October 8th High School Football Heroes

Potter-Dix's Ty Ottoson leaves 'em in the dust (er, snow) for a TD.

*Jay Ball -- Omaha Central -- Although his forces dropped a 30-25 game to Creighton Prep at Rosenblatt Stadium last Friday, this excellent coach reinforced the fact that he has the legendary program at Central turned around and on the track to continued success. But then a whole slew of you out there already knew that, didn't you?

*Brandon Yost-McCook - This fleet back has led the Bison in rushing this season, logging 739 yards. The Bison defense has notched 3 straight shutouts and may be on course for a visit to Memorial Stadium on November 23rd around 7:15. Stay tuned.

*Devin Reeves-Millard West -- Propelled his Wildcat team to a 28-17 win over #1 Millard North by running for 232 yards on only 20 carries. Reeves scored on runs of 56, 70 & 6 yards. Millard North sophomore QB had a pretty fine night himself, rushing for 183 yards on 25 touches. The Mustangs were dogged by 4 lost fumbles in the red zone.

*Dillon Loschen-Columbus -- Led his Discoverers to one of the biggest wins in recent history when they knocked off Class A's last unbeaten team, Lincoln Southeast, 17-14. Loschen ran for 156 yards on a staggering 39 carries. This guy's like the energizer bunny. Loschen has rushed for 974 yards in 2010.

*Josh Bebee-Omaha Christian -- This kid has really come along after week 2. Last week against St. Peter Claver he ran for 150-22 and scored form 7 & 22 yards out in the 54-8 route. Bebee has now rushed for 679 yards.

*Seth Behrens-David City -- Blitzed Raymond Central for all his yards early in their 63-8 route. Behrens, who has been a marked man this year, ran for 187 yards on a mere 12 carries and scored from 13 & 26 yards out. Behrens, fighting through a killer schedule has still rushed for 884 yards.

*Taylor Kreifels-Lincoln Pius X -- Powerful RB rambled for 133-10 in the first half alone in a 34-13 win over Seward. He ended up going for 157-14 in the win, scoring on 54 & 29 yard runs. Kreifels now has an unofficial 802 yards. Seward's 2 season 1000 yard man, Chase Wurdeman, pulled up lame chasing Kreifels on a TD run and ended up with only 12 yards on the night. He is at 1,087 now and we wish him a speedy return.

*Tay Bender-Lincoln Lincoln SW -- On a 3rd and 21 with under a minute left in the game, the talented junior signal caller slipped around his end for an 82 yard scoring run to ice a 28-14 victory over Lincoln North Star and keep the Silver Hawks playoff hopes going.

*Brock Sherman-Crete -- Got ramped up for Crete's showdown with Lincoln Pius this Friday by ripping an improving Beatrice team for 224 yards and 4 Tds. Sherman scored from 51, 2,4, and 44 yards out. On the 44 yard dazzler, he ran over, around, and past almost every player on the Beatrice team. That run, with 4:46 left salted away the win for the Cardinals in the see-saw battle. Sherman now has the apparent 11-Man rushing lead in the state with 1,316 after 7 games.

*Jeremy Meyer-Elkhorn -- Escaped for 196 yards on only 12 touches against Elkhorn Mt. Michael and scored on runs of 13, 32 and 68 yards. Graham Nabity backed him up with 111-8 carries in the 51-0 route.

*Ryan Ludlow-Plattsmouth -- The Blue Devil rambler took off for 180-31 in a 14-12 win over Waverly. Ludlow scored on a 17 yard run and increased his season rushing total to 858.

*Greg Milliken-Wahoo -- Even though Plattview shocked Wahoo 38-28, Milliken continued his rushing blitz with 135 yards and TD scampers of 41, 31, and 28 yards. He is now at 981 for the year.

*Ben Loftus-Arlington -- Ran for 168-28 carries and scored the winning TD on a 4th quarter 5 yard dash as the Eagles beat Columbus Lakeview 21-13, evening their record to 3-3.

*Pat Kucera-Clakson -- Well, the Red Devils were beaten 50-14 by powerful Humphrey St. Francis but that didn't prevent Kucera from bolting for 206-27 totes. The tough RB is now at 818 for 2010.

*Easton Nelson & Josh Papa-Schuyler -- Nelson went off for 157-16 and scored on runs of 50, 8 & 27 yards. Papa, the slick QB, carried only 9 times, but gained 139 yards which included a 64 TD blast. The green guys doubled the score on South Sioux City, 42-21.

*Jace Willets-Fullerton -- Rushed for 158 yards on 20 carries as the Warriors beat Heartland 40-24. He scored 3 Tds in the "W".

*Jac Bailey-McCool Junction -- Sophomore star is getting stronger by the week. He had 123-23 carries and scored 5 touchdowns as the Mustangs sprinted to a 42-0 halftime lead over Osceola. They won by the same margin as Bailey ran for 4 scores and threw for another.

*Ethan Micek-Shelby -- Holy Moly, has Shelby caught fire after 3 tough losses to Giltner, Newman Grove and Friend. Last week, the Huskies drilled Cedar Bluffs 88-38 and Micek dashed for 157 on 20 tries and scored on runs of 3, 23, 14, & 3 yards. He also grabbed a 50 yard TD pass. Cedar Bluffs quarterback Trent Kirkman was 27 of 54 for a monster 397 yards, but threw 4 passes to the Shelby fellas.

*Dwight Hanzel-Humphrey Public -- Was 10-16 for 177 yards, rushed for 57 yards and had 11 tackles in the second half of the double header on the ultra cool Humphrey football complex. The Pub boys beat Dodge 50-14 in the nightcap.

*D.J. Bamsberger-Hampton -- Well, he may not run like his 1000 yard rushing father, Ryan but he did rush for 133-18 and score on runs of 2, 72 and a 5 yard pass reception in the Hawks' 28-20 win over Dorchester.

*Zach Maloley-Kearney -- Increased his 2010 rushing total to 873 yards by running for 108-24 and 2 scores in the Bearcat's 24-3 win in North Platte.

*Austin Bochart-Loup City -- Pleasanton keyed on Loup City 1000 yard rusher Seth Skibinski, so Bochart, a sophomore QB bolted for 168-25 carries, scoring on both the Red Raider touchdowns in the 21-14 loss. Bochart scored on runs of 44 and 58 yards. He and Skibinski accounted for ever rushing attempt on the night. Ricci Westland's Pleasanton Bulldogs are getting better every week, let me tell you. By the way, Skibinski now has 1,031 yards for the season and is LC's first 1000 yard man since Joe Merrill turned the trick in 2003 (1,096).

*Tanner and Foster Zlab-Wilber-Clatonia -- Brothers were at it again as the Wolverines beat Southern 41-14. Sprinter Tanner ran for 148 yards and bro, Foster (soph. QB) ran for 91 and passed for 99. This Wilber-Clatonia bunch is fast and will be a force in the C-2 playoff picture.

*Nathan Kreikmeier-Logan View -- The 150 pound junior rushed for 143 yards on only 7 touches, & ran for scores of 53 and 85 yards. The 85 yard shocker with 6:55 left clinched the 21-13 win over West Point-Beemer.

*Josh Boggs & Riley Gross-Fremont Bergan -- Boy have these two been hounding opponents for a while....4 years to be exact. The Bergan boys laid a 37-0 spanking on a pretty good Oakland-Craig last Friday. Gross scored on 3 short runs and was 17 of 26 for 236 yards and Boggs rushed for 141-12 carries in the win. Gross has thrown for 1,458 yards, completing an incredible 90 of 146 throws. That's hitting the bulls eye, pardner.

*Zach Call -- Mullen back has notched his THIRD straight 1000 yard season for Brownie's Broncos. Call ran through a good Stuart team to the tune of 182-34 carries to increase his season total to 1,065. In the past 3 seasons alone, Call has run for 3,691 big ones.

*Cody Rotert-Omaha Brownell-Talbot -- The Raiders are just 3-3, but that hasn't prevented Rotert from running for 1,031 yards. Last week in a 33-13 loss to Yutan, he rushed for 157-28 tries, scored a TD and had 13 tackles. This season, Rotert has averaged 16 points a game, 10 tackles/contest and has a yard per carry average of 6.6. He also cleans all the dry erase boards every day after football practice at BT.

*Heath Anderberry-Axtell -- Axtell suffered some pretty heavy graduation losses from that excellent 2009 squad and Anderberry is the man to carry the load this year. He rushed for 209 yards on FORTY SEVEN carries in a 26-16 win in Palmer last week. He also had 12 tackles, averages 10 per game in 2010, and increased his season total rushing yardage to 1,008.

Trent Mastney-Howells -- Got fired up for the big Howells-St. Frans meeting this Friday by rushing for 259 yards on 12 touches against Leigh. The RB scored on early runs of 55, 14, 55 and 70 yards in the Bobcat's 76-36 wiping of Leigh. Mastney is at 957 now. How sweet is the Howells-St. Francis game appearing on the schedule again this season?

*Garrett Kolling-Alma -- Glen Snodgrass and the Overton boys overhauled Alma, 62-27, but Kolling still had a big night for the Cardinals by running for 176 yards on 25 totes. Kolling, a 1000 yarder as a sophomore, now has 822 for the season. By the way, Overton led 42-7 after one quarter in that game. How tough are the Eagles?

*Brad Ward-Brady -- Another 1000 yard man from 2009 had a nice night last week in Brady's 58-8 win over Wauneta-Palisade. Ward rushed for 109-22 carries and increased his 2010 total to 950 big ones on the ground.

Hate to end on a down note, but my young friend, Ty Ottoson of Potter-Dix may have to miss the Coyotes final two games of the season with a bruised sternum suffered near the end of the 3rd quarter in last week's Creek Valley game. Bad deal because Ty was chasing a record no Nebraska high school football player has ever reached. This baby is almost impossible to reach too, think about it. Last season as a receiver, Ottoson had 1,400+ yards receiving. This season he was moved to quarterback and was moving in a serious direction of getting a 1000 yards rushing AND passing. Nobody player in history has ever had a 1000 yards Receiving/Passing/and Rushing in a career. Ottoson had 692 yards rushing and 795 passing with 2 regular season games and a possible playoff game remaining. That is very sad news, but there is sun behind those dark clouds.......Ty is only a Junior and a splendid athlete with a full season remaining. We're thinking about you, my good friend. Maybe there is a miracle out there in the Nebraska Panhandle to get you back on the field yet this year.