Friday Night Stars: Week 7’s top performances in Nebraska high school football

By Nathan Charles

Most Nebraska high school teams played in temperatures below 50 degrees for the first time Friday. Predictably, many of those programs turned to the running game.

Featured on this list are nine running backs who rushed for more than 200 yards, including one that piled up 330. Under center, one quarterback tossed six touchdowns. On the other side of the ball, a defensive end ran back an interception for a touchdown and recovered a fumble moments later.

Payton Prestito, Papillion-La Vista Running Back

Prestito racked up his fourth 100-yard performance of the season and had a career-high 192 rushing yards during a 39-14 win over Omaha Central. Prestito averaged 7.4 yards per carry and found the end zone twice. His previous best was 178 yards last year in a win over Southwest. 

Zane Flores, Gretna Quarterback

Flores’ abilities as a passer are well known, and he was good again in the pocket Thursday with two passing touchdowns in a win over Papillion-La Vista South. But there’s also so much more to the Oklahoma State commit than his arm. Papio South found that out the hard way when he also added three rushing touchdowns including one from 34 yards out and each of the first three touchdowns of the game.

Korver Demma, Gretna Defensive End

Demma had a defensive end’s dream in Thursday’s win over Papio South. Demma was in the right place, right time for a deflected pass that he grabbed out of the air for a pick-six that immediately changed momentum. Gretna built a 27-6 lead but was on its heels with Papio South driving and threatening a tie. Demma made his play to thwart those Titan hopes. He also stopped the next Papio South drive on a fumble recovery.

Dash Bauman, Lincoln East Running Back/Linebacker

Bauman scored on both sides of the ball during Thursday’s crucial win over Lincoln High. Offensively, he carried the rock 21 times for 123 yards and two touchdowns. Defensively, he picked off a pass and recovered a fumble. It was his first game of the season with more than 200 rushing yards and the first of his career as well.

Jake Garcia, Omaha Gross Running Back

Garcia has had at least 128 rushing yards in each game this season but was back above 200 on Friday in a win over Norris when he toted it 18 times for 215 yards. He found the end zone three times and averaged nearly 12 yards per carry. Garcia is 28 yards from 1,000 for the year and has scored 10 touchdowns.

Kyle Peterson, Raymond Central Running Back

Peterson was the bell cow for a Raymond Central offense that churned up 290 rushing yards and averaged 8.1 per carry. The junior had 276 of that total on 24 carries, had a long of 76 and found the end zone twice. Peterson rushed for more than 100 yards for the first time in his career last week then nearly doubled his total in Friday’s 33-30 win over Nebraska City.

Bryce Knapp, St. Paul Running Back

Knapp had one of the greatest games in his school’s history on Friday when he averaged 16.5 yards per carry on 20 rushes. When you do the math that works out to 330 yards. Without looking at all the numbers, one could still confidently say 95% of Nebraska high school teams didn’t have that many rushing yards on Friday night.

Owen Hancock, Wahoo Quarterback

Hancock almost singlehandedly brought his team back from a 10-3 third-quarter deficit. He threw two touchdown passes and put up 166 yards on 16 of 20 throwing, rushed seven times for 41 yards and a score and made a crucial interception in Scotus territory that led to a Wahoo doubling its lead early in the fourth quarter. Wahoo reinserted itself into the district title conversation with a 31-10 win.

Carlos Collazo, Aurora Running Back

Collazo inched closer to 2,000 rushing yards for the season when he picked up 190 yards on 15 carries in a win over Adams Central. He didn’t play much in the second half, like many games this season, but was efficient with his opportunities, finding the end zone three times. He has two games left to eclipse 2,000 and looks like an easy bet to do so.

Keenan Valverde, Pierce Running Back

Valverde is no longer a secret to C-1 defenses. Quarterback Abe Scholting and tight end Ben Brahmer have been the face of the program for the past two seasons. Now there’s even more to prepare for in Valverde. During Friday’s 56-5 win over Adams Central he posted his third 200-yard game of the season with 221 rushing yards on 23 carries with three touchdowns.

Alex Phelps, Wayne Wide Receiver

Phelps scored touchdowns on half of his catches, finding the end zone three times while also putting up 116 yards and an average of 19.3 yards-per-catch. It was his second 100-yard receiving performance of the season and second with multiple touchdowns. Wayne needed every one of his catches during a 27-25 win over West Point-Beemer.

Jared Kuhl, Platteview Quarterback

Kuhl completed 64% of his passes for 233 yards and three touchdowns in a 35-0 win over Omaha Concordia. His yardage total was just two away from his career-high and the third time this season he’s thrown for three or more touchdowns. Kuhl has 15 touchdown passes to just one interception this season.

Trent McCain, Ord Running Back

McCain is starting to become a regular on this list thanks to back-to-back 200-yard rushing performances and five in a row with more than 100. Friday in a 41-21 win over Kearney Catholic he had his second-highest total of the season with 218 yards and two touchdowns. His big night put him over 1,000 yards for the season.

Braylon Anderson, Oakland-Craig Quarterback

Anderson passed for a career-high 329 yards in Friday’s 61-6 win over Tekamah-Herman. He had never thrown for more than 200 yards when he went 17 for 20 and tossed five touchdowns. Anderson connected with eight different receivers and had touchdown passes to five different teammates.

Hayden Frank, Malcolm Quarterback

Frank was a potent 18 for 180 yards rushing in a 51-34 win over Lincoln Lutheran – an average of 10.5 per carry. He had a long of 43 and crossed the goal line four times. His rushing total was one more than his career best. Oh, and he also completed 50% of his passes for 180 yards and two more touchdowns.

Zach Krajicek, Yutan Running Back

Krajicek made his way onto last week’s list thanks to 203 rushing yards. He was held under 200 this week, but only because his team jumped out to a huge early lead. He turned nine carries into 153 yards and four touchdowns – an average of 17 yards per carry. Krajicek also added seven tackles on defense.

Grayson Koller, Arapahoe Running Back

Koller was gold in just his third game of the season for Arapahoe during a 69-42 eight-man win over Southern Valley. He was eight yards away from 200 with 25 carries, an average of 7.7 per touch and five trips to the end zone. Koller’s previous best total was just 20 yards in a game last season.

Drew Erhart, Palymra Quarterback

Palmyra ran 68 plays in Friday’s 58-42 eight-man win over Southern and Erhart handled the ball on 36 of those snaps – passing for 370 yards while adding another 78 on the ground. Through the air, he completed 26 of 34 throws, found seven different receivers and passed for five touchdowns. On the ground, he carried it 10 times and added a rushing touchdown.

Trevor Thomson, Summerland Running Back

Thomson went over 1,000 rushing yards for the third time in his career when he rushed for 243 yards and four touchdowns during a 61-24 eight-man win over Plainview. He carried it 22 times, averaged 11 per touch and went over 200 yards for the first time this season but the seventh time in his career.

Cade Hosier, Elmwood-Murdock Running Back

Hosier notched his second straight season with more than 1,000 yards rushing when he piled up 268 yards on 30 carries with four touchdowns in a 52-40 eight-man win over Weeping Water. It was Hosier’s highest workload of the season and gave him 1,129 yards in six games with 20 touchdowns.

Dylan Heine, Wynot Quarterback

Heine put together a career night during a 41-6 eight-man win over Osmond. The Blue Devils' junior signal caller completed 22 of his 30 throws for 259 yards and six touchdowns – the most touchdown throws he’s ever had in a single game. He connected with eight different teammates as Wynot improved to 6-1.

Sage Frauendorfer, Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family

Frauendorfer looked like he caught lightning in a bottle for a week when he rushed for 222 yards on Sept. 9. But following Friday’s 56-50 eight-man win over East Butler, Frauendorfer showed proved that was more than a one-night dream come true. Against East Butler, he carried it 23 times for a career-high 268 yards and four touchdowns. He averaged 11.7 per carry and also caught three passes. Defensively he had seven tackles including a sack.