Week 5 Friday Night Lights Football Heroes - Part 2

Grand Island Northwest quarterback Sam Hartman (black uniform w/football) is one of Class B's premier players.

*Sam Hartman-Grand Island Northwest - Did it all in a heartbreaking 43-36 loss to Scottsbluff. One of the finest Dual-Threat QBs in the state, Hartman rushed for 174 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries and still had time to complete 12 passes for another 261 yards and an additional 4 scores. I’ll do the math. That’s 435 yards by Sam Hartman alone in a back and forth game that takes it all out of even the best athletes on the field.

In just 5 games, Sam has completed 57% of his 124 passes for 1,096 yards and 12 touchdowns. He has also rushed for an even 500 yards with 9 touchdowns. If you recall, the solid All-State candidate threw for a massive 1,840 yards and 21 touchdowns and rushed for 986 yards and 8 scores. That’s just 14 yards away from being a 1000/1000 man and those dudes are not too plentiful in Nebraska high school 11-Man football.

*Riley Grieser, Brett Mahony-Kearney Catholic - 6-2, 190 pound senior Riley Grieser shredded the Minden defense for 244 yards and 2 touchdowns on 19 carries in the Stars 39-8 victory over the Whippets. Grieser’s two long distance scoring sprints covered 54 and 59 yards. Meanwhile, classmate Brett Mahony was killing the Whippets through the air by completing 8 of 11 passes for 162 and 4 touchdowns in the game.

Mahony hit four different receivers for scores; Carson Murphy (17 yds), Jaden Seier (58 yds), Garrett Schmaderer (40 yds) and Mason Mandernach (26 yds).

Riley Grieser has rushed for 820 yards and 4 TDs in just 5 games while Brett Mahony, playing full-time quarterback for the first time, has completed 49 of 76 passes (65%) for 711 yards and 14 TDs with just 2 INTs.

I think Mahony has the hang of it, don’t you?

*LJ Richardson. Luke Johannsen, Micah Riley-Ducker, Preston Ames, Jayden Roberts-Bellevue West - Thunderbird QB Luke Johanssen had a huge night in Bellevue West’s big 49-13 win over Kearney. Johannsen completed 19 of 28 passes for 256 yards and scoring passes to Micah Riley Ducker (33 yards) and Kaden Helms (12 yards). Luke also ran the ball 12 times for 78 yards to keep the Bearcats on their toes.

LJ Richardson continued his greatness with 143 yards on just 13 totes with TD runs of 6, 80 and 6 yards. Richardson now has 804 yards on just 84 touches in 2021.

On defense, Preston Ames, the 6-0, 185 pound senior free safety, had a big night, picking off a pair of Kearney passes, recovering a fumble and making 4 solo tackles. The defensive leader? Why of course, it was Jayden Roberts with his 9 tackles.

*Brady Cook-Fullerton - Junior All-State candidate rambled for 195 yards on 18 carries with touchdown runs of 3, 41, 29 and 13 yards in the Warriors 70-42 win over High Plains. After 5 games, Brady Cook has rushed for 754 yards and 15 TDs, caught 18 passes for 149 yards and 2 more scores, made 50 stops and recovered a fumble on defense, returned a fumble and kick-off for a touchdown and compiled 1,146 All-Purpose yards.

I’ll be heading to Fullerton Thursday to tape one of my EndZone Online shows for the Grand Island Independent so maybe we can coax Brady into having a few words with us.

*Corbin Horner, Quade Myers-Dundy County/Stratton - Horner, playing his first full time game at running back, responded with 282 yards and 5 touchdowns on just 14 carries (20.1 per) in Dundy’s 54-28 win over Maxwell. Corbin’s touchdown journeys covered 20, 1, 36, 18 and 54 yards. That brings his 5 game total to 698 yards. Not bad for a “part-timer”, eh?

QB Quade Myers, who surpassed the 5,000 yard Career Rushing mark earlier this season, added 125 yards on 12 totes and touchdowns runs of 25 and 17 yards in the romp. The remarkable Quade Myers is just 134 yards away from his 4TH 1000 yard rushing season. Just mind-boggling.

*Lane Belina, Levi Belina-Howells-Dodge - 5-10, 150 pound Lane Belina rolled for 139 yards on 12 carries and TD runs of 29, 6 and 14 yards in the Jags 60-0 waltz past Madison. Levi Belina carried the pig only 6 times but still rushed for 107 yards with TD runs of 45 and 25 yards. Levi now has 683 yards rushing with 13 touchdowns 5 games deep into the 2021 season. That also gives the fantastic senior 3,223 Career yards with a staggering 54 touchdowns.

*Gage Racek, Dylan Hurlburt-Ord - If one of these boys doesn’t get you on a long touchdown run, the other one will. In Ord’s 63-14 win over Doniphan-Trumbull, senior Gage Racek blazed for 219 yards on 21 carries and 4 touchdowns. Sophomore quarterback Dylan Hurlburt ran the ball just 6 times for 69 yards, but two of those carries went for touchdowns.

After 5 games, Hurlburt has rushed 70 times for 684 yards (9.6 per) and 12 TDs. Not far behind is Racek with his 77 totes for 669 yards (8.7 per) and 8 touchdowns. The only team to beat the Chanticleers thus far this season is Norfolk Catholic back on September 10th (30-7), but Hurlburt still ran for 149 yards and Racek 112.

When you think of the talent the 2020 State C-2 champion Ord Chants lost through graduation, it is incredible what this team is doing, especially Dylan Hurlburt and Gage Racek, who played in the shadows of All-State sensations QB Zach Smith and all-world RB Tommy Stevens.

*Jaxon Wayand, Eli Vondra-Milford - I’ll guarantee you without a shadow of a doubt that Nebraska City never wants to see these two guys again on a football field. Eagles Quarterback Jaxon Weyand, a Crete transfer, rambled for 251 yards on just 11 carries (22.8 per) and touchdown scampers of 38, 24 and 75 yards in Milford’s 56-28 win over the Pioneers.

RB Eli Vondra, who accumulated over 1,100 all-purpose yards in 2020, added 149 yards rushing with scoring runs of 5, 57 and 4 yards.

*Sebastien Boyle, Braeden Stull-Scottsbluff - Boyle, the speedy sophomore who seemed to appear out of nowhere this season, rambled for 169 yards and 3 touchdowns on 23 carries in the Bearcats 43-36 win over Northwest in Grand Island last Friday. And it was Boyle who broke loose for the winning 67 yard TD run with 2:13 left in the game against the Vikings.

Junior quarterback Braeden Stull, a Bridgeport transfer who was All-District as a sophomore there, hit 6 of 9 passes for 152 yards and added 103 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns on 22 carries in the game. Boyle’s TD scampers covered 24, 3 and 67 yards while Stull got in the end zone from 11, 1 and 43 yards away.

The Bearcats ended up gouging the Northwest defense with 337 rushing yards in the contest.

Thus far in 2021, the sophomore Boyle has rushed for 601 yards (10 TDs) with Stull not far in the rear view with 512 yards and 11 TDs. Braeden has also passed for 595 yards and a pair of scores in 5 games.

*Easton Weber-BDS - The nearly unstoppable 5-11, 210 pound human bulldozer scored on touchdown runs of 53, 17, 12, 9, 44, 5, 66 and 56 yards (yeah, that’s 8) in the Eagles 64-38 win over Blue Hill. This week, it will be the featured D-2 matchup of BDS and #1 Kenesaw in Shickley Friday night. Easton Weber vs. Tyson Denkert. Wow!

*Evan Haisch-Laurel-Concord-Coleridge - Big, strong, and fast, Evan Haisch is just a nightmare to tackle and he proved that to be the case once again in LCC ‘s 44-13 win over Hartington-Newcastle. Haisch exploded for 180 yards and a pair of scores (42, 4 yards) on 28 carries in the win. He also dished out 8 solo, Exederin headache tackles on defense for the Bears.

Evan Haisch, also an All-State candidate on the basketball floor, has compiled a 5 game rushing total of 828 yards with 11 TDs for the 4-1 Bears. He also has 26 tackles on defense.

Haisch is a tough runner, and if you recall, the dude had 1,823 yards/32 TDs a year ago and is currently just 18 yards away from hitting the 3,000 Career rushing yards mark this season.

*Dane Jacobsen-Ashland-Greenwood - Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing Dane Jacobsen, your starting quarterback for the Class C-1, #1 Ashland-Greenwood Bluejays, and he would be a Sophomore! In a 42-7 win over Raymond Central, Jacobsen completed 11 of 16 aerials for 196 yards and scoring tosses to 12 and 39 yards to Logan Sobota and a 53 yard bomb to Evan Shepard.

Young Dane Jacobsen has completed 52 of his 77 pass attempts (68%) for 714 yards, 9 TDs with NO interceptions thus far in 2021.

*Andy Maloley-Pawnee City - Carried the ball just 9 times in the Indians 77-29 win over Meridian, but still amassed 260 yards and long distance touchdown dashes of 30, 33, 65 and 70 yards, all coming in the first half.

*Christian Meneses-Plattsmouth - It was all in a night’s work for the fabulous Meneses in the Blue Devils 55-0 trouncing of Crete. The Plattsmouth star carried 16 times for 156 yards and 5 touchdowns in the win, which increased his 2021, 5 game rushing total to 1,180 yards. Meneses, who ran for 1,740 yards a year ago, has gained 3,125 yards in 25 career games.

Plattsmouth, who is currently rated #3 in Class B appears ready to make another deep playoff run after advancing all the way to the Class B semifinals a year ago. This is a very good football team that can flat out beat you down all the way through those Friday Night Lights games, friends.

*Jakub Jordan-Falls City Sacred Heart - Senior QB came up big in the Irish 30-26 win over rugged Johnson-Brock. Jordan rushed for 145 yards and reached the end zone with runs of 1, 15, 1 and 4 yards. Sacred Heart is currently ranked 4th in Class D-2.

*Tanner Frahm-Plainview - Another outstanding performance by Frahm, only to fall short in the Pirates 82-62 loss to Wakefield. All the kid did was complete 32 of 48 passes for 419 yards and SIX touchdowns , but still no cigar.

Good Golly Miss Molly, the 5-9, 165 pound junior is leading Class D-1 with 1,463 yards passing with 19 TDs and just 4 INTs and STILL Plainview is sitting at 0-5 right now. And who does Plainview play this week? 4-1 Laurel-Concord-Coleridge, then 5-0 Lutheran High NE, and finally, finally……..0-5 Elkhorn Valley.

Ya just gotta feel for Tanner Frahm, who is a very fine quarterback.

*Breckin Schluter-Exeter-Milligan-Friend - Rushed 41 times for 179 yards and an 11 yard scoring run in EMF’s nail-biting 28-20 win over Thayer Central.

*Owen Kaps-Bertrand - 5-10, 150 pound junior quarterback was a standout in the Vikings 57-36 conquering of Hi-Line. Kaps hit 10 of 15 passes for 145 yards and that included a 39 yard TD toss to Jonah Nelson. Kaps also ran 17 times for 117 yards with touchdown runs of 1, 8, 9 and 17 yards.

Kaps is really a fine Dual-Threat QB for future Hall of Fame Coach Steve Colfack, who has won 139 games during his career. Kaps, through five games, has 531 yards passing (3 TDs) and 435 yards rushing with 9 TDs.

Keep an eye on this Bertrand team, who gave Dundy County/Stratton a game before falling, 28-20.