Central Nebraska Prep Sports
State Football Finals - Some Thoughts
Its the most dreaded day of the year......Black Sunday. The first day after the State Football Finals, the end of the High School Football season. It's that time of year when you put away the old trusty metal stat sheet holder that was ancient when a retired coach gave it to you 20 years ago. Next Friday
there will be no hopping in the 1000 Yard Mobile and making a beeline for the small town destination that is just over the next hill, the hill that reveals the majestic hue in the night sky of 4 rows of lights that signify heaven in the form of a High School Football field. No more getting there so early you even beat the teams to the field. Lord help me, what am I going to do?
One thing we will do is reflect some thoughts about this year's Finals, one of the chilliest in recent years. Thursday night was down right brutal, with finger numbing wind chills at around 10 above zero and the wind so strong the official had to grip the ball between his feet in between plays to keep from blowing away. Enough of the weather report, here are some observations:
*What about those Aurora Huskies! How smart is Head Coach Randy Huebert and his staff? Who'd have thought Quarterback Tyler McDonald would be the Rushing star of the Finals? Sure, we knew he could throw. Going into the Beatrice Finals, he was 94 of a 166 for 1,272 yards and 15 TD.s, but McDonald a Runner? 58 carries for 90 yards in the first 11 games..........ok, if you're an opposing coach you cross that one off right away....one less thing to be concerned with. WRONG! Tyler McDonald's 15 rushes for 67 yards against McCook was not a huge total, but it threw a curve at the Bison and opened up other avenues. Then in the Finals, Number 5 ran for a game high 134 yds. on 20 rushes including a dazzling 29 yard sprint that gave the Huskies a 20-7 game and essentially was enough for the win. Entire team effort to say the least. Jerry Lobeda, only 5-9 and 160 pounds ended up running for 1,590 yards for the year, and Nebraska pledge Andy Rodriquez and his buddies in the line were arguably the best unit in the Class B ranks. Guys like Lobeda, Nathan Suck, Josh Bart, Lucas Johnson and were standouts on defense and Sophomore Jacob Shaffer came in and earned a starting spot in the secondary and looked awesome for his young age.
An observation I heard before the game about the Huskies "tanking after the McCook game"......no way, this team had improved every week and weren't about to flush it all away at that point.
Hail to the Aurora Huskies!
*How good is Ewing's Brett Kaczor? OMG! The Quarterback ran for 117 yards and 3 TDs, was 10-11 passing for 160 yards and THREE scores, and absolutely stuffed the middle (and everywhere else), coming up with 10 solo tackles and 7 assists. He also covered more than one onside kick when the St. Francis kicker tired to get an easy turnover on a kick-off. Can you say All-State Captain in D-2?
*Clint Belina-Howells - Can this dude run or what! 310 yards on 37 carries and SIX Touchdowns. The 10 degree wind chills couldn't have bothered him much . My friend Mike Speirs (Howells Coach) thinks he could have a little more explosion at the point of contact when he carries the ball.............well, that may be a minor thing to remedy and he has a year to go yet after winning the State Rushing Title with 2,478 yards as a Junior. Watch out for the Bobcats next year too.
*Hats off the Eric Koehlmoos' comeback this season. Man, this poor kid has fought hard through all kinds of injuries and has been dogged by pains since his Sophomore Track season. Some say he's a step slow compared to two years back, but how VERY well he ran Saturday morning and his play on defense carried the Bluejays to the State C-1 Championship, don't kid yourself. The Moose' tackle on Boys Town QB Isiah Gandy at the Pierce 8 yard line was so violent it jarred the ball loose and Blake Stonacek covered it, saving a TD. 3 plays later the 86 yard "Dagger" pass reception to Brody Unger sealed a second straight championship for the 'Jays. Here's hoping some D-1 school has faith Moose can stay healthy and compete at that level. I know he can.
*My heart goes out to the Boys Town trainer who saw me struggling to tie my right shoe and offered to do it for me. There have been times when I have had to take a knee because of the old back giving out and I've had a cheerleader, a football player, an official, and even a water-girl help me back up. Kind of typifies what kind of people we have in this beautiful state of ours. Best place in the world to live.
* That Millard West football team in general was really something to watch. Kirk Peterson had that crew so diversified nobody in the Class A ranks could quite cover everything the Wildcats had to to throw or run at them. And that doggone Darius Evans is a kick and a half to watch! His electrifying 94 Yard opening Kick return tore 'em loose from their seats and Millard South never did recover. Funny things can happen to kids when they get to Memorial Stadium, and the Patriots seemed almost too jacked to play a controlled enough game to avoid sometimes simple mistakes. The crowd of 5,867 was a little bit of a shock....thought there would be more interest in the "Millard Bowl".
*Wasn't that great that Blue Hill finally grabbed that elusive Championship? Well, I'm sure Archbishop Bergan didn't think so, but I thought it was great. How many times have you seen a team win a State Title Game and have a total of less than 180 yards? Guess it works out when you hold the opponents to quite a bit less than that. "Bout had a stroke when the Bobcats threw the ball 5 times, completing one to the guys in the white jerseys and one to the green boys. Man alive, can Coach Scott Porter teach defense or what? What a plan to drop almost everybody back on pass coverage and not pressure Riley Gross, giving him alleys to run if he scrambles. Seems like the minute the Knights would complete a pass, Blue Hill players like 1000 yarder Nathan Petska (my favorite playoff player) were all over them like a cheap suit. Don't they call simple offenses, vanilla? Blue Hill's must have been almost "no flavor", because Bergan had to know what was coming but the Bobcats had enough to get the job done. I DO have a feeling Porter had a lot more in the offensive playbook than that, but why in this case if you can win without getting fancy?
*Heart also goes out to the poor little gals that were on performing dance teams that froze every bone in their tiny bodies just to dance on the Husker Turf.........and how polite were the girls from Blue Hill to sit there without putting their warm sweats back on just to watch Bergan's girls routine? Class, pure class.
And finally, the Low-IQ-of-The-Year Award goes to.............yours truly. As I answered a few questions a pretty good looking fellow had asked me as I was sitting peering out the window at the field, I wondered "what high school football coach" he was and why he was with a group of tall young gals? A few minutes later I realized it was Nebraska Volleyball coach, John Cook with some possible recruits......Nice going, Mr. Zero for Brains.
I DID recognize Attorney General John Bruning when I rode up the elevator with him and how polite he was to talk to a common old 1000 Yard Guy like me. Very nice gentleman....pretty good at his gig too, if I may say so.
It's all in the can now, this 2008 High School Football Season. Monday, I start the countdown to the next one. In between now and then though, I just may have to watch some of those 1000 Yarders don the Basketball duds and display some of those sweet moves they were famous for on the grid iron, but for tonight I'll just hit the rack and have pleasant dreams of coming to that crest of a hill, seeing those Friday Night Lights in the distance.
there will be no hopping in the 1000 Yard Mobile and making a beeline for the small town destination that is just over the next hill, the hill that reveals the majestic hue in the night sky of 4 rows of lights that signify heaven in the form of a High School Football field. No more getting there so early you even beat the teams to the field. Lord help me, what am I going to do?
One thing we will do is reflect some thoughts about this year's Finals, one of the chilliest in recent years. Thursday night was down right brutal, with finger numbing wind chills at around 10 above zero and the wind so strong the official had to grip the ball between his feet in between plays to keep from blowing away. Enough of the weather report, here are some observations:
*What about those Aurora Huskies! How smart is Head Coach Randy Huebert and his staff? Who'd have thought Quarterback Tyler McDonald would be the Rushing star of the Finals? Sure, we knew he could throw. Going into the Beatrice Finals, he was 94 of a 166 for 1,272 yards and 15 TD.s, but McDonald a Runner? 58 carries for 90 yards in the first 11 games..........ok, if you're an opposing coach you cross that one off right away....one less thing to be concerned with. WRONG! Tyler McDonald's 15 rushes for 67 yards against McCook was not a huge total, but it threw a curve at the Bison and opened up other avenues. Then in the Finals, Number 5 ran for a game high 134 yds. on 20 rushes including a dazzling 29 yard sprint that gave the Huskies a 20-7 game and essentially was enough for the win. Entire team effort to say the least. Jerry Lobeda, only 5-9 and 160 pounds ended up running for 1,590 yards for the year, and Nebraska pledge Andy Rodriquez and his buddies in the line were arguably the best unit in the Class B ranks. Guys like Lobeda, Nathan Suck, Josh Bart, Lucas Johnson and were standouts on defense and Sophomore Jacob Shaffer came in and earned a starting spot in the secondary and looked awesome for his young age.
An observation I heard before the game about the Huskies "tanking after the McCook game"......no way, this team had improved every week and weren't about to flush it all away at that point.
Hail to the Aurora Huskies!
*How good is Ewing's Brett Kaczor? OMG! The Quarterback ran for 117 yards and 3 TDs, was 10-11 passing for 160 yards and THREE scores, and absolutely stuffed the middle (and everywhere else), coming up with 10 solo tackles and 7 assists. He also covered more than one onside kick when the St. Francis kicker tired to get an easy turnover on a kick-off. Can you say All-State Captain in D-2?
*Clint Belina-Howells - Can this dude run or what! 310 yards on 37 carries and SIX Touchdowns. The 10 degree wind chills couldn't have bothered him much . My friend Mike Speirs (Howells Coach) thinks he could have a little more explosion at the point of contact when he carries the ball.............well, that may be a minor thing to remedy and he has a year to go yet after winning the State Rushing Title with 2,478 yards as a Junior. Watch out for the Bobcats next year too.
*Hats off the Eric Koehlmoos' comeback this season. Man, this poor kid has fought hard through all kinds of injuries and has been dogged by pains since his Sophomore Track season. Some say he's a step slow compared to two years back, but how VERY well he ran Saturday morning and his play on defense carried the Bluejays to the State C-1 Championship, don't kid yourself. The Moose' tackle on Boys Town QB Isiah Gandy at the Pierce 8 yard line was so violent it jarred the ball loose and Blake Stonacek covered it, saving a TD. 3 plays later the 86 yard "Dagger" pass reception to Brody Unger sealed a second straight championship for the 'Jays. Here's hoping some D-1 school has faith Moose can stay healthy and compete at that level. I know he can.
*My heart goes out to the Boys Town trainer who saw me struggling to tie my right shoe and offered to do it for me. There have been times when I have had to take a knee because of the old back giving out and I've had a cheerleader, a football player, an official, and even a water-girl help me back up. Kind of typifies what kind of people we have in this beautiful state of ours. Best place in the world to live.
* That Millard West football team in general was really something to watch. Kirk Peterson had that crew so diversified nobody in the Class A ranks could quite cover everything the Wildcats had to to throw or run at them. And that doggone Darius Evans is a kick and a half to watch! His electrifying 94 Yard opening Kick return tore 'em loose from their seats and Millard South never did recover. Funny things can happen to kids when they get to Memorial Stadium, and the Patriots seemed almost too jacked to play a controlled enough game to avoid sometimes simple mistakes. The crowd of 5,867 was a little bit of a shock....thought there would be more interest in the "Millard Bowl".
*Wasn't that great that Blue Hill finally grabbed that elusive Championship? Well, I'm sure Archbishop Bergan didn't think so, but I thought it was great. How many times have you seen a team win a State Title Game and have a total of less than 180 yards? Guess it works out when you hold the opponents to quite a bit less than that. "Bout had a stroke when the Bobcats threw the ball 5 times, completing one to the guys in the white jerseys and one to the green boys. Man alive, can Coach Scott Porter teach defense or what? What a plan to drop almost everybody back on pass coverage and not pressure Riley Gross, giving him alleys to run if he scrambles. Seems like the minute the Knights would complete a pass, Blue Hill players like 1000 yarder Nathan Petska (my favorite playoff player) were all over them like a cheap suit. Don't they call simple offenses, vanilla? Blue Hill's must have been almost "no flavor", because Bergan had to know what was coming but the Bobcats had enough to get the job done. I DO have a feeling Porter had a lot more in the offensive playbook than that, but why in this case if you can win without getting fancy?
*Heart also goes out to the poor little gals that were on performing dance teams that froze every bone in their tiny bodies just to dance on the Husker Turf.........and how polite were the girls from Blue Hill to sit there without putting their warm sweats back on just to watch Bergan's girls routine? Class, pure class.
And finally, the Low-IQ-of-The-Year Award goes to.............yours truly. As I answered a few questions a pretty good looking fellow had asked me as I was sitting peering out the window at the field, I wondered "what high school football coach" he was and why he was with a group of tall young gals? A few minutes later I realized it was Nebraska Volleyball coach, John Cook with some possible recruits......Nice going, Mr. Zero for Brains.
I DID recognize Attorney General John Bruning when I rode up the elevator with him and how polite he was to talk to a common old 1000 Yard Guy like me. Very nice gentleman....pretty good at his gig too, if I may say so.
It's all in the can now, this 2008 High School Football Season. Monday, I start the countdown to the next one. In between now and then though, I just may have to watch some of those 1000 Yarders don the Basketball duds and display some of those sweet moves they were famous for on the grid iron, but for tonight I'll just hit the rack and have pleasant dreams of coming to that crest of a hill, seeing those Friday Night Lights in the distance.
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