Omaha Creighton Prep’s offense built a 21-point first-half lead and its defense maintained it Friday night at Bellevue West.

The third-ranked Junior Jays raced to a three-touchdown cushion and held on for a 35-14 victory against the Class A No. 10 Thunderbirds.

“It was really a tale of two halves,” Prep coach Tom Jaworski said. “We had a nice offensive plan to start the game, and they were more aggressive in the second half and took it to us.

“But our defense came up with some big plays.”

Prep moved at will in the opening half. After punting on their initial possession, the Junior Jays put together scoring drives of 42, 79 and 38 yards to build their lead. Richard Wynne ran for 107 of his 122 yards in the first half while the quarterback combination of Matt McLeay and Derek Petrich completed 9 of 11 passes for another 97 yards.

McLeay hit Bobby Muelleman for the first score of the night on an 8-yard strike before Wynne scampered in from 19 yards out early in the second quarter. Prep’s next score came on a 9-yard burst by fullback Tyler Johnson.

West finally got on the board on its next possession. After it converted a fourth-and-13 on Caleb Heim’s 25-yard pass to Dominique Hawkins, I-back Tim Neal plunged in from a yard out to make it 21-7 with 3:40 left in the half.

Prep answered with a 41-yard Dan Corn field goal to extend the lead to 17 at the half.

West trimmed the lead to 10 with a three-play, 61-yard scoring drive in the third quarter. Heim and Hawkins hooked up for 30 yards before Neal had runs of 13 and 18 yards, the latter going into the end zone. Neal finished the night with 106 yards on 24 carries.

West had three more chances to cut the lead, but two drives ended on punts and another on a Robert Mann interception that set up a 46-yard field goal from Corn.

Aaron Carpenter wrapped up the scoring for Prep with a 36-yard end around with 6:43 left.

As he did a week ago, West coach John Faiman rotated Josh Valla and Heim at quarterback for the first three quarters before he eventually brought in junior Cody King to finish the game.

“We didn’t hesitate to put Cody in the game, and he needs time on the field,” Faiman said. “Our defense kept us in the game in the second half. We just needed to make a couple more plays.”

Om. Creighton Prep (2-0)................7 17 0 11—35
At Bellevue West (1-1).........................0 7 7 0—14
CP: Bobby Muelleman 8 pass from Matt McLeay (Greg Malloy kick)
CP: Richard Wynne 19 run (Malloy kick)
CP: Tyler Johnson 9 run (Malloy kick)
BW: Tim Neal 1 run (Dan Gengel kick)
CP: FG Dan Corn 41
BW: Neal 18 run (Gengel kick)
CP: FG Corn 46
CP: Aaron Carpenter 36 run (Johnson pass from Dominic Carmazzo)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: CP, Wynne 24-122; McLeay 4-19; Johnson 4-15; Carpenter 1-36; Carnazzo 3-3; Chase Dudzinski 1-6. BW, Neal 24-106; Kyle Hanson 3-13; Cody King 1-0; Caleb Heim 2-(minus-12); Dominique Hawkins 1-(minus-8).
PASSING: CP, McLeay 6-11-0-80; Derek Petrich 4-7-0-50. BW, Heim 7-16-1-114; King 4-15-2-43; Josh Valla 2-6-0-15.
RECEIVING: CP, Muelleman 4-32; Johnson 2-42; Dudzinski 2-33; Jackson Toner 2-23. BW, Dominique Mays 6-62; Hawkins 3-67; Trevor LaPoint 3-36; Neal 1-7.

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