The Very First Nebraska Eight-Man Football All-State Football Team

Eight-Man football made it’s Nebraska in 1954, making room for schools outgrowing the 6-Man man game.

There were 16 teams competing in this initial campaign, a southern division known as the Trailways Conference and a northern group deemed the Corntassel Conference.

As far as I can trace back, the Trailways Conference included Milford, Exeter, Beaver Crossing, Dorchester, Utica, Fairmont and Western.

The northern Corntassel Conference included Crofton, Randolph, Wayne Hahn, Wausa, Winside, Osmond, Coleridge, Newcastle and possibly Rosalie.

Some of these teams still dropped down to play a six-man for a game or two, but most tried to stay with the 8-Man game.

In the final 8-Man ratings, the southern Trailways Conference certainly appeared the stronger of the two groups, with Milford, Exeter and Beaver Crossing occupying the top three spots.

Here is a glance at the first ever 8-Man ratings complete with team records. The “x” indicates a Six-Man game.

1 Milford (7-1)

49 Seward Concordia..0 - 21 Exeter……………..14

25 Dorchester ………....6 - 51 Fairmont…………..0

35 Western…………......6 - 38 Utica………………..8

55 x Ulysses…….……....8 - 38 Beaver Crossing..40

Coach-Lyle Aberle

2 Exeter (7-1)

25 Beaver Crossing..0 - 54 Fairmont……..…….6

19 Western…………...6 - 14 Milford……..……....21

38 Western…………..6 - 27 Utica.………………....6

38 Utica……….….…..7 - 53 xBeaver Crossing...14

Coach-Kenneth C. Kasparek

3 Beaver Crossing (8-1)

0 Exeter…….....25 - 32 Seward Concordia..6

35 Axtell………..21 - 51 xMcCool Junction..0

35 Western…….6 - 51 Dorchester.………....25

38 Utica…….…..7 - 40 Milford……………...38

46 xLawrence…0

Coach-Don Mietzner

4 Crofton (8-0)

34 Osmond……...7 - 83 Newcastle..0

47 Randolph…….0 - 51 Winside…..6

21 Coleridge……..0 - 27 Wausa……13

24 Wayne Hahn..6 - 15 xVerdigre…7

Coach-Dale W. Oleson

5 Randolph (7-1)

34 Osmond……...7 - 83 Newcastle..0

0 Crofton...........47 - 51 Winside…....6

21 Coleridge……..0 - 27 Wausa…….13

24 Wayne Hahn..6 - 15 xVerdigre…7

Coach-Ted Morgan

6 Western (6-3)

40 xPlymouth………20 - 26 Dorcheste….0

6 Beaver Crossing..19 - 38 xAlexandra…6

6 Exeter……………..38 - 13 Fairmont……0

6 Milford…………….35 - 48 Utica……….19

54 x DeWitt………….32

Coach-Junior Ferrebee

7 Coleridge (5-3)

6 Winside……0 - 16 West Point Guardian Angel..41

33 Wausa…...44 - 25 Osmond…………………….......0

0 Coleridge....21 - 20 Wayne Hahn…………………..7

25 Randolph..26 - 72 Newcastle……………….……..0

Coach-Bill Edwards

8 Wayne Hahn (4-4)

2 Rosalie......15 - 6 Crofton…..24

40 Newcastle..6 - 7 Randolph..40

14 Winside…..7 - 7 Coleridge.. 20

27 Wausa…...13 - 21 Osmond….7

Coach-John Hodapp

9 Wausa (4-3)

7 Randolph……...43 - 27 Winside..18

44 Coleridge…….33 - 33 Winside..20

13 Wayne Hahn..27 - 13 Crofton...37

46 Newcastle…....12

Coach-Gerald Gunderson

10 Dorchester (4-4)

6 xDeWitt…………………...0 - 19 Utica……………........6

20 Fairmont……………….12 - 0 Western…………......26

6 Milford…………………..25 - 25 Beaver Crossing....51

15 David City St. Marys..16 - 36 xCortland…..……....18

Coach-Ted McCartney

Here is the very first 8-Man All-State team. As you can see, there was just one squad (no offense and defense). That would not change for many years following this initial mythical team.

As you can see, the older All-State teams always included the players' age. Why they listed that, I never did figure out. It is interesting however, that the Hunter kid from Coleridge is a senior, yet is just 16 years old.

1954 Eight-Man All-State Football Team

End---Gary Kuhl-Exeter, 6-0, 178, Senior, (17 years old)

End----Lowell Hunter-Coleridge, 6-0, 178, Senior (16 yo)

Guard-Dan Kremer-Crofton, 6-0, 178, Senior, (17 yo)

Guard-Leonard Homolka-Western, 6-0, 178, Senior, (17 yo)

Center-Ray Erdkamp-Exeter, 6-0, 178, Senior, (17 yo)

Back---Dave Barker-Milford, 6-0, 178, Senior, (17 yo)

Back---Robert Ebersbacher-Beaver Crossing, 6-0, 178, Senior, (17 yo)

Back---Ron Shirmer-Milford, 5-10, 155, Senior, (18 yo)

Last, but not least, I have compiled a table illustrating how 11-Man, 8-Man and 6-Man football have fluctuated numberwise over the years in Nebraska. This information was gleaned from the NSAA, who keeps all this wonderful statistical information.

The 8-Man game literally exploded after being introduced in the 1950’s, going from this 1954 number of 14 to 163 schools fielding 8-Man teams by 1959.

At last check, I believe the numbers showed that Nebraska still has more schools playing 8-Man football than any state in the union. California is right behind.

(Listed below is the year, followed by the number of teams playing 11-Man, 8-Man and then 6-Man in that order.)

…….11-man 8-man 6-man

1950 ….176…….0……167

1951…..176..……7……172

1952..…175….…12...…177

1953..…180….…13……183

1954…..194…….15……169

1955…..182…….25……147

1956…..189…….88……105

1957…..181……124…….78

1958…..185……145…….56

1959…..185……163…….41

---------------------------------------

1960…..191……167……..33

1961…..207……154……..25

1962…..217……164..……11

1963 ….230……158………8

1964…..239……152………5

1965…..257……136………4

1966…..252……140………4

1967…..265……102………0

1968…..265…….99…….…0

1969…..270…….93.………0

---------------------------------------

1970…..276…….85……….0

1971…..278…….85……….0

1972…..280…….87……….0

1973…..278…….84……….0

1974…..275…….84……….0

1975…..270…….90……….0

1976…..274…… 89……….0

1977…..274…… 89……….0

1978…..260……101.……...0

1979…..250……111……….0

---------------------------------------

1980…..237……119……….0

1981…..234……125……….1

1982…..211……143……….2

1983…..203……145………11

1984…..201……132………19

1985…..197……132………23

1986…..193……132………24

1987…..186……129………31

1988…..186……133………27

1989…..180……131………31

----------------------------------------

1990…..179……125………29

1991…..180……125………29

1992…..180……120………32

1993…..181……124………25

1994…..185……121………23

1995…..189……116………23

1996…..188……118………23

1997…..194……116………22

1998…..189……117………14

1999…..191……119……….7

----------------------------------------

2000…..191……119……….7

2001…..175……130……….7

2002…..176……129……….7

2003…..176……129……….7

2004…..179……117……….8

2005…..179……117……….8

2006…..176……121………11

2007…..176……121………11

2008…..170……118………15

2009…..170……118………15

----------------------------------------

2010…..161……115………18

2011…..161……115………18

2012…..156……114………14

2013…..156……114………14

2014…..155……108………18

2015…..155……108………18

2016…..147……107………25

2017…..147……107………25

2018…..136……109………31

2019…..136……109………31

----------------------------------------

2020…..131……114………33

2021…..131……114………33

2022…..131……114………33

2023…..131……114………33

2024…..132……111………34

2025…..132……111………34