2nd Round Playoff, Friday Night Prep Football Heroes - Part II

Posted Monday, November 9, 2015, at 11:49 PM

Norfolk Catholic freshman, Dylan Kautz (#1) has a chance at reaching the 1000 yard rushing plateau this Friday vs. Boys Town.

by Bobby Mills (1000 Yard Guy)

There are 32 high school football teams in Nebraska still coming to practice every day. The rest have packed it away for the basketball wars and the wrestling matches, but that lucky 32, sixteen of which are in the four 11-Man classes, are still chasing the Dream.

Here are some of the young men that are making the chase possible. Part II is on the way.

*Tanner Hass-West Point Guardian Angels Central Catholic - Touched the football 10 times, averaged 20.2 yards every time and scored 4 touchdowns in the Bluejays 74-6 romp over Bloomfield last Wednesday. All of Tanner's TD runs came if the first half and covered runs of 44, 25, 37, and 56 yards as WPGACC built a 52-0 halftime lead. Hass, who missed most of last season with a broken leg, is arguably the best all-around player in all of 8-Man football. His 202 yards vs. Bloomfield up his season rushing total to 1,682 yards and 34 touchdowns. Tanner Hass also sparkles at linebacker, where he's made 54 tackles, 10 of which were for losses.

Dave Ridder's Guardian Angels CC squad knows how to play the game...all 43 of Ridder's players. The Bluejays will now set their sights on today's D-1 quarterfinal matchup with powerful, defensive juggernaut, BDS. This game definitely has the feel of a Memorial Stadium-Lincoln clash. Kickoff will be at 4:00, and of course in Beemer.

*David Englehaupt-Norfolk Catholic - Wyoming commit laid 4 straight rushing touchdowns on Wahoo Neumann in the Knights 42-21 quarterfinal win in Wahoo. The 6-4, 230 pound specimen is so powerful on offense and incredibly disruptive on defense. I honestly wonder if any defender has made a one-on-one tackle on David this season? Unreal player. Tell you what, David Englehaupt is Super-State material on my all-state list right now. No bones about it.

Norfolk Catholic will entertain a super quick, lightning fast Boys Town team Friday in Norfolk. Winner goes to Lincoln after this 6:00 game @ Veterans Memorial Field.

*Dylan Kautz-Norfolk Catholic - The state's fastest 8th grader a year ago, Dylan is now piling up the yards a freshman in Catholic's backfield. Lined up in the hulking shadow of fullback David Englehaupt, Kautz slips through the tiniest of creases in the defense and is gone to the house if he gets a step. Dylan ran for 118 yards in the playoff opener vs. Falls City and 110 last week against Neumann. The 160 pound speed merchant, who has been clocked at 4.53 in the 40, has rushed for 970 yards entering the Boys Town semifinal contest.

If this kid breaks a long distance TD sprint against that group of Cowboy burners, you will have something. A Freshman 1000 yard rusher for Norfolk Catholic? I hope so.

*Matt McCarthy and Elliot Epp-Garden County - The 1000 yard twins were at it again in Garden County's 50-14 win over Crawford. But the Rams didn't make it easy for them in the opening half. Matter of fact, Crawford's Taylor Alcorn scored the game's first touchdown on a 14 yard run in the 1st quarter. The teams traded touchdowns twice in the opening half before Crawford scored a third time when Eagles QB Mason Zorn was sacked for a safety by 230 pound Crawford defensive end, Kane Forbes. So, now they're at halftime break and Crawford is enjoying a 16-14 lead.

Now I'm thinking, it's just a sneaking suspicion though, that Garden County Head Coach Jason Spady may have offered a few words of encouragement at halftime. Here's why that thought crossed my mind. Check out the 3rd quarter scoring, and it's all Garden County.

Mason Zorn, 21 yard TD pass to Elliot Epp; Elliot Epp, 2 yard TD run; Matt McCarthy 55 yard TD scamper; Noah Lake, 1 yard Pick 6. Thirty two unanswered points and a 3rd quarter defensive shutout for Garden County. The Eagles go on to win 50-14.

So, in the game, Matt McCarthy goes off for 195 yards on 15 touches and 3 TDs. Fullback Elliot Epp adds 95 big ones on 13 carries and 2 scores. And Epp, possibly the best tackler in the Panhandle, records 23 tackles, Sophomores Blake McCormick and Nic Koppman add 9 each, as does senior Brady Tophoj. McCarthy now has 1,650 yards rushing and Epp stands at 1,032 for the season. The Eagles host Sandhills-Thedford today in a 2:00 MDT Class D-1 quarterfinal.

*Derek Renner & Wyatt Hamer- Battle Creek - Dynamic duo combined for 352 rushing yards in the Braves 49-7 quarterfinal win over Doniphan-Trumbull. Sweet payback for the 49-20 thumping D-T gave them back in 2013 in the semifinals. Derek Renner scorched the Cardinal defense for 238 yards on 20 carries and Five touchdowns (4, 1, 9, 43, 55 Runs). Meanwhile Hamer, a 5-9, 185 pound junior, ran for 124 yards on 19 carries while scoring on a 33 yard dash.

Renner's big night padded his 2015 rushing total to 1,659 yards with 31 TDs to go with it. Hamer meanwhile, is at 905 with 13 scores and could very well hit that coveted 1000 yard mark in Battle Creek's semifinal game at Oakland-Craig (in Oakland @ 7:00) on Friday.

*Lane Napier, Noah Pelan, Conner Kranda- David City Aquinas - Monarch backfield trio combined for 381 yards in Aquinas 55-16 win over Sutton. All 3 runners surpassed the 100 yard mark with Napier leading the way with 146-13 carries, next was Pelan with 127-7 carries, and Kranda followed with 108-6 touches. Lane Napier had 3 touchdowns (8, 7, 1 Runs), Kranda had two scores (66, 1 Runs) and Pelan hit paydirt with his 69 yard sprint. All in all, 7 different Monarch runners carried the ball in the contest, combining for 444 rushing yards.

And how about that Tony Smith defense? Lane Napier, 4 stops, 8 assists, Mitchell White, 2 tackles, 11 assists, Gavin Rech, 2 tackles, 4 assists, Brandon Svoboda, 1 stop, 6 assists, Matt Kindler, 2 tackles, 4 assists, Kenton Kobza, 2 tackles, 3 assists, and Will Reiter, 7 assists. And the rest of these young men had at least 1 tackle.....Brenden Comte, Conner Kranda, Jacob Kadlec, Trevor Siroky, Kyle Petree, Michael Coufal, Noah Pelan, Tyler Vavrina, Spencer Maguire, Connor Emswiler, James Kobza, Matt Nadrchal, and Corbin Hilger.

That's how they do things at Aquinas high school. Everybody contributes.

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

*Troy Gilligan- Anselmo-Merna - Gilligan was a shining star in the Coyotes 58-24 win over Mullen in last week's 2nd Round, Class D-2 clash. Gilligan rushed for 199 yards on 16 touches and scored 4 TDs (44, 55, 14, 2 Runs). The standout quarterback also completed 6 of his 14 passes for 175 yards and an additional 4 touchdowns. In otherwards, Troy Gilligan had a hand in all 8 of Anselmo-Merna's touchdowns. For the season, Gilligan has accounted for 1,134 rushing yards in 9 games. The senior QB has also connected on 45 of 88 passes for 842 yards and 20 TDs with only 3 interceptions in 2015.

Troy Gilligan now has back-to-back-to back 1000 yard rushing seasons and a career total of 3,967 yards on the ground with a whopping 77 TDs. Throw in his 3,935 yards passing with 55 touchdowns plus 57 receiving yards and you have video game numbers......7,563 yards with 77 rushing TDs, 55 passing TDs, 3 Pick-6's and a receiving score (136 Total Touchdowns). Hard to imagine!

.....and we won't even mention his 338 career tackles, 10 tackles for losses, 12 interceptions, 3 recovered fumbles, and a sack. This phenomenal athlete has scored a mind blowing 576 total points in his last 3 seasons at Anselmo-Merna. Many basketball players will never reach 576 points in their hoops careers!

*Luke Ericson-Osceola - 6-3, 215 pound QB/OLB closed out a magnificent career at Osceola when the Bulldogs dropped a 52-14 2nd Round playoff game to Humphrey St. Francis. The poised Quarterback, who played most of the season with a broken arm, ended up rushing for 1,645 yards and 20 TDs this season. Big Luke also made 44 tackles and actually completed 9 of 14 passes for 163 yards and 4 touchdowns before breaking his throwing arm. And to be honest, I think very few of Osceola's opponents knew Ericson's arm was broken before they played the Bulldogs.

The past three seasons, Ericson has rushed for 3,678 yards and 68 TDs. Luke also was accurate on 100 of his 177 passes for 1,553 yards and another 26 scores. Ericson missed scoring 500 points in his last 3 seasons by only 4 points, but remember, this kid started at Quarterback as a Freshman, and I wasn't able to uncover those freshman stats.

***1000 Yard Rusher Alert***

*Taylor Alcorn- Crawford - 6-2, 230 pound senior who wore number 84, bulled his way for 70 yards on 14 carries in that 50-14 playoff loss to Garden County. That boosted Big Taylor's season rushing total to 1,041 yards (15 TDs). Alcorn was also a mean motor scooter on defense, recording 61 tackles, 18 behind the scrimmage line, and 3 sacks. Taylor also intercepted a pass, recovered 3 fumbles and was called "Mr. Alcorn" a good majority of the time.

*****1000 Yard Rusher/1000 Yard Passing Alert****

***3 Time 1000 Yard Rusher Alert***

*Brenden Pelster- Chambers/Wheeler Central (CWC) - Ran 10 times for 82 yards and 2 TDs, and completed 8 of 10 passes for 203 big ones and 2 more scores in the Coyotes 54-18 playoff win over Bertrand. The 82 yards put Pelster over the 1000 yard rushing mark for the 3rd time and raised his 2015 total to 1,065 yards and career ground total to 3,662 yards, 69 touchdowns. Pelster, a 4 year starter at QB for CWC, has thrown for 1,096 yards with 17 touchdowns (5 INTS) in 2015 and has passed for a whopping 3,294 yards and 50 TDs in his career.

CWC, the favorite to take the Class D-1 football crown this season, will travel to Anselmo-Merna today for a quarterfinal game that kicks off at 5:00. The weather is promising to be a perfect 60's with light winds.

*Cody Feist- Yutan - Benny The Jet ended a star-studded career for Yutan when the Chieftains went down to Hastings St. Cecilia in the C-1 quarters, 27-12. Feist gained 64 yards on 19 carries against the very stingy Bluehawk "D" and ended the 2015 season with 1,735 yards and 31 touchdowns. Cody Feist was a 1000 yard runner a year ago with his 1,081 yards and ended his career with 3,204 yards and 49 touchdowns for a Yutan football team that went 15-5 the past 2 seasons with a playoff win in 2015 in tough Class C-2.

****2,000 Yard Rusher Alert****

*Braden Schuppan- Doniphan-Trumbull - Ran for 148 yards 20 carries against mighty Battle Creek in the Cardinals 49-7 loss. Schuppan ends his fantastic 2015 season with 2,006 yards on 266 carries (7.5 per) and 14 touchdowns. Braden Schuppan finishes his career with 13 straight 100 yard plus rushing games, an apparent Class C-2 record. Braden's lowest rushing output this year was 117 yards versus Hershey. Along with his 11 consecutive 100 yard rushing games this season, Schuppan had 2 straight to close out the 2014 season (131 vs. Superior, and 206 against Southern Valley) to equal the string of 13.

Schuppan's 14 hundred yard career rushing games may also be a Class C-2 record.

*Preston Dibbern- Aurora - Elusive junior escaped for 182 yards on a grueling 41 carries in the Huskies 15-13 quarterfinal win over Gretna last week. Dibbern scored on a 2 yard run in the 2nd quarter for Aurora, and has become a lethal weapon the last part of the regular season and the first 2 playoff games. Preston's season rushing total now stands at 1,359 yards and will come in real handy when the Huskies travel to McCook Friday for a semifinal game and the rematch of a regular season game Aurora won 29-7 in McCook.

......we'll see you today at the 3:00 Humphrey St. Francis/Falls City Sacred Heart game, then in Elgin at 7:00 for the Clearwater/Orchard/Elgin/Pope John shootout. Heaven twice!