Vote: Who should be SBLive’s Nebraska high school athlete of the week (11/13/2023)?

Here are the candidates for SBLive’s Nebraska high school athlete of the week for Nov. 6-12. Read through the nominees and cast your vote. Voting will conclude Sunday at 11:59 p.m. If you would like to make a nomination in a future week, email athleteoftheweek@scorebooklive.com. 

Editor’s Note: Our Athlete of the Week feature and corresponding poll are intended to be fun, and we do not set limits on how many times a fan can vote during the competition. However, we do not allow votes that are generated by script, macro or other automated means. Athletes who receive votes generated by script, macro or other automated means will be disqualified.

Due to the end of all other sports seasons, and with only 13 games on the schedule, all the nominees are football players and some are from the same school.

Quinton Archer – Bennington Football

Archer has mostly had to watch as a backup each of the past two years as Bennington blitzed its way to unbeaten championship seasons. That’s not the case this fall for a senior who has 1,686 yards rushing, averages over six yards per carry and has scored 18 touchdowns. In the quarterfinals and Friday’s semifinal win, Archer was the focus of the gameplan. He delivered with back-to-back 200-yard games, totaling a career-high 240 with three touchdowns a week after he had 232 and two trips to the end zone.

Parker Borer – Boone Central Football

Borer had another big night and Boone Central is on to the Class C-1 state championship for the fifth time since 2001. The senior simply couldn’t be stopped in what became his most successful game running the ball for a powerful Cardinal offense. Borer rushed 24 times for 208 yards, averaged nearly nine yards per carry and scored two of three Boone Central touchdowns. He also caught three passes for 17 yards and now has over 2,000 yards of offense on the season.

Brady Bousquet – Elkhorn South Football

Bousquet has had bigger games in his career but regardless of his statistics, it was the stage of Friday’s semifinal win over Elkhorn South that makes this one likely his best. The Storm senior carried the offense with 115 yards on 27 carries and a touchdown. It was the second game in a row and the 10th game out of 12 in which he’s had more than 100 yards rushing. Bousquet will take 1,222 rush yards, an average of 7.0 yards per carry and 20 touchdowns to Memorial Stadium where he and Elkhorn South look to take down another unbeaten opponent.

Kyle Cox – Sandhills/Thedford

A dual-threat superstar who’s just passing yards away from 1,000 yards both through the air and on the ground, Cox displayed that skill set proficiently in Friday’s eight-man semifinal win over South Loup. Cox had just 87 yards passing but that was due mainly to his success on the ground. He called his own number 41 times, racked up 182 yards rushing and scored three touchdowns. Cox has had more than 100 yards rushing and at least two touchdowns in every game this season. Overall, he has 2,414 rush yards and 970 pass yards.

Dylan Heine – Wynot Football

Wynot’s quarterback has been the Blue Devils’ superstar since his sophomore season. But while he’s rewritten the record book, what took place Friday night in an eight-man playoff win over Howells-Dodge far surpasses anything he’s achieved to this point. In just the third semifinal game in school history, Heine led Wynot to its first win with 158 passing yards and a touchdown and another touchdown on the ground. Maybe even more impressively, he made a game-high 17 tackles and intercepted a pass. Heine also punted four times and averaged 42 yards per kick.

Dylan Hurlburt – Ord Football

Hurlburt was an excellent two-way contributor for Ord during its Class C-2 semifinal win over Yutan. As a quarterback, he passed for 108 and two touchdowns while completing a pass to four different receivers. As a strong safety, he made 11 tackles and recovered a fumble. It was the third time this season he has produced over 100 yards of offense and finished with double-digit tackles. On the season, Hurlburt has 1,493 passing yards and 18 touchdowns to go with 1,050 rushing yards, two more scores, 98 tackles, 10 TFLs and two fumble recoveries.

Amarion Jackson – Millard South Football

It was a surprising end to a magical season but Jackson did all he could for Millard South in Friday’s semifinal loss to Elkhorn South. For the second week in a row and the fifth time this season, Jackson had more than 100 yards receiving that included nine catches and a touchdown. His yardage total and total receptions were both career-highs. He’s had seven games this season with five or more catches and closes the year with 1,086 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns.

Maddox Jones – Sumner-Eddyville-Miller Football

Jones ran wild in Friday’s six-man semifinals and sent the Mustangs to the second state championship game in school history. The junior running back put together career highs in carries, yards and touchdowns when he went for 285 on 30 attempts and scored five times. He ripped off a long of 56 yards and had his sixth game in a row of 100 or more yards. Jones went past 1,500 yards for the season, is averaging 7.5 yards per carry and has found the end zone 27 times. He also had 10 tackles for the second straight game and made two of those behind the line of scrimmage.

Hunter Luther – Howells-Dodge Football

Luther’s big season rolled into Friday night’s Class D-2 semifinal against Wynot. The sophomore took 43 handoffs and churned up 192 yards and a touchdown. Luther was also called on to make contributions in the pass game and helped advance the Jaguar offense with 72 passing yards and a touchdown. Although it wasn’t enough to get past Howells-Dodge, Luther looks like the man for the future of the program. He ended his first season as the main offensive weapon with 1,827 rushing yards, 6.8 yards per carry and 27 touchdowns.

Trent McCain – Ord Football

McCain watched from the sidelines as a freshman when Ord won its first football state championship. Three years and over 3,000 yards later, McCain will have a hand in the outcome this time when the Chanticleers return to Memorial Stadium. The Ord senior rushed for 173 yards, broke off a run of 50 and scored twice in Friday’s Class C-2 semifinal win over Yutan. It was the sixth straight game McCain had over 100 yards rushing, his ninth of the year and increased his season total to 1,495 yards to go with 18 touchdowns.

Rhett McFadden – Sandhills/Thedford Football

No player on the Knights’ roster may have been more important to the Sandhills/Thedford eight-man semifinal win over South Loup than McFadden. The senior made 22 total tackles, 16 of those on his own, and led a defensive effort that kept South Loup under 20 points. McFadden has nine games this fall with double-digit tackles and is averaging 14 tackles per game to go with 11 tackles for loss. And as impressive as his total was, McFadden had a game against Anselmo-Merna earlier this year with 30 tackles. He is second in Nebraska with 170 total tackles.

Gage Mintken – Hay Springs Football

Mintken is no stranger to big games. He had five games with more than 100 rushing yards and two with more than 200 before he stepped on the field for Friday’s six-man semifinals. Mintken then set a new standard for himself and every Hay Springs back that comes after him. He turned 27 carries into 320 yards, six touchdowns, had a long of 52 and averaged 11.9 yards per carry. Mintken went over 1,000 yards for the second season in a row and went past 3,000 career rushing yards.

Becker Pohlman – Stanton Football

Almost everything Pohlman touched turned to gold in Friday’s eight-man semifinal win. The junior carried it 16 times and scored touchdowns on nearly a third of those carries while just missing the century mark at 96 total yards. Pohlman scored five touchdowns – a new career-high – caught a pass for 21 yards and had 16 tackles. Pohlman has had multiple touchdowns in 10 of 12 games this fall and has collected 10 or more tackles seven times.

Teddy Rezac – Westside Football

Rezac is being recruited by Notre Dame as an athlete with the potential to play many positions at the next level. Tight end might be the most well-known to Nebraska high school football fans, but Friday against Millard West he reminded everyone of what he can do on defense as well. Rezac made a game-high 14 tackles in the Class A semifinal win, had two for loss and broke up a pass. The performance amounted to the most tackles this season and the most in his career. Rezac increased his total to 57 stops in 12 games and rushed once for 24 yards.

Gaige Ritner – Wilcox/Hildreth Football

Ritner closed an illustrious varsity career on Friday with the 17th game of his career that had double-digit tackles. In his first varsity game three years ago, Ritner announced his presence with 18 tackles and closed his freshman year with 51 total, five for loss, an interception and a fumble recovery. Since then he has amassed 278 total tackles, 20 for loss, three sacks, three interceptions and three fumble recoveries. In his final game during the semifinal loss, Ritner had 14 tackles – the third straight game this season he had more than 10 and the sixth time in eight games.

Jahmez Ross – Westside Football

Just when opponents thought preparing for Anthony and Teddy Rezac, Caleb Benning and Kenya Cotton was hard enough, here comes Ross with a late-season surge that has made the Warriors essentially unbeatable. The senior went over 100 yards rushing for the seventh time this season in Friday’s semifinal win over Millard West and scored three touchdowns. He was four yards short of 100 last week or otherwise would have more than 100 yards rushing in every playoff game. Ross was already having a good year but came into the postseason with 143 total rushing yards in the final two games on the schedule. He has since exploded for 396 yards and seven touchdowns in the last three games.

Breckan Schluter – Exeter-Milligan/Friend Football

Schulter has been a workhorse for the EMF offense this fall but Friday’s win over Crofton was a whole new level for the senior running back. In the sixth year since Friend combined with Exeter-Milligan, the combined programs are headed to a state championship for the first time thanks to Schulter’s 43 carries and 348 yards. He had a long of 55 yards and scored six times. The performance follows one in the quarterfinals in which he had 36 carries for 279 and five touchdowns. His carries and yardage total against Crofton were both new career highs.

Ethan Shaw – Sandy Creek Football

Shaw has been a hero for the Cougars all season long and that was no different in Friday’s semifinal game against Stanton. Although he and Sandy Creek came up short of playing for the state title for the first time in school history, Shaw closed the year with another masterful performance as a dual-threat quarterback. The junior rushed 33 times for 230 yards and two touchdowns while also passing for 56 yards and connecting for touchdowns on three of his four completions. Shaw finishes the year with 1,922 total yards of offense and 60 touchdowns.

Chris Thiessen – Elkhorn North Football

Thiessen and the Wolves saw a historic season come to an end one game short of playing at Memorial Stadium. But while Elkhorn North suffered a season-ending semifinal loss on Friday, Thiessen continued to be a stalwart on defense and collected 13 tackles, one for loss. It was the second straight game in which the senior middle linebacker had double-digit stops following a career-high 18 in the quarterfinal win over Scottsbluff. Thiessen ends his senior year with 79 total tackles, three TFLs, a sack and an interception.

Barrett Wilke – Stanton Football

In a matchup of dual-threat quarterbacks, it was Wilke who made the biggest impact for his team during Friday’s Stanton vs. Sandy Creek eight-man semifinal game. The junior was just 3 of 10 passing but connected with a receiver on one of those completions for a touchdown. Where he was most effective was on the ground where Wilke carried it 24 times for 254 yards and a touchdown. Wilke has gone over 100 yards rushing in every game this season but one and has a total of 1,890, an average of 11.4 yards per carry and has scored 30 touchdowns. He and the Mustangs are in the championship game for the second time in school history.