Week 8 Friday Night Lights football Heroes - Part 3

Week 8 Friday Night Lights football Heroes - Part 3

By Bobby Mills (1000 Yard Guy)

Arlington Eagles Defense - Held Boys Town's high powered offense to 137 total yards in the Eagles big 18-6 district win over the Cowboys last Friday. The swarming defense employed by these Arlington defenders has quarterbacks running for their life.

Against Boys Town, the Eagle defense recorded 3.5 sacks and when TJ Davis did get a throw away, there were defenders knocking the ball away. Matter of fact, senior Sam Plugge had an interception in the game.

Riley Smith recorded 10 tackles in that Boys Town win, senior classmate Hayden Penny added 9, hard hitting Brad Ernesti had 8, and Plugge was in on 7 stops for the undefeated Eagles.

That Boys Town win clinched the C-1, District 1 championship for Arlington and their defense is a big reason why this football team has tasted such success in 2016.

Guys like Ernesti (73 tackles/9 for losses), Penny (43 stops, 5 for losses), Seth McRobert (40 tackles/5 for losses), Braden Johnson (39 stops/5 for losses), and Riley Smith (35 tackles/5 for losses) make this one of the most feared defenses in C-1.

This bunch has recorded 20.5 sacks in 8 games. Yeah, you heard that right. Add in 69 tackles for losses and you have a "D" that dearly loves to spend time in the opponent's backfield.

And that Arlington defensive backfield isn't too shabby either, having knocked away 12 passes, picked off another 4 and recovered 6 fumbles in 8 games.

You can talk about Neumann, Aquinas, Wahoo, Norfolk Catholic and all those high caliber programs, but do not underestimate this Arlington football team. Steven Gubbels has himself a pretty solid contender there.

*AJ Hubner-Creighton Prep and Kanon Koster-Kearney - These two quarterbacks hooked up for the aerial explosion of the year last Friday in front of 3,500 lucky fans at Burke Stadium in Omaha. When it was all in the books, the two combined for 600 yards worth of passing yardage and 9 touchdowns.

Ironically it was Nate Reiner's 2 yard run that ended up winning the 49-42 battle for Creighton Prep.

Hubner, 11-Man footballs passing leader, ended the electric evening by hitting 17 of his 30 throws for 334 yards and 6 TDs with only 1 interception. Koster, the Bearcat junior, was on target with 17 of his 28 passes, good for 266 yards, 3 touchdowns and no interceptions.

Instead of going through who caught the TD passes for each team, I'll just post it below, but first I would like to tell you that AJ Hubner has completed 113 of his 200 passes for the year for 2,058 yards, 23 TDs and 7 INTs.

Kanon Koster, an outstanding basketball player, has not put up near the throws that Hubner has, but has still completed 58% of his 136 passes for 1,024 yards and 12 TDs (2 INTs)

Okay, here are the scoring plays from that wild Prep/Kearney dandy at Burke last Friday, courtesy of the Omaha World-Herald's Mike Patterson.

.................................1......2......3......4..........T

Kearney..................14....7.......7.....14........42

Creighton Prep........7....14.....0.....28........49

Kea - Brant Barth 15 pass from Koster.............(Palomo kick).....0-7

CP.....Drew Dunham 10 pass from Hubner.......(Foley kick)........7-7

Kea - Noah Arrendondo 17 pass from Koster...(Palomo kick)....7-14

Kea - Ken Dinkel 3 Run.........................................(Palomo kick)....7-21

CP.....Grant Matties 48 pass from Hubner........(Foley kick).......14-21

CP.....Thomas Corpuz 21 pass from Hubner.....(Foley kick).......21-21

Kea - Bret Obermiller 80 pass from Koster.......(Palomo kick)...21-28

CP.....Joey Hagge 32 pass from Hubner.............(Foley kick)......28-28

CP.....Drew Dunham 23 pass from Hubner.......(Foley kick)......35-28

Kea - Kanon Koster 3 Run...................................(Palomo kick)...35-35

CP.....Thomas Corpuz 7 pass from Hubner......(Foley kick).......42-35

Kea - Ken Dinkel 2 Run.......................................(Palomo kick)...42-42

CP.....Nate Reiner 2 Run.....................................(Foley kick).......49-42

*Noah Vedral-Wahoo Neumann - Wasn't that far from being perfect in the passing game in the Cavs 56-0 drilling of North Bend Central.

Noah completed 19 of 22 aerials for 242 yards and 3 TDs. Vedral nailed Reid Jurgensmeier for scoring tosses covering 9 and 30 yards, and also spotted Theo Blum for an 11 yard touchdown. Oh yeah, Noah also picked off a North Bend pass in the win.

That vaults Noah Vedral to 1,149 yards passing with 15 TDs (5 INTs) and a very accurate 63% completion rate.

***1000 Yard Rusher Alert***

*Tori Huffman-Burwell - Raised all kinds of ruckus with the Ainsworth defense last week. 215 yards on 34 carries and 4 TDs worth of ruckus, matter of fact. That pushes Tori over the coveted 1000 yard rushing mark with 1,090 big ones.

Huffman is a big dude folks, a punishing runner that defenders really hate to meet head on. Last season he rambled for 913 yards for the Longhorns and was a key figure in their march to Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.

And you never mention Burwell football without including All-State TE/DE Tyler Gideon. The senior, who is so difficult to deal with on any pass route, had 5 receptions for 117 yards. That included a 29 yard scoring pass from Caden Owens.

Gideon has now gathered in 619 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns for the year for the 5-2 Horns, who will close their regular season at Boyd County (2-5) this Friday.

*Matt Masker-Kearney Catholic - My favorite Class C-1 quarterback had those Swedes reeling last Friday in Gothenburg. The 6-4, 215 pound fireballing junior with the lightning quick release, burned the 'Burg defense for 274 yards and 4 TDs with 18 of 26 passing accuracy.

The Stars ran away with the game 45-14. Masker spotted John Husman for TD passes of 24 and 16 yards. Matt also hit Brady Holtmeier for a 16 yard scoring toss and found 6-4, 220 pound junior Brett Kaiser for a 15 yarder. Kaiser is kind of easy to spot, don't 'cha know.

That raises Maskers 2016 passing yardage to a huge 1,904 yards and 24 touchdowns with only 6 INTs. And Matt is deadly accurate with his missiles, connecting 67% of the time. Not bad when you've launched 186 Masker missiles in 8 games.

This is another team like Arlington. You just would get down on your hands and knees and pray you do not draw them in the first round if you are any C-1 coach except Ron Mimick.. Kearney Catholic is way better than you think, and right now the Stars are sitting mighty pretty with a #4 seed overall.

*David City Aquinas Mastermind, Ron Mimick - Trailing unbeaten and No. 2 rated Wahoo 13-10 at the halftime break, Aquinas Head Coach Ron Mimick set his genius wheels in motion and the rest is history.

I have personally witnessed this scenario in person, and if you are an opposing coach, it spells real trouble for your football team. It took place at Duncan Field in Hastings on November 7, 2014 when Aquinas trailed powerful Hastings St. Cecilia 10-7 at the half. The future Hall of Fame Aquinas coach delivered a fire and brimstone speech to his team, then calmly mapped out a 2nd half plan.

St. Cecilia had no shot after that as Aquinas went on to win 21-10 and advance to the semifinals. Now Wahoo knows how Carl Tesmer and his Bluehawks felt that crisp November night on that Hastings baseball outfield.

Against Wahoo, Mimick played ball control football in that 2nd half, attacking the outside some, mixing in some passes, as well as inside plays that hadn't worked in the first half. It took away most of the chances that Wahoo's big play offense enjoyed in the opening half.

The result......a 27-13 Aquinas victory.

Not many do it better than Ron Mimick when it comes to devising a way to win, even if it comes half way through a game. The man is prepared for anything before this Monarch bunch ever hits the field on opening night.

Ron Mimick = Genius and his counterpart doing the defensive side, Tony Smith is in

the same august company as Coach Mimick.

*Grant Bruner-Gretna - Big, powerful fullback bulled his way for 120 yards on 27 totes and a touchdown (3 Yd. Run) in the Dragons 27-9 win over Elkhorn. Bruner, the middle linebacker on defense, also made 15 tackles, 6 of which were solos.

For the year, Bruner has powered his way for 948 yards on offense, made 82 tackles from his MLB slot and helped get his Gretna team in a position to win their District title with a win over No. 1 Elkhorn South on Friday.

Elkhorn South and Gretna are currently 1 and 2 in the Class B wildcard standings right now.

*Josh Pinkerton-Beatrice - Won quite a the battle with his Crete rushing counterpart Rhett Harms, by rushing 19 times for 143 yards in the Orangemen's 31-21 dispatching of the Cardinals.

The 5-11, 175 pound senior, who has run for 998 yards this season, scored on a 19 yard run as Beatrice pushed it's 2016 record to 7-1 and heads toward a District 4 championship matchup with Norris this Friday.

*Rhett Harms-Crete - Certainly wasn't that bad himself, running for 127 yards and throwing for 211, but the oustanding 2-way threat was picked off by Orangemen defenders Will Crandell, Dalton Hartig and Tucker Bassinger in the game.

Harms has thrown for 1,269 yards and 9 TDs in 8 games this fall, but has suffered as many interceptions as touchdowns. But, the dangerous dual-threat QB has also rushed for 746 yards and 9 scores and picked off 2 passes, one being a sweet Pick-6 in the 41-14 Plattsmouth win. What an outstanding all-around athlete.

***1000 Yard Rusher Alert***

*Zach Schwindt-Conestoga - We told you about David City's Landon Sweeney yesterday, but there is a gentleman that performed very well for the Conestoga team the Scouts beat in that 40-35 thriller.

That man would be Zach Schwindt, the 5-9, 165 pound senior who does it all for the 2-6 Cougars. Schwindt not only surpassed the 1000 yard rushing mark with his 179 yards on 30 carries (1 TD), but the dual-threat player also completed 7 of 13 passes for another 4 touchdowns.

Zach's touchdown passes were gathered in by senior Tyler Martin, who grabbed 41 and 13 yard scoring receptions, Justis Fisher, who took a sweet 80 yarder to the house and Hunter Tesarek, who pulled down a 22 yard TD reception.

Zach Schwindt, who raised his season rushing total to 1,079 yards, also made 10 tackles on the night. Don't think that Zach Schwindt just came into his own this season, because as a junior, he played for a 2-7 team, yet still rushed for 888 yards, caught 16 passes for 225 yards and 2 scores, plus making 24 tackles and pirating 2 passes on defense.

Unsung hero in many circles, but not here my friends.

*Tyler Pacena-Wayne - Another shining star in a losing cause, the 170 pound Pacena has been apparently been playing a little banged up since the Madison win on September 23rd. The slippery Pacena started the season off with a bang, ripping of rushing games of 158 yards against Scotus and topping that with 245 yard outburst the next week at Boone Central/NG.

Pacena missed the West Point/Beemer game on October 7th, but last Friday he was ready and rarin' to go against Norfolk Catholic. Yes, the Blue Devils lost 56-35, but Tyler ran for 159 yards on 26 carries, and scored on a 62 yard run. The big outing raised Pacena's season ground game total to 719 yards (9 TDs)

Better also give some props to Wayne's splendid pass/catch juniors duo of QB Beau Bowers and WR Ryan Jaixen. Bowers completed 12 of 24 throws for 137 yards and a TD while Jaixen pulled in 6 receptions for 123 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Jaixen hauled in a 39 yard TD pass from Bowers and took a 61 yarder from Grayson McBride to the house.

***1000 Yard Rusher Alert***

*Austin Bastianos-Eustis-Farnam - Ran for 240 yards on 27 carries and three TDs last Thursday as the Knights doubled up Wallace 60-30. The rushing explosion sails Austin over the 1000 Yard barrier to 1,079 yards and 17 TDs for the year.

Eustis-Farnam, who competes in Class D-2, District 8, is currently 6-2 and looking good for a playoff slot. The Knights have important regular season closer at 5-2 Arapahoe on Thursday.