Week Seven Friday Night Lights football Heroes - Part 3

Maxwell RB Will Huffman set an 8-Man single game rushing record with his 540 yards against Brady. *(photo courtesy of Maxwell high school)

***State Single Game Rushing Record - 8-Man***

*Will Huffman (RB) - Maxwell - Senior running back broke a record that has stood for 18 years in Maxwell’s 72-42 win over Brady. Huffman exploded for 540 yards on 38 carries, eclipsing the old record by three yards. The 6-0, 165 pound sensation scored 8 touchdowns in the contest covering 61, 63, 74, 7, 49, 60, 13 and 71 yards.

You’ve heard the phrase many times before, but this couldn’t have happened to a nicer young man. Will Huffman missed portions of his freshman and sophomore seasons with injuries, but the killer came last year when he went down in game 4 of the regular season.

Huffman had already rushed 34 times for 314 yards against Eustis-Farnam when he suffered a broken fibula. Will had piled up 814 yards and 12 TDs when the season ending injury occurred.

When the 2017 rolled around, the Maxwell RB was more than ready to make up for lost time. In just five games this season, Huffman has already rushed for 2,137 yards on just 176 carries (12.1) and 33 TDs. Here are his 2017 game by game rushing stats; Paxton-218 yards/3 TDs, Garden County-263 Yds/3 TDs, Hitchcock County-331 Yds/7 TDs, Eustis-Farnam-438 Yds/9 TDs, Morrill-347 Yds/7 TDs and Brady-540 Yds/8 TDs.

In addition to Huffman’s 33 rushing touchdowns for 4-2 Maxwell, he also has 6 receptions for 203 yards and 4 more scores. Will has also returned two kickoffs for TDs as well for a grand total of 39 TDs in just 5 games. On defense, Huffman has 58 tackles (42 solos, 10 for losses) and a couple of INTs.

And, here are the blockers that make Will Huffman go; End-Dawson Heinzen (Sr), End-Seth Simcox (Soph.), Guard-Matt Walker (Sr.), Guard-Tyler Landfried (Soph), Center-Troy Breinig (Freshman) and Fullback-Drew Hazen (Jr.).

Maxwell has two regular season games (both at home) remaining with Sandhills-Thedford and Anselmo-Merna, then hopefully a playoff run. Just to let you know, the single season rushing record at Maxwell is 2,823 yards, established by Jaylon Sturdivant back in 2014.

*Cam Jurgens (ATH) - Beatrice - 6-3, 240 pound Husker recruit was busy in the Orangeman’s 35-12 win over Waverly. Jurgens rushed 18 times for 112 yards and 2 TDs (3, 4 yards), caught 3 passes for 45 yards, made 3 tackles and picked off a Waverly pass. Beatrice is currently sitting at 6-1 with regular season games remaining against Crete and Norris.

*Austin Schultz (RB) - Norris - All-State back’s 4 TDs help propel the Titans to a 35-19 win over Crete. Schultz scored from 7, 65, 18 and 11 yards away in the weather delayed game last Friday.

*Chandler Cotton (RB) - Papillion LaVista South - 5-10, 185 pound junior blitzed Omaha Bryan with 183 yards on 27 touches and 5 touchdowns in the Titans 57-0 route over the Bears.

Cotton, who doubled his season touchdown total in the victory, scored all five TDs from inside the 10 yard line (7, 6, 8, 7 and 4 yards). Chandler’s season rushing total has now reached 943 yards for the season.

*Tanner Tierney (RB) - Gretna - Senior’s dream season continued Friday in the Dragons 56-0 thrashing of Mount Michael Benedictine. Tierney ran only 8 times, but gained 165 yards (20 yards a pop) and hit the end zone with runs of 45 and 79 yards.

That gives Tierney 1,105 yards and 15 TDs going into the last two games of the regular season against Elkhorn and Elkhorn South.

*Hunter Pilakowski (RB), Ben Vander Griend (WR) - West Point-Beemer

The Cadets had to pull a trick play out of the bag to top Wayne last Friday night.

The multi-talented Pilakowski took the ball and appeared to be sweeping around the end on a run, but pulled up and nailed Vander Griend with a 24 yard touchdown pass with 52 seconds lift in the game. Just like they drew it up and rehearsed it in practice (50 times).

With Wayne keying on Pilakowski, Coach Troy Schlueter turned to 6-0, 178 pound junior Gage Vance to sneak up on the Blue Devils. Vance, who had run for only 128 yards the past 6 games, dashed for 136 yards on just 10 touches and a critical score in the game.

*Rudy Vrtiska (RB) - Falls City - Rushed for 114 yards on 8 carries and two TDs (55, 14 runs) in the Tigers 57-7 win over Conestoga. Brandon Blume added 87 yards with touchdown runs of 2 and 13 yards in the Falls City blowout win.

***1000 Yard Rusher Alert - Second Time Around***

*Taten Benson (RB) - Cambridge - 6-4, 215 pound Cambridge star went off for 215 yards on 28 carries and 4 TDs in the Trojans 62-6 win over Southwest. That raises Benson’s season rushing total to 1,143 yards and 17 touchdowns for the year.

The long striding, hard running Benson rolled for 1,695 yards and 21 TDs a year ago, so this year’s success is no surprise to anyone. This dude is really, really good.

*Noah Bruner (RB), Chris Busby (RB), Jasiya DeOllos (RB) - Scottsbluff - Bearcats kept it on the ground in their 40-3 win over Gering. Busby led the pack with 113 yards on 13 totes and a score. QB Noah Bruner was next with 103 yards on 11 carries (2 TDS), plus went 3-5 passing for 72 yards and a TD (27 yard TD toss to Keegan Reifschneider). DeOllos, the sophomore, added 93 yards on 10 carries and a touchdown.

Chris Busby has now rushed for 903 yards in 7 games for the 6-1 Bearcats.

*Edwin Baptista (RB) - Friend - Was huge in Friend’s 20-8 win over tough Diller-Odell. Baptista took off for 199 yards on 40 carries in the rain, scoring on a critical 16 yard burst in the Bulldogs win.

*Josh Quinn (ATH) - Mead - 5-9, 150 pound senior tallied 4 touchdowns in the Raiders 36-16 win over Weeping Water. Quinn reached the end zone on runs of 2, 5 and 27 yards, then returned a punt 46 yards for another Mead score.

*Lucas Thingstad (RB) - Wynot - 5-11, 170 pound back came within 4 touches of tying the 8-Man record for the most carries in a single game in the Blue Devils hard fought 26-20 win over Emerson-Hubbard, played in the wind and rain.

Thingstad carried the ball 52 times for 288 yards and 3 TDs in the win. Lucas scoring runs came from 19, 22 and 12 yards away.

***1000 Yard Rusher Alert***

*Justin Davis (RB) - Hemingford - 5-5, 135 pound junior cracked the 1000 yard barrier in Hemingford’s 58-6 win over Morrill. Davis ran for 202 yards on 16 carries and scored 4 TDs, raising his season total to 1,198 yards (15 TDs)

*Landon Lenz (RB) - Medicine Valley - Late catching up with this performance, but Lenz tore up Southwest two weeks back in the Raiders 42-6 win. The 145 pound senior, who rushed for 1,129 yards a year ago, rambled for 154 yards on 17 carries and scored 3 times in the win.

Landon’s big night raised his 2017 rushing total to 822 yards (16 TDs) and stretched his string of 100 yard plus rushing games to 13, going back to last season. Lenz last rushing game under a hundred yards came on opening night 2016, when he gained 94 yards against Wallace.

Landon Lenz is one tough cookie for only tipping the scales at only a buck 45. Powerful runner with terrific vision and great cuts.

***1000 Yard Rusher Alert***

*Christian Timm (RB) - Eustis-Farnam - How tough is this dude. Wauneta-Palisade drills Eustis-Farnam 62-0, but Timm goes over the coveted 1000 yard rushing mark with his 110 yards on 22 carries in the loss. Timm now has 1,078 yards for the 2-4 Knights and I’ll bet every single one of those yards are hard-earned.

*Cole Fossenbarger (QB), Tyler Hahn (WR) - Johnson-Brock - Fossenbarger, one of 8-Man football’s most accurate passing quarterbacks, nailed 15 of his 19 throws for 224 yards and three touchdowns in Johnson-Brock’s 34-10 win over Tri-County.

Fossenbarger, the slim-bodied 5-11, 135 pound junior, hit star sophomore receiver Ty Hahn with scoring passes of 46 and 19 yards. Fosssenbarger’s other TD toss of 39 yards went to Kaden Glynn.

For the season, Cole Fossenbarger has completed 105 of 175 passes (60%) for 1,653 yards and 22 touchdowns with only 6 INTs. Ty Hahn has amassed 734 yards and 14 TDs thus far in 2017. In just 16 career games, the sophomore wideout has caught 71 passes for 1,319 yards and 22 touchdowns.

*Drew Bessey (WR) - Palmyra - I a 32-12 win over Johnson County Central, the fabulous Bessey had 4 pass receptions for 138 yards, 2 of which were 43 and 62 yard touchdown catches. Drew also ran the ball 5 times for 106 yards. 80 of those rushing yards came on a great looking touchdown dash.

*Cauy Pokorny (RB) - Sandhills-Thedford - 5-10, 185 pound junior went off for 338 yards on 38 carries and 6 touchdowns in Sandhills-Thedford’s 40-16 win over Anselmo-Merna.

Pokorny exploded for TD runs of 42, 8, 39 and 36 yards in the 1st Quarter alone. Cauy added a 21 yarder in the 2nd stanza, ran for 39 yard score in the 3rd, then capped off his big night with a 55 yard TD sprint in the 4th quarter. Cauy also made 14 solo stops in the contest, 3 assists and 3 tackles for losses.

Pokorny’s huge offensive game raises his season rushing total to 892 yards and 13 TDs. The Knights junior has also caught 10 passes for 305 yards and an additional 3 scores. And in all this action, Pokorny has fumbled not one time. Add all his offense together and you get 1,453 all-purpose yards thus far in 2017.

On defense, Pokorny has 76 tackles thus far, 14 tackles for losses, made 5 sacks and recovered a fumble.

Good grief, does this lad drive the bus to away games too?

*Tyler Palmer (QB) - Columbus Scotus - Sophomore field general took control in the Shamrock’s 14-0 Mud Bowl win over a tough Ord bunch. Palmer ran 10 times for 92 yards and scored both touchdowns on runs of 72 and 10 yards.

*Jared Minnick (RB) - West Point Guardian Angels CC - Outstanding, rugged junior ran 21 times for 133 yards, caught 3 passes for 35 yards and made 8 tackles in GACC’s 44-0 blanking of Homer. If you recall, Minnick ran for 1,329 yards and 18 TDs as a sophomore in 2016 for the Bluejays.

Minnick is on the verge of cracking the 1000 yard mark again this season, having rushed for 975 yards in just six games this year.

*Cole Evans (QB) - Grand Island - Good looking junior quarterback ran for 136 yards on 20 carries and scored two critical touchdowns (16, 19 yards) in the Islanders rain soaked 21-14 win over Lincoln Pius last Friday.