Week Six Friday Night Lights Football Heroes - Part 1

Mullen's Wade Edis (L) and Lane Edis (R/uniform)are the only Father/Son duo in Nebraska prep football history to each gain over 5,000 yards rushing in a career. *(photo by Bobby Mills)

Please say we are not already 6 weeks into high school football season? Where has it gone?

***1000 Yard Rusher Alert - 3rd Time Around***

*****5,000 Career Rushing Yards Alert*****

*Lane Edis - Mullen - Sensational, long-striding senior ran for 204 yards on 26 touches and scored 3 touchdowns in the Broncos narrow 42-40 win over Medicine Valley last Friday. Those 204 yards upped Lane Edis’ season total to 1,112 yards (16 TDs), his 3rd consecutive 1000 yard rushing campaign for Mullen. It also raised his career rushing total to 5,217 yards with 95 TDs,

I think Lane actually vaulted over the 5,000 career mark a week ago, but I thought it would only be prudent to recognize both at this point and add another unique addition to this storybook career of Lane Edis.

How rare is this? Last week, Lane’s career rushing total stood at 5,012. That placed young Lane at #45 (out of 46 on the Career 5,000 Rushing Yards List. Thirteen spots above Lane was a man named Wade Edis. The speedy Wade compiled 5,169 yards during his Mullen Bronco career that spanned the years 1988-1990. Wade just happens to be Lane’s father.

I’m thinking there is a mixture of pride and peace in the Edis home after young Lane vaulted past his Dad into 29th place on that elite 5,000 career list with his current total of 5,216 yards.

The elder Edis may not be too heartbroken about the 5,000 career rushing thing because Wade still has one record that son Lane could have a difficult time breaking.

You see, Wade Edis still owns Mullen’s Single Season Rushing Record of 2,728 yards. Wade exploded for all those yards back during a 13 game, 1990 season when Mullen went the distance, capturing a Class D-1 Football Championship with a 44-34 win over Kenesaw.

If, by chance, Mullen could make it to Lincoln for the D-2 finals this year, that would give Lane 8 more games to gain 1,617 yards. That would vault him past Dad by a single yard.

I’ll do the math for you. Young Edis would need to average 202.1 yards a game to get him past dear old Dad. Lane’s per game average this season through 5 games, 222.4. His average per game the past two seasons (17 games)?...............202.2 yards per game. Eerie.

Fate awaits.

***1000 Yards Passing Alert - 3rd Time Around***

*James Burks - Omaha Burke - Tough Bulldog senior rambled for a monster 313 yards on 32 carries in Burke’s 43-26 win over Gretna. Burks first touchdown of the night, an 85 yard run, came on the Bulldogs first play from scrimmage. That gives James an even-steven 900 yards rushing for the season with 14 TDs.

*Tyler Chadwick turned in his usual solid quarterbacking performance by hitting 11 of 16 passes for 260 yards and a touchdown. That vaulted Tyler over the 1000 yard passing mark for the third time in his career and gives him 1,086 this season and 5,479 for his career at Burke.

*Xavier Watts caught 7 Chadwick passes for 140 yards, *Chris Hickman had two receptions for 112 yards, including a long 77 yard TD catch. Watts now has 511 receiving yards (7 TDs) thus far in 2018, while Hickman has reeled in 6 receptions for 151 yards and a pair of touchdown catches.

*Nick Henrich led the tackle parade with 14 stops against Gretna. He now has 70 tackles for the season, 12 for losses with 3 sacks. Hickman is third on the team with 18 tackles.

Omaha Burke is still the number one team in the Class A/Top 10 ratings with 3 games remaining in the regular season (Fremont, @ Millard North, Papillion LV).

*Jack Dotzler, Alex Rodgers - Omaha Roncalli - 5-10, 175 pound junior shredded the Mount Michael defensive secondary to the tune of 16 of 25 passing for 408 yards and 7 total TDs in the Crimson Pride’s 55-29 win over Knights. Dotzler connected with Alex Rodgers for 4 scoring tosses covering 25, 59, 55 and 11 yards. Justin Niederle caught a 66 yard TD pass from Dotzler as well, Ryan Fenoglio had a TD grab of 7 yards and Ethan Ortner scored on a 63 yard reception.

That gives Dotzler, a first year starter at the quarterback position, 1,498 yards and 17 TDs through 6 games.

The incredible Alex Rodgers caught 4 passes (all touchdowns) for 150 yards, rushed for another 23, and scooped up an onside Mt. Michael kick, returning it 45 yards for another touchdown. The Husker baseball recruit also made 22 tackles on defense for 4-2 Omaha Roncalli, currently the 9th rated team in Class B.

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

***3,000 Career Passing Yards Alert***

*Sid deMayo - Elkhorn Mount Michael - Despite coming out on the short end of a 55-29 score in the Roncalli game, the Dual-Threat QB still completed 23 of 39 passes for 256 yards and 3 TDs. The 5-8, 180 pound deMayo also carried the ball 26 times for 117 yards. Two of Sid’s touchdown passes were reeled in by Matt Zarybnicky (6, 23 yards), the other by Garrett Hustedt (9 yards).

Sid deMayo, the three year Mt. Michael QB starter, now has 1,164 yards passing with 16 TDs/3 INTs, and 543 more yards on the ground with 7 scores, for the 4-2 Knights. For his career, deMayo has thrown for 3,117 yards and 29 touchdowns and rushed for another 742 with 11 TDs. Can you say “Dual-Threat”.

*Baylor Scheierman, Cade Reichardt - Aurora - Dynamic Duo hooked up for pass/catch touchdowns covering 20, 32 and 5 yards in the Huskies 57-7 win over Fillmore Central. Scheierman has now thrown for 1,950 yards and 30 TDs with only 5 picks, while the All-State Cade Reichardt has 29 receptions for 494 yards (8 TDs) on the year.

The Aurora receiving corps is so wickedly potent that Reichardt is only third in pass reception yardage. The dynamic Cy Bullerman, only 5-8 and a buck 60, has 28 catches for 612 yards and 6 TDs to lead the Huskies. Jordan Stevenson is next with 504 yards (30 receptions, 8 TDs).

*Evan Johnson, Gabe Conant - Adams Central - Junior quarterback Johnson was a perfect 13 for 13 passing for 235 yards and two TDs in the Patriots 48-21 win over Holdrege. Junior Leif Spady caught one of Evan’s TD passes (21 yards) while 185 pound senior Derek Vonderfecht grabbed the other.

RB Gabe Conant ran 5 times for 41 yards, but really shined in the pass receptions department, by latching onto 5 of Evan Johnsons passes for 105 yards. Conant, a thousand yard rusher as a sophomore, has compiled 828 yards rushing (8 TDs), and also has 22 receptions for 279 yards after 6 games in 2018.

Evan Johnson, a junior three year starter, has completed 63% of his 164 passes for 1,247 yards and 11 TDs. And don’t forget that Johnson, who was forced into action in game one of his freshman season, has already thrown for 4,339 yards and 39 TDs in his short 23 game career. The dude is only halfway through his junior season, man!

*Andrew Bedner - Millard North - Mustangs storied running attack, mostly absent in 2018, came to life with 319 yards in thei 38-28 win over Elkhorn. Bedner led the way with 154 yards on 18 touches and scoring runs of 7, 13, and 2 yards. Tj White backed up Bedner’s big night with 75 yards on 8 carries and a score for Fred Petitio’s 2-4 squad.

*Isaac Hawkins, Drew Christo - Elkhorn - Hawkins, the Antlers 5-10, 180 pound senior QB, completed 8 of 21 passes for 232 yards and 3 TDs (2 INTs) in the 38-28 loss to Millard North. Two of Isaac’s scoring tosses went to Drew Christo, sophomore son of former Husker quarterback, Monte Christo, and covered 70 and 22 yards. Drew ended the games with 4 receptions for 146 yards.

*Jampe’ Gergen, Knights Rushing attack - Lincoln Southeast - The Knights beat up Bellevue East on the ground and through the air, enroute to a resounding 55-7 victory over the winless Chieftains. Gergen flirted with perfection by completing 10 of 11 passes for 276 yards and 3 touchdowns. Michael Anderson was on the receiving end of a pair of Gergen tosses (58, 20 yards), while Brehan Lambert caught a 59 yard scoring strike form Jampe’, one of his 3 receptions for 105 yards.

And how about that Lincoln SE rushing attack? Five different backs rushed for 40 yards or better in the game, and included Jackson Krause (80 yards on 1 carry for a TD), Jaden Davis (54-11), Isaac Gifford with 48 yards on 5 carries and TD runs of 6, 19 yards, Nolan Ryan (not the pitcher, 47-9) and sophomore Carter McElhose (44-7).

Lincoln SE is now 3-3 on the season and meets Lincoln Pius this coming Thursday.