Week Two Friday Night Lights Football Heroes - Part 2

Burwell's two-time 1000 yard rusher Jase Williams (#20/white) is shown here rambling for a big gain in the Longhorns 48-21 win over West Holt last Friday. *(photo courtesy of the very talented Yohn Gideon, Burwell)

*Jase Williams-Burwell - Two-Time 1000 yard rusher punished Atkinson West Holt with his 236 yards on 29 carries and 4 touchdowns last week. The 6-0, 220 pound Williams was one of two 100 yard backs in the Longhorns 48-21 win over the Huskies.

Caleb Busch, a 6-0, 170 pound sophomore RB, added 130 yards and a score on just 11 carries, as the young Burwell offensive line saw big advances from game one to game two.

Senior RB Jase Williams (#20) is one of a long line of power running, prototype, thousand yard Longhorn backs. All those great Burwell backs seem to run with a low center of gravity, causing nightmares for would-be tacklers. Williams, who ran for 1,809 yards last season and 1,205 his sophomore year (2017), is ranked #2 on Burwell’s all-time single season rushing list.

Tori Huffman leads the way on that list with 2,265 yards gained during that 2016 Class D-1 State Championship season.

There were other Longhorn greats you know, like three time 1000 yard rusher Alec Galvin (1,176 yards in 2010, 1,134 in 2011 and 1,629 in 2012). Then there was the great Brett Gumb, ran for over a thousand big ones three years in a row (1,270 in 2004, 1,276 the following year, 1,191 in 2006). Gumb even set an 8-Man single game rushing record at Doniphan-Trumbull one night during his career.

And finally, let’s not fail to pay homage to former Longhorn thousand yarders like Ryan Evans (1,597 in 1996), Will McClintic (1,509 in 2013), Jeff Roggasch (1,011 in 1978 and 1,350 in 1979), Jake Holmquist (1,286 in 2008), Mike Dawe (1,221 in 1992), Todd Westover (1,069 in 1980), Victory Sikes (1,069 in 2015), Clint Hurlburt (1,095 in 1995), Cody Cassidy (1,022 in 2014) and Steve Dawe (1,011 in 1993).

*Nate Glantz, Keagen Johnson, Jay Ducker-Bellevue West - Certainly didn’t take long for Millard West transfer Nate Glantz to grasp the Thunderbird offensive system.

So, Glantz goes 16 for 26 (78%) for 309 yards and 3 TDs in the 2019 season opener, then tightens things up a bit and hits 14 of 18 passes for 299 yards and 4 touchdowns in Bellevue West’s 63-0 win over Bellevue East last Friday. And that’s in just 3 quarters. Not only that, but he also rushed 7 times for 85 yards and a touchdown in the Bell East game.

Two of Nate Glantz’s touchdown passes were caught by Keagen Johnson (37, 2 yards), Kaden Helms caught a pretty 79 yard scoring bomb, and Division One commit Zavier Betts had 3 receptions for 52 yards and the fourth touchdown reception which covered two yards.

All-Stater Jay Ducker just carried the mail 4 times, but scooted for 84 yards and a pair TDs covering 11, 48 yards

The Thunderbird defense had 19 tackles for losses in the game, which was led by Matt Thompson and Jack McDonnell with 4 apiece. Junior Ryan Rogers followed with three, while Keenan Torres and Tyler Chaney added two each.

*Logan Johnson-Bloomfield - Better be sitting down for this one. In the Bees 56-26 victory over O’Neill St. Marys, the 5-10, 205 pound Johnson rushed 35 times for 239 yards and scored all eight Bloomfield touchdowns, scored 54 of the 56 points himself (8 TDs, 3 PAT kicks, 3 two point conversion runs) and completed a two-point conversion pass to Gabe Luack for the other.

I guess it’s safe to say Logan Johnson had a hand in all 56 Bloomfield points. Good grief, where do you go from there? So, when all was in the books, the senior rushed for seven touchdowns, pirated a St. Marys pass for a 41 yard Pick Six, and made 7 tackles for good measure.

Johnson now has 387 yards rushing in two games.

*Tyson Gordon, Grant Deising, Gunner Ott -Omaha Skutt Catholic - Gordon staged a classic head to head quarterback battle with Roncalli’s Jake Dotzler last Friday and lifted the SkyHawks to a 42-34 win over a good Crimson Pride team. Wish I could have witnessed that baby.

All-Stater Tyson Gordon was simply pure gold in the win, completing 9 of 17 passes for 122 yards with scoring strikes to Max Brinker (10 yards) and Drew Rase (8 yards). The amazing senior also rushed 15 times for 132 yards with a 17 yard TD scamper. Tyson also picked off a Jack Dotzler aerial on defense to go with his 5 tackles. Gordon also was a perfect 6 for 6 on PAT kicks. Ho him, just another normal outing for the man.

Grant Deising, who helps fill the shoes of the great, now graduated Jerod Epperson, led all rushers with 151 yards on 19 carries and a touchdown (2 yards). Gunner Ott, (6-0, 200, Sr.) added 58 yards on 9 totes, plus scoring runs of 22 and 2 yards.

You know what? I like this Gunner Ott kid. He made 5 solo stops in the Roncalli game and a week ago against Bennington, the dude ran for 78 yards on 11 carries and a TD, caught 2 passes for 20 yards and had 8 tackles on defense. Skutt just is loaded with players like Ott year in and year out.

*Jack Dotzler-Omaha Roncalli - May as well tell the other side of the Gordon/Dotzler battle story. In that heartbreaking 42-34 loss to Skutt, the closest Roncalli has come to the SkyHawks in sixteen years, the amazing Jack Dotzler completed 20 of 34 passes for 294 yards and a pair of 16 yard scoring tosses to Shane Orr. The magical senior QB also rushed the football 10 times for 51 yards and two touchdowns (1, 15 yards).

In just two games, Dotzler has thrown for an unofficial 455 yards and 4 TDs.

*Lincoln East Defensive Line - Here we go again with these men. Jett Janssen (6-5, 250, Joey Adkisson (6-2, 235), Trevor Jeffrey (6-0, 340) and Jacob Rien (6-1, 205), were mainly responsible for limiting Lincoln North Star to a minus 31 yards rushing (15 tackles for losses) in the Spartans 41-7 win.

This isn’t the first time this bunch has pulled this deal off. They were pretty solid a week ago in Lincoln East’s 23-0 win over Lincoln Pius X.

*Ethan Valencia, Tristan Gomes, Kade Odermann, Nasser Nabusi-Millard West -Valencia and Gomes came up big in the ground game, Odermann quickly answered an opening Papio touchdown, and kicker Nasser Nabusi was good as gold in the Wildcats 24-7 win over defending Class A champion Omaha Burke.

Ethan Valencia gained 105 yards on just 10 carries, QB Tristan Gomes was not far behind with 86 yards on 23 tries and a 1 yard TD run. After Papillion LV drew first blood in the game taking a 7-0 lead, Kade Odermann came up with an immediate answer, promptly returning the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown. Place kicker Nasser Nabusi was a perfect 3 for 3 on PAT attempts and booted a 36 yard field goal, which gave Millard West a 10-7 lead at the time.

Don’t forget, Valencia rushed for 157 yards a week ago against Millard North and Gomes had a buck 10 rushing and four TDs in the same game.

This is a good football team folks, but the ‘Cats don not have an easy schedule going forward, facing Omaha North and Millard South the next two weeks, then Omaha Bryan, then right back in the frying pan with games against GI, Kearney and Lincoln East.

*Trev Luben, Thomas Waido, Luke Partridge, Kole Bordovsky-Wahoo - Warriors ran through a 70-7 tuneup win over Nebraska City last week in preparation for the big home meeting with Aurora coming up this Friday.

All-State RB Trev Luben ran 12 times for 114 yards and 3 TDs (18, 4, 51 yards) and returned a kick-off 82 yards for another score. QB Thomas Waido was one completion shy of perfection, connecting on 10 of 11 throws for 105 yards and scoring strikes to Luke Partridge (29 yards/1:10 left 1st Qtr.) and Peyten Walling (30 yarder/5:31 2nd Qtr.). Jesus Zaragoza was perfect, connecting on 9 of 9 PAT kicks. He also averaged 56 yards a boot on 9 kick-offs for unbeaten Wahoo.

On defense, Kole Bordovsky led Wahoo with 11 tackles, Grant Kolterman was next with 10 (7 solo crunches), Kyan Lausterer and Grant Kolterman each caused a fumble, while Trent Hollowell and Gunnar Vanek each recovered one of those caused fumbles.

*Jack Cooper, Connor Richmond-Fremont - Quarterback/wide receiver combination hooked up for three touchdowns as Fremont handed Omaha Benson it’s 19th straight loss, 46-14 last Friday. Cooper, the Tigers 5-10, 160 pound junior quarterback was red hot, hitting 12 of 17 passes for 213 yards and 4 TDs.

The new Fremont signal caller must be getting the hang of it because he threw for 137 yards and a score on opening night in a 21-0 win over Lincoln NE.

Cooper’s junior classmate Connor Richmond (5-10, 150) caught scoring strikes covering 34, 29 and 24 yards against Benson and racking up 92 receiving yards on just 4 grabs.

*Hunter Haughton, Isaac Gleason-Fullerton - 5-9, 155 pound junior QB Hunter Haughton was deadly throwing the football in the Warriors 34-16 over Osceola/High Plains last Friday. Hunter, the son of Fullerton super coach Ryan Haughton, was bullseye on 15 of his 20 pass attempts, good for 248 yards and three Warrior touchdowns. Big 6-3, 210 pound tight end Isaac Gleason caught a pair of Hunter’s TD passes and also returned a blocked punt for a touchdown. Cole Horacek latched on to Haughton’s 3rd aerial scoring strike.

Haughton has already thrown for 620 yards and 7 TDs for the 2-0 Warriors this season.

*Serbando Diaz, Quade Myers, Reice Haines-Dundy County/Stratton - All kinds of Tiger offensive stats in Dundy County/Stratton’s 80-34 win over Perkins County. Diaz, who ran for 1,938 yards and 28 TDs a year ago, carried only 8 times (70 yards) in the contest, but scored 4 rushing touchdowns (39, 5, 6, 8 yard runs) and caught a 63 yard TD pass from Myers.

QB Quade Myers, only the 7th freshman in history to rush for over a 1000 yards (last season) ran 7 times for 59 yards, reached the end zone on a 9 yard run, went 2-4 passing for two TDs (63 to Diaz, 14 yards to freshman Corbin Horner), and returned a Perkins County fumble 71 yards for yet another score.

Also really great to see senior Reice Haines, who missed half a dozen games a year ago with an injury, block a punt and return it 40 yards for a score.

All-State candidate Dominic Sis and Lane Shillington led the Tiger defense with 10 tackles each. Shillington also had an interception in the game.

*Russ Martinez-Grand Island Central Catholic - Ran for 160 yards and five touchdowns in the Crusaders 60-26 win at Superior. Coach Tim Dvorak thought perhaps the Crusaders would not have a thousand yard rusher this season due to the offense he was running, which distributes the ball to several different players. Looks like Russ Martinez may have different ideas about the situation, but I’ll venture a guess Coach Dvorak isn’t complaining too much about Mr. Martinez rushing stats thus far.

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……...Next up, Part Three of Friday Night Lights Football Heroes