GRAND ISLAND CENTRAL CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL Santa Claus dropped a late Christmas gift by my front door a week ago when I found out the Elkhorn North and Broken Bow girls would be meeting up at GICC, right across the fence from my house. Better yet, they asked me to do the PA for this meeting...

2021 Bobby Mills 1000 Yard Club - 47h Version Dylan Mostek-Bennington, 3,089, Class B Leader Tyson Denker-Kenesaw, 2,550, D-2 Leader Caleb Busch-Burwell ,2,517, D-1 Leader Easton Weber -BDS, 2,246, Junior...

Here are my 2021 High School All-State Football teams. I take great pride publishing these each season and I do realize there are more than 11 athletes on my 11-Man teams and in excess of 8 on the 8-Man squads. The reason is simple. While not totally watering down these elite squads, I will not leave a deserving player off my All-State teams and I DO have a formula for doing this...

*Tuesday, November 23rd, Memorial Stadium/UNL, 10:15 AM Pierce (10-2) vs. Columbus Lakeview (10-2) *Pierce coaching staff: Head Coach: Mark Brahmer, Asst: Tyler Legate, Kyle Simmons, Grant Doerr, Les Painter, Carl Scholting...

*Tuesday, November 23rd, Memorial Stadium/UNL, 2:30 PM Fremont Bergan (12-0) vs. Norfolk Catholic (11-1) *Archbishop Bergan coaching staff: Head Coach: Seth Mruz, Asst: TJ Folkers, Josh Boggs, Doug Moore, Scott Painter, Dave Schrader, Brock Rogers, Kurt Marolf, Nate Pribnow...

Class D-1 (Eight-Man) Football Championship Game Preview. *Monday, November 22nd, Memorial Stadium/UNL, 10:15 AM Cross County (11-1) vs. Howells-Dodge (12-0)...

*Monday, November 22nd, Memorial Stadium/UNL, 2:30 PM Kenesaw (12-0) vs. Sandhills-Thedford (12-0) *Kenesaw coaching staff: Head Coach: Craig Schnitzler, Asst: Chuck Roe, Casey Olson, Christian Kroos...

*Friday, November 19th, University/Nebraska/Kearney, Cope Stadium, 7:00 PM Potter-Dix (11-0) vs. Cody-Kilgore (11-0) *Potter-Dix coaching staff: Head Coach: Dale Frerichs, Asst: Jake Christensen, Garrett Stricklin...

MILES FIELD, KEARNEY, NE. Fullerton assistant football coach Eric Frenzen told me at halftime that the difference in this football game was the “tough farm kids” from Lakeview. Vikings head coach Kurt Frenzen may certainly have agreed on that point, but all I know is that this Columbus Lakeview team has reeled off 9 straight victories after I saw them drop a 30-17 decision to Wayne back on September 10th and it showed tonight in Vikings convincing 31-21 win over a previously undefeated Kearney Catholic team.. ...

Are you one of those high school football fans who loves to look at Offensive team statistics? Will they tell you anything about how these semifinal games will turnout Friday? I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll dole them out (excepting Wilber-Clatonia and BDS), and you can make your own decision about how these will directly affect game outcomes. Personally, I like to know the run/pass balance of each of these semifinalists, but as we all know, games aren’t played on paper...

SOUTH OF STROMSBURG, NE. In a game that could have easily been good enough to be a Class D-1 State Championship matchup, Cross County held off a brutal Lourdes Central Catholic passing attack to advance to the D-1 semifinals. The 58-51 victory by Hayden DeLano’s Cross County forces over a Nebraska City Lourdes team I consider to be the best ever from that institution, will go down as one of the greatest 8-Man football playoff games of the 21st century...

*Playoff Quarterfinals Passing and Receiving Leaders*PASSINGClass A 1 Zane Flores-Gretna - 119 of 234 (72%) for 2,210 (29 TDs) 2 Luke Johannsen-Bellevue West - 131 of 195 (67%) for 2,098 yds (25 TDs)...

There are 8 teams left in each class in the 2021 Nebraska high school football playoffs. Here are your rushing leaders in each class going into Friday’s Quarterfinal games. Playoff Quarterfinals RUSHING Leaders...

*Isaiah Zelasney-Osceola - Nebraska’s Fastest 8-Man Football player rushed for 337 yards and SEVEN touchdowns on 24 carries in the Bulldogs 54-28 win over a fine Leyton team. Zelasney’s 7 touchdowns covered 55, 50 (punt return), 63, 1, 21, 50, 59 yards. That gives the jet propelled Bulldog junior 1,792 rushing yards on just 133 carries with 36 touchdowns. That’s a scoring run every 3.5 times Isaiah carries the football...

Passing Average/Game 1 Lincoln East - 338.2 2 Bellevue West - 285.6 3 Gretna - 221.2 4 Omaha Westside - 197.8 5 Papillion LV - 182.6 6 Millard South - 161.9 7 Omaha Burke - 161.7...

*1000 Yard Rusher Alert*1000 Yard Passer Alert*Tony Berger, Trent Carraher, David Lozano - Riverside - Speed merchant senior Tony Berger added to his 1000 yard rushing mark with his 102 yards and 2 TDs in the Chargers opening round 74-20 Class D-2 playoff win over Sandhills Valley (Stapleton/McPherson County). That swells Tony’s 2021 rushing total to 1,291 yards with 25 touchdowns. Berger is also the tackling leader of this fine Riverside squad with 147 Excedrin headache crunches...

AURORA, NE Halloween is still 9 days away but Seward had to feel like Aurora unleashed the demons a week early as the Huskies scored early and often to turn the Class B, District 4 championship game into a one-sided affair. Some injuries to a few Seward players, a stiff first quarter breeze and a surging Aurora football team led to a 50-8 halftime deficit for the Bluejays, and eventually a resounding 50-14 victory for the Huskies...

STROMSBURG, NE Cross County’s offense put up double digits in each of the middle two quarters, their defense prevented Patriots All-State candidate Eli Hayes from breaking the long one, and the Cougars pulled off an impressive 45-12 win over Clarkson-Leigh in the opening round of the Class D-1 playoffs...

*Rare Breed 1000 Yard Rusher Alert*Zephan Kluthe-Cedar Bluffs - And they said it couldn't be done. In all my 55 plus years of charting Nebraska high school 1000 yard rushing backs, I have seen ONE player gain a thousand yards rushing for a WINLESS football team...

*Jake Garcia, Colby Duncan, Cougar O-Line - With the help of this outstanding Gross Catholic offensive line, junior RB Jake Garcia has reached the 1000 yard rushing plateau for the 2nd year in a row. The powerful, yet speedy Garcia broke away for 158 yards and a pair of touchdowns (34, 9 runs) on 16 carries in the Cougars 49-7 win over South Sioux City...