Week 8 High School Football Heroes - Part 3 of 3.

#27, Nathan Howe of Kearney Catholic is out for the season with a broken leg. We think Howe is one of the finest Running back/Linebackers in the state. Howe gained 990 yard before his injury.

*Jake Batenhorst-Elkhorn Mt. Michael - (6-2, 185, QB) #12 - Was on target on 19 of 25 of his passes for 217 yards and 3 touchdowns in the Knights 42-0 win over Schuyler. Batenhorst surpassed the 4,000 mark in career passing in the game. Senior Jake Mumby added 139 yards on 21 carries and scored 3 times on short runs of 3, 2 and 6 yards as Mt. Michael improved to 4-4 for the season.

***1000 Yard Rusher Alert***

*Brian Boese-Allen - 5-11, 160 pound back ripped Winside's defense for 272 yards on 23 carries and 4 Tds in Allen's 47-16 victory. Boese now has rushed for 1,089 yards, scored 14 touchdowns, made 44 tackles and recovered 2 fumbles while leading the Eagles to a 4-3 record and a shot at the D-2 playoff field.

*Ivan Damit-og - Wilcox-Hildreth - 6-Man star RB rushed for 206 yards on 17 carries and scored 4 times in Wil-Hill's 57-14 win over Wauneta-Palisade. Damit-og increased his 2014 rushing total to 1,247 yards and his TD total to 21. The slippery senior is averaging a hefty 13.7 yards a pop on his 91 totes this fall.

*Ethan Skinner-Hemingford - Skinner carried only 5 times in the Bobcat's 93-8 win over Creek Valley but scored on 4 of them. Ethan ran for 153 yards and scored on runs of 20, 35, 15, and 67 yards. Skinner improves his 2014 rushing total to 1,415 yards. The 180 pound senior, twice an all-stater, has scored 29 Tds while averaging 12.9 yards a carry. Ethan Skinner's career rushing total now stands at 4,869 yards and counting. The outstanding runner has is averaging 131 yards a game during his sparkling career and has crossed the goal line 81 times.

***1000 Yard Rusher Alert***

*Jake Palensky-Raymond Central - (5-10, 185, RB/LB, Junior) #9 - Ran wild in a 48-7 win over Fairbury. Palensky exploded for 289 yards on 17 carries and scored 3 Tds. The rushing explosion puts Jake Palensky at 1,242 yards for the season. He is also a force on defense, making 62 tackles, 38 of which were of the solo variety. Raymond is 5-3 for the season and right off the pace and on the bubble for the playoffs. The Mustangs will need to take care of business this week against Lincoln Lutheran plus some help from other teams to get in those C-1 playoffs.

*Chase Templeman-Gretna - (6-1, 185, QB/DB, Sophomore) #12 - Holy Moly Guacamole talk about pressure. Gretna's starting quarterback Jared Sameulson has gone down with an head injury and the Dragons are trailing Elkhorn 14-9 with 2 minutes to go in the game. So enter Mr. Templeman. Gretna has the ball on their own 19 yard with 1:56 to go. Keep this in mind, Elkhorn has already knocked Samuelson out with an apparent concussion and the Antler defensive sharks are circling, eager to eat the sophomore replacement alive. Templeman calmly takes his team down the field and finds junior WR Emmitt Knight with an 11 yard scoring pass. Templemen then finds Knight for the 2 point conversion and the #1 Dragons come away with the win. I'm not sure the sophomore hero had played more than 4 quarters of varsity football prior to this win. It would appear that Chase Templemen may have to start the Dragons final game against at Elkhorn South this Friday. Welcome to the Big Time Chase.

*Chace Hutchinson-Norfolk - (5-11, 200 Lb, RB/FS/OLB) #32 - Bolted for 138 yards on 21 carries and scored a TD in the Panther's 41-7 win at North Platte. Hutchinson increased his 2014 rushing total to 695 yards in the win which may have been very costly for Norfolk. It appears the Panthers have lost starting quarterback Gunnar Fuelberth, who exited on the final play f the opening quarter with an apparent ACL injury. It's the 3rd Norfolk player to be lost with a "non-contact" ACL injury this season. In Fuelberth's absence, backup QB Tayen Meyer stepped in at North Platte and completed 9 of his 16 tosses for 126 yards and 3 touchdowns. The Panthers have a HUGE game this Friday at Kearney with HUGE playoff inplications.

***1000 Yard Rusher Alert-2nd Time Around***

*Ty Benson-Scottsbluff - The fleet footed Benson ran for 127 yards on 15 carries in an easy 55-0 'Cats win over Gering. Benson upped his season rushing total to 1,055 (10 Tds) and will carry that into this week's game with Alliance.

***1000 Yard Rusher Alert***

*Cody Huenefeld-Nebraska Christian - The 185 pound senior rushed for 220 yards on 24 carries and scored 3 times in the Eagles 52-32 win over Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family. Cody has now amassed 1,088 yards on only 111 carries and scored 13 Tds for 4-3 Nebraska Christian. Huenefeld is also a force on defense, logging 87 tackles this year while intercepting 2 passes and recovering 2 fumbles. He has also averaged nearly 24 yards a kick return. The Eagles close the regular season at home Friday with Clarkson-Lehigh coming to town......well, actually a little outside of town. The school is located just west of Central City.

*Pleasanton offense wins the "Ingenuity Award" - In a 52-30 loss to Overton, Bulldog Coach Ricci Westlund he couldn't run straight at the much bigger Overton defense so he threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Eagles. As veteran Kearney Hub Sports Editor Buck Mahoney put it "their offense looked like something out of a video game, not a playbook." The Pleasanton "all-trick play" offense ran a swinging gate, hook and laterals, double reverses, throwbacks to the quarterback, a guard eligible, fake punts, a jail break kick-off return, screens, and halfback passes. After falling behind 20-0, some of the tricks finally got to Overton. Pleasanton actually came back to within 20-14 with the slick trickery before Overton caught on and came back to win 52-30. The Bulldogs ended up completing 26 of 50 passes for 348 yards. The 'Dog defense wasn't so inventive though, allowing all three Overton backs to rush for over a hundred yards each.

*Brady Holtmeier-Kearney Catholic - Multi-Talented sophomore stepped into the running back position against Minden and responded with 218 yards on 20 carries and TD runs of 28, 65, and 13 yards in the Stars 44-14 win over Minden. Holtmeier will have to run the rest of the year at the RB position due to the loss of outstanding RB, Nathan Howe, who broke his leg against GICC. Horrible, heartbreaking shame about Howe is that he had amassed 990 yards before his season ending injury.

I'm not afraid to say that almost makes me ill to think about that. The 185 pound Nathan Howe was one of the top C-1 running backs AND linebackers in the entire state. We're thinking about you Nate.

Sutton's Noah Johnson is listed by Max Preps as the #3 Running back in the entire Nation in rushing with his 2,385 yards. And.......the Sutton flyer has played one less game than the 2 players in front of him in those rushing rankings. How cool is that! Will Noah Johnson break Omaha North's Calvin Strong's single season rushing record of 3,008 this year? On his current pace, Johnson would have nearly 2,700 yards going into the C-2 playoffs. Stay tuned.