Week Ten Friday Night Lights Playoff Heroes - Part 2

GI Northwest's outstanding LB Blake Westerby. The Vikings senior leads all of 11-Man football in tackles this season. *(photo courtesy of Douglas Westerby)

I would like to dedicate this first salute to this young man’s grandfather, Wes Westerby, who the knew the game of football and what it took to excel on the field as an undersized player, playing in a big man’s position. We lost Wes earlier this year, but apparently his grandson picked up some priceless pointers from the former Neligh high football coach along the way.

*Blake Westerby (LB) - GI Northwest - The 5-10, 170 pound linebacker has been simply outstanding all season for the Vikings, leading all of 11-Man football with a massive 143 tackles. But Friday night in Columbus, Westerby was even more of a beast.

Northwest was out to avenge an earlier season 48-30 loss to the Discoverers and in doing so, had to stop All-State QB candidate, Michael Koch. Northwest did just that, posting a 48-41 playoff win and Blake Westerby may have had the biggest game of his career.

The undersized linebacker made 18 tackles on the night, 11 of them being solo stops. The senior head-hunter was all over the field and actually appeared to be shadowing the amazing Michael Koch all night. But after watching the film once more, I am not convinced that was the case, and that makes his performance all the more amazing.

Blake made life tough for Michael Koch at times, sacking the 48 second 400 meter whiz twice. But the play of the night occurred right in front of me at the Columbus 28 yard line.

Koch dropped back to pass, was pressured, and took off around his left end. He appeared to have lots of Pawnee Park Field daylight ahead of him. The Columbus quarterback, who has dozens of some of the slickest, most athletic moves in the state, had one man in his way to beat……..Blake Westerby.

Koch put one his patented stop-and-go moves on the Northwest standout. Westerby never flinched and and took Mr. Koch down for a minimal gain. Blake had a few other one-on-one meetings with Koch and prevailed in most of them.

For his size, Blake Westerby is one of the best pure linebackers I have seen in all of 2017. The Viking senior is averaging 14 tackles and has a nose for the football and hits like a runaway freight train. Incredibly strong for his size.

Outstanding talent and pure football player. Wes has to be smiling up there.

*Yutan Defense, Brian Menicucci (RB) - The Chieftain’s swarming defense held high-powered Oakland-Craig to just 146 yards of total offense in Yutan’s 25-0 win over the Knights in the 1st Round of the C-2 playoffs.

The defensive quintet of two-time All-State Colton Feist (7 tackles, 3 for loss), Clayton Nelson (recovered fumble), Blake Hutton (fumble recovery), Allan Leahy, and Preston Pearce were just too much for Oakland-Craig.

The Chieftains Brian Menicucci did his offensive part by blasting for 245 yards on 34 touches and three touchdowns. He also had a 38 yard pass reception in the win.

To date, Menicucci has 1,392 yards and 14 TDs and even more impressive is the fact the dude has fumbled the football just once in his 161 carries in 2017.

***1000 Yard Rusher Alert - 2nd Time Around***

*Tige Calleroz (RB/LB) - Arcadia/Loup City - Returned to the field for the Rebels after missing a month of football. Calleroz, a thousand yard rusher in 2016, picked up where he left off in Arcadia/Loup City’s 28-0 win over Hershey.

Calleroz carried the ball 19 times for 155 yards and two TDs on offense, logged 10 tackles on defense and showed no signs of rust. Despite in playing in just 7 games this season, Tige has managed to rush for 1,071 yards and 14 touchdowns, with the majority of his carries right into the heart of the opponents defense.

Keep a very close watch on this football team. This Rebel defense is one of the very best in Class C-2. They have a quarterfinal round road trip to Lincoln Lutheran this Friday, but are very capable of earning a trip to Lincoln when all the C-2 smoke clears.

*Gio Mainor (RB) - Omaha Burke - The 5-8, 170 pound junior was fired up after Coach Paul Lamongi’s halftime speech and proceeded to rush for 141 yards on 11 totes with touchdown runs of 42 and 2 yards in the Bulldogs 43-21 playoff win over Millard North.

Lamongi’s halftime speech was prompted by Burke trailing Fred Petito’s Mustangs 21-14 at the time. And the neat thing about Gio Mainor is the fact he had only rushed for 308 yards coming in, appearing in just 5 games this season.

No, James Burks wasn’t out with an injury. Mainor’s junior classmate was right behind him with 138 yards on 21 carries and 2 TDs. That raises Burks season total to 1,408 yards and 23 TDs.

QB Tyler Chadwick was his usual efficient self, completing 12 of 15 throws for 209 yards and 2 TDs. Recent Husker pledge Xavier Watts grabbed one of Chadwicks scoring tosses, a 34 yarder, while the other went to Chris Hickman and covered 6 yards.

*Lane Edis (RB) - Mullen - Needed only 8 carries in the Broncos 66-6 smashing of Stuart to gain 159 yards and score 4 touchdowns. Thus far in 2017 (9 games), Edis has amassed 1,643 rushing yards on just 139 carries (12.1/pop) and 35 TDs.

He also has 6 pass receptions for 143 yards, 4 of which were touchdowns.

On defense, Lane has been in on 43 tackles, intercepted 5 passes, two of which were Pick-Sixes. On special teams for Mullen, Edis does the punting, averaging 36.6 yards a boot, which is very good for 8-Man football. He also has a punt return for a score.

In 28 career games for the Broncos, the junior All-State candidate has compiled 3,463 yards and 80 touchdowns.

*Cooper Jewitt (RB) - Elkhorn South - With Moses Bryant apparently sitting out with an injury, Jewitt filled in with 125 yards on 15 carries and touchdown journeys of 2, 18 and 37 yards in the Elkhorn South’s 42-7 win over Omaha Gross.

The 170 pound junior, who does have 38 tackles on defense, had touched the ball just 32 times this season for 180 yards and a couple of scores.

QB Cole Hanafan had a terrific passing night, connecting on 12 of 16 for 198 yards and 2 TDs. Jake Knott (6 yards) and Cole Skradis (44 yards) received Hanafan’s touchdown passes.

*Tyler Bandiera (CB/P) - Millard West - Came through big time in the Wildcats hard fought 20-6 playoff win over stubborn Papillion LV South. With the Titans holding Brody Belt and Giovanni Guido to a combined 117 yards rushing, the Millard West defense had to come through.

The Cats “D” did just that, picking off three David Foresman passes. Tyler Bandiera came up with two of the three picks, all coming in the final 5 minutes of the game, each thwarting Titan drives. AJ Johnson had the other interception, lifting Millard West to a quarterfinal date with Omaha Burke Friday at Buell.

Bandiera is also one of Class A’s top punters and is the current favorite to make the Class A All-State slot at that position.

*Noah Strako (PK) - Creighton Prep - Perfect 2 for 2 on his field goal kicks against Grand Island including the winning, chilling 40 yarder that cleared the uprights by about a foot, as time ran out. Prep edged the Islanders, 20-17.

Strako, who is 5 for 5 kicking field goals this year, is also a talented high hurdler for the Junior Jays on the track. Creighton Prep will now advance to the quarterfinals to face 9-1 Bellevue West, a team they have not played during the regular season.

*Hunter Pilakowski (RB), Blake Anderson (QB/RB) - West Point-Beemer - The Cadets dream season continued, thanks in part to the two-headed rushing monster combination of Pilakowski and Anderson.

In the 35-14 conquest over a good Columbus Lakeview squad, Pilakowski rambled for 161 yards on just 14 touches and 4 TDs. Not far behind was Anderson with his 158 yards on 13 carries and 2 scores. It was Anderson’s first game over the 100 yard rushing mark, while Pilakowski is an old pro at the position, having rushed for 1,286 yards and 16 TDs in 10 games.

Blake Anderson, who appears to have split time with Cole Hughes at quarterback, may have been moved to running back a couple of games ago. This is just an educated guess, but whatever the deal may be, West Point-Beemer is still rolling right along.

Anderson is also a mainstay on the Cadet defense, having logged 57 tackles to date (15 for losses, 5 for sacks) recovered 5 fumbles and picked off a pass.

*Zach Schlager (QB/LB) - McCook - Made his return to the football field after a 5 game absence, just in time for a playoff run. The All-State QB/LB and Colorado State pledge, scored touchdowns on short runs covering 8, 3 and 3 yards in McCook’s 34-23 conquest of Waverly in the 1st Round of the Class B playoffs.

The son of McCook defensive coach/genius Joe Schlager, suffered a hip pointer just 6 feet in front of me, in the opening quarter against Aurora back on August 25th. Zach then suffered a painful broken pelvic bone that caused the 5 game healing process. Hurts just to think about that injury.

Zach Schlager will lead his Bison forces when they travel to Omaha this Friday to meet 8-2 Skutt Catholic.

*Dale Jones (QB) - Central City - The 5-11, 175 pound Central City quarterback was as good as gold in the Bison win over a young, but outstanding Hartington Cedar Catholic football team.

Jones, who has battled ACL issues throughout his career, picked apart the Trojan defense with 17 of 32 passing accuracy, good for 232 yards and 4 TDs in the 27-26 shocker in Hartington. Jones favorite target was 6-3, 165 pound Ethan DeBoer, who caught 11 of Dales tosses for 184 yards and two TDs. The scoring receptions by DeBoer covered 13 and 33 yards.

Mikey Murray (13 yards) and Dyllan Lee (27 yards) pulled in the other two Jones tosses. Tucker Schneiderheinz, Noah Carlson and DE Eric Lenz were defensive standouts for Bison in the contest, in fact Schneiderheinz not only recovered a Cedar Catholic fumble, but stripped the ball on the Cedar 33 yard line with the game deadlocked at 20.

Eric Lenz fell on the loose ball and Dale Jones then connected with Ethan DeBoer on the 27 yard TD pass that put Central City up 27-20.

Thus far, Jones has connected on 56% of his 248 passes for 1,609 yards and 18 TDs. The Bison earn a home game this Friday and face a rematch with #1 Centennial, a team they were ahead of in the season opener before falling 27-13.