Week 9 Friday Night Lights Football Heroes - 8-Man, 6-Man Football

Laurel-Concord-Coleridge junior Evan Haisch ran for 302 yards on 47 carries and scored 7 touchdowns in the Bears opening round playoff win over Thayer Central.

*Evan Haisch-Laurel-Concord-Coleridge - Junior running back lit up the scoreboard with his 7 touchdowns in the LCC Bears 76-46 win over Thayer Central in the opening round of the Eight-Man 1 football playoffs. Haisch, who cracked the 1000 yard rushing barrier a few weeks back, rolled up 302 yards rushing on a grueling 47 carries.

Evan’s touchdown runs came from 17, 5, 1, 11, 3, and 4 yards out in the Bears triumph over a Thayer Central team who boasted a superior air attack. Haisch has an unofficial rushing total of 1,597 yards heading into the Laurel-Concord-Coleridge D-1 quarterfinal home matchup against #1 seed Tri-County.

*Isaac Noyd, Carter Seim, Christian Rystrom-Cross County - In the Cougars 56-6 playoff win over Clarkson-Leigh: Senior Isaac Noyd rushed 13 times for 164 yards with TD runs of 34, 18 and 44 yards. Carter Seim carried 3 times for 63 yards and scored on runs of 38 and 19 yards, while Christian Rystrom added 41 yards on 6 carries and a 25 yard TD sprint. He also made 17 tackles, with 12 solos and 4 TFL.

To date, Isaac Noyd has 1,528 rushing yards/24 TDs/46 tackles, Carter Seim-1,375 rushing yards/22 TDs/68 tackles. Christian Rystrom-74 tackles. 6-5, 210 pound Cory Hollinger has also added 64 stops and is the leading receiver with 5 catches for 103 yards and 3 touchdowns.

*Serbando Diaz, Quade Myers, Keegan Krutsinger-Dundy County/Stratton - Three time 1000 yard rusher Serbando Diaz ran for 233 yards on 25 carries and four touchdowns covering 9, 29, 19 and 17 yards in Dundy’s 58-18 1st Round Class D-1 playoff win over Anselmo-Merna. Serby also caught a 10 yard scoring pass from two time 1000 yard rushing QB Quade Myers.

Myers rushed 18 times for 120 yards and scored TDs on runs of 3, 9 and 24 yards, giving him 892 yards for the season. Big Keegan Krutsinger was an immovable force on defense, recording 13 tackles (7 solo, 2 TFL), giving him 54 for the season.

Serbando Diaz is just 11 yards shy of cracking the 5000 Yard Career Rushing mark. Quade Myers needs just 109 rushing yards to nail down his third consecutive 1000 yard season and he is just a junior.

If Myers reaches his third 1000 yard rushing season, it will mark the first time in history TWO, THREE-TIME 1000 Yard Rushers played in the same backfield.

*Bryce Reed, Isaiah Zelasney, Big Kyle Sterup - Osceola looked mighty tough in their 52-0 Class D-1 opening round playoff victory over a good Pender football team. Bryce Reed, who is rapidly becoming one of 8-Man football’s finest running backs, rushed for 236 yards on 23 carries and 3 touchdowns. The Osceola flyer was already at 215 yards when the halftime gun sounded and has accumulated 1,492 yards on just 105 carries (14.2/per) with 28 touchdowns thus far in 2020.

Sophomore speed merchant quarterback Isaiah Zelasney, nephew of Osceola head basketball coach Jason Zelasney, ran 10 times for 89 yards and 4 touchdowns and improves with every game he plays. Returning All-State TE/DT Kyle Sterup was a steamrolling, pancaking force on offense and a Doctor of Excedrin Headaches on defense, where he delivered 15 bone crunching tackles.

Thus far, Zelasney has rushed just the ball just 64 times, but has 584 yards and 24 touchdowns to show for it, a TD every third time he runs the pigskin. Although Zelasney rarely throws, he has hit 10 of 21 passes for 202 yards and a pair of touchdowns this season.

And Kyle Sterup. Besides helping clear the way for 3,386 Osceola rushing yards (423.3/per game, 9.5 a pop), the 6-3, 220 pound Bulldog star has recorded an even one hundred tackles through 8 games. One Hundred, with 50 solo hurts.

People seem to forget, most of the returning players from that 2019 Osceola/High Plains state champion team were from Osceola and are now a force for the Bulldogs in 2020. To reach Lincoln again, the Bulldogs must beat Humphrey St. Francis this Friday and possibly Falls City Sacred Heart (if the Irish beat Creighton).

*Sutton Pohlman-Stanton - The 6-1, 190 pound Pohlman, absolutely one of Eight-Man football’s finest all-around players, ran for 157 yards on just 11 touches in the Mustangs 81-28 trouncing of Exeter-Milligan/Friend. That leaves Pohlman just three yards shy of the one thousand yard rushing mark as Stanton heads to Loup City this Fridayto face Arcadia/Loup City in a battle of two of Eight-Man 1 football’s most impressive teams. Kickoff is set for 6 PM.

*Haustyn Forney, Spencer Engel-Humphrey St. Francis - Dynamic Duo scored 6 touchdowns between the two in the Flyers 74-6 win over Niobrara-Verdigre. Forney and Engel split up the touchdowns evenly with Haustyn getting into the end zone from 8, 7, and 17 yards out. Engel made his a three TDs a little more interesting, hitting paydirt from 29 and 24 yards away, then catching a 24 yard TD pass from Tanner Pfeifer.

Pfeier also tossed a 9 yard scoring pass to Justin Leifeld and scored a pair of rushing touchdowns himself, going in from 31 and 14 yards out in the D-2 First Round playoff game.

*1000 Yard Rusher/1000 Yard Passer Alert*

*Jacob Diessner-Spalding Academy - Calmed the naysayers with his performance against previously unbeaten Stuart. Diessner, the national 6-Man football leader in total offensive yardage, completed 6 of 8 passes for 109 yards and 4 TDs and rushed the football 28 times for 132 yards and one score in the Shamrocks 42-0 skunking of the previously unbeaten Stuart Broncos.

The senior sensation now has 1,126 yards rushing with 22 TDs and 1,741 passing yards with an additional 35 touchdowns going into the Spalding Academy’s opening round playoff game at Creek Valley this Friday.

*1000 Yard Rusher Alert*

*Sam Vortherms, Brody Eggers-Creighton - Vortherms and Eggers combined for 297 yards rushing in the Bulldogs 54-26 triumph over Osmond in the 1st Round of the Class D-2 playoffs last Thursday. Junior RB Brody Eggers reeled off 158 yards on 29 carries with scoring jaunts of 20, 1, and 2 yards. Senior QB Sam Vortherms added 139 big ones on 26 touches with touchdowns covering 6 and 4 yards. Vortherms 139 yards catapulted him over the 1000 yard rushing mark for the season, giving him 1,069 yards (13 touchdowns).

Vortherms also completed 4 of his 9 passing attempts for 79 yards, but two were caught for Creighton touchdowns by RJ Wilmes (11, 20 yards). Vortherms, the Creighton field general, has completed 30-62 passes for 723 yards with 9 TDs and 2 INTs thus far in 2020. That puts the senior in the feared Dual-Threat category.

Creighton will entertain #1 seed Falls City Sacred Heart this Friday with kickoff set for 4 o’clock.

*1000 Yard Rusher Alert*

*Owen McDonald-McCool Junction - Punished Dorchester with his 276 yard, 5 touchdown night last week as McCool rolled, 68-6. It took just 12 carries for McDonald to reach the 276 yard mark. In reality, the 12 carry game is somewhat of a “heavy workload” for the senior sensation, who averages 18.6 yards a pop.

In 7 games this fall, Owen McDonald has carried the football just 59 times, rushing for 1,111 yards and 30 touchdowns. That is a touchdown every other time Owen touches the football.

The 5-9, 155 pound McDonald, who was a force for the State 6-Man runner-up McCool Junction Mustangs a year ago, has piled up 3,868 Career All-Purpose yards with 88 touchdowns the past 4 seasons for McCool, a team that has compiled a record of 26-3 that past three seasons.

*1000 Yard Rusher Alert*

*Remington Schimonitz-Paxton - Say that name three times in succession and not stumble. Better yet, attempt to stop the 6-3, 160 pound senior from cracking the 1000 yard rushing mark for the season. SEM couldn’t do it , as Paxton defeated the Mustangs 30-24 in a top rated matchup of top notch Six-Man teams.

Schimonitz ran for 182 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns in the big win for Big Scottie Jorgenson’s Tigers. That gives Remington 1,152 yards and 19 touchdowns entering the postseason, which begins this Friday. Senior QB Keegan Schow also threw for 180 yards (10 of 16) and 3 TDs in the game.

6th seeded Paxton should know their 1st Round opponent very well, as they welcome in 11th seeded Sumner-Eddyville-Miller…...again.

*1000 Yard Rusher Alert*

*Andy Maloley-Pawnee City - Indians junior running back scooted for 178 yards on only 12 carries in Pawnee City’s 59-7 regular season 6-Man finale win over Lewiston. Maloley ran in for scores from 18, 1, 49, 16 and 20 yards, raising his 2020 season rushing total to 1,037 yards with 19 TDs to go along with it. The win nails down the #16 seed for 3-5 Pawnee City, who will make the 374 mile trip west to face to #1 seed Arthur County on Friday. Kickoff is set for 2:30 MST.

*Hayden Olds-Minatare - Two-time Six-Man 1000 yard rusher rambled for 222 yards on 25 carries and 3 TDs in Minatare’s regular season finale 63-34 loss to Paxton. Olds scored from 23, 7, and 3 yards out in the final game of his illustrious career for the Indians, who finished 1-5 this fall, missing the playoffs.

The 5-11, 190 pound RB/DL finished 2020 with 1,239 yards and 21 touchdowns and a monster 71 tackles. Last season Olds rushed for 1,335 yards and 15 TDs playing for a 2-6 football team. He also made an unreal 111 tackles with 52 solo stops and 19 TFL.

You know what, man? As a 155 pound sophomore, Hayden Olds still made 92 tackles, had 32 solo stops and 17 tackles behind the line of scrimmage for a team that went 9-2 and advanced all the way to the 6-Man semifinals before losing to Hay Springs.

This young man is a fine football player.

*Aiden Hedstrom-O’Neill St. Marys - 6-3, 180 pound junior quarterback accounted for 6 touchdowns in the Cardinals 56-18 win over Sandhills Valley in the 1st Round of the D-2 playoffs. Hedstrom completed 5 of 13 aerials for 91 yards and three touchdowns while getting it done on the ground as well with his 149 yards on 21 carries and another trio of TDs.

Tate Thompson caught two of Hedstrom’s TD passes covering 2 and 48 yards, while Connor Semin grabbed a 20 touchdown reception late in the third quarter. Aiden’s three touchdown scampers came from 23, 3 and 18 yards away. Tate Thompson also returned a kick 62 yards for a score for unbeaten and 9-0 St. Marys.

For the season, Aiden Hedstrom has completed 40 of 74 passes for 574 yards and 12 TDs with just a single INT. On the ground, the junior has amassed 839 yards and 19 touchdowns, definitely placing him in that coveted Dual-Threat QB category.

St. Marys will host 5-3 Bloomfield this Friday (6:00 kickoff), a team they bested 36-30 on October 9th.

*1000 Yard Rusher Alert*

*Bryce Schmidt-Anselmo-Merna - If you are going to lose in the playoffs, you might as well go out with a bang. So Bryce Schmidt, the power-packed, 5-6, 130 pounder did just that by rushing for 168 yards on 18 carries and a TD in the Coyotes 58-18 loss to powerful Dundy County/Stratton.

The yardage elevated the junior running back over the thousand yard rushing mark, giving him 1,032 for the 2020 season. Even as a 120 pound sophomore, Bryce ran for 555 yards and made 58 tackles from his linebacker position. And 38 of those were solo stops.

As Mark Twain once said; “It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.”

*Aiden Kuester, Bryson Gadeken-Neligh-Oakdale - The Warriors decided to emphasize their ground attack a bit more in their opening round playoff matchup with Elkhorn Valley. The result? A pair of young pups both rushing for over a hundred yards and a resounding 52-12 win over the Falcons.

Sophomore QB Aiden Kuester, who leads all of 8-Man football in Passing Yards, rushed 14 times for 153 yards and 3 touchdowns, while Bryson Gadeken, a good looking 6-2, 175 pound Freshman, added 121 yards on 21 carries and 3 touchdowns as well.

Oh no, Kuester didn’t forget the passing game, connecting on 9 of 13 passes for 130 yards and a touchdown, but Neligh-Oakdale actually leaned on the ground game (387 yards) compared to the passing game’s 130 yards.

It is probably a misconception that Neligh-Oakdale is primarily a passing team when the truth of the matter is, the Warriors pass/run ratio is 55% to 45%. (2,364 passing/1976 rushing).

Now that you are a highly educated Class D-1 playoff individual, we can tell you the #6 seeded (8-1) Neligh-Oakdale Warriors will host the 11th seeded Hi-Line (5-3) Bulls (Elwood/Eustis-Farnam) in a Friday night matchup (5 PM kickoff) in Neligh.

Surely that is all you need to know, right?

*Isaak Norman-Fullerton - Senior QB hit 21 of 38 passes for 238 yards and both touchdowns in Fullerton’s 60-14 loss to Fall City Sacred Heart in the opening round of the D-2 playoffs. Norman ended the year with 1,553 yards through the air (17 TDs) and 532 yards on the ground with another 11 touchdowns in just seven games for the 2-5 Warriors.

*1000 Yard Rusher Alert*

*Ethan Piper-Harvard - Six-Man runner rushed for 120 yards on 20 totes and three touchdowns in the Cardinals regular season finale 50-39 victory over Franklin. That pushes Piper over the 1000 yard rushing mark as defending Six-Man champion Harvard concludes their 2020 season with a record of 5-3.

Both Harvard (11th) and Franklin (4-1/16th) had high enough wild card points to qualify for the 6-Man playoffs but are both ineligible due to a boy enrollment that exceeds the 27 student limit for 6-Man football schools.