to get game reps while the usual starters rest.  The Spartans will face the Chieftains of Bellevue East at 5pm on Thursday at Seacrest Field.