Football · State semifinals · All classes · Top performers

Six-touchdown nights, a scoop-and-score and a 222-yard career high: the semifinal stars who punched tickets to Lincoln and Kearney

Sixteen semifinals, eight title-game berths, and the eight players who did the most damage.

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Friday's state semifinals produced a St. Pat's star who scored three different ways and threw a touchdown, a quarterback who threw five, and a Crofton senior who scored on a catch, a run and a fumble return in a 78-51 shootout at the No. 1 seed.

Here's the top eight. Numbers are as reported during the games; full box scores were not out yet.

The big three

North Platte St. Patrick's · Class D2

Ben Heirigs

20 carries, 222 rushing yards (a career high), 3 rushing TDs. Plus a 3-yard TD catch, a 65-yard kickoff-return TD and a 51-yard TD pass.

Laurel-Concord-Coleridge had no answer for him in the first half. Heirigs had 162 rushing yards by the end of the first quarter, and the Irish led 56-20 at halftime on the way to a 70-20 win.

He scored running, catching and returning a kick, then threw one for good measure. Unbeaten St. Pat's (12-0) is in its first state final since 2004.

Gretna East · Class B

Chase Grow

5 TD passes and a 3-yard TD run in a 48-21 win over Blair.

Three of those throws went to Quinn Bera. The one that flipped the night went to Carver Fritchen: a 16-yarder with 12 seconds left in the half that put Gretna East ahead 21-14 for good.

When Blair pulled within 28-21 in the third, Grow answered with a 78-yard strike to Bera. Gretna East is back in the Class B final for the second straight year.

Crofton · Class D1

Tyson Jackson

5 TDs: a 65-yard catch, an 11-yard run, a 56-yard scoop-and-score, a 10-yard run (plus the 2-point conversion) and one more in the fourth quarter, in a 78-51 win at No. 1 Johnson-Brock.

He scored on Crofton's first play from scrimmage, a 65-yard catch.

Then came the 30 seconds that broke the game. Jackson powered in from 11 yards to make it 42-30, and on the last snap of the half he scooped up a strip-sack fumble and ran it 56 yards. A 34-30 game was 48-30 at the break. He wasn't done: his fifth score, with 7:10 left, made it 70-38.

Crofton heads back to the D1 final for the second straight year.

The rest of the top eight

Millard South · Class A

Trae Taylor

Four-plus TDs in a 45-28 win over Millard North: 3 rushing TDs and at least 1 TD pass.

Taylor punched in two 1-yard runs in the first quarter. After a Millard North fumble in the fourth, he hit Carter Margheim for a 16-yard TD to make it 31-21.

His last score was the gutsiest: a 4-yard run on 4th-and-1 with 5:11 left that made it 38-28. Millard South gets Omaha Westside in the Class A final.

Omaha Skutt Catholic · Class B

Hudson Friesen

A 70-plus-yard TD on a direct snap, a TD catch for 20-3 and a late interception in a 20-17 win at No. 1 Gretna.

The No. 5 seed went on the road and knocked off the top seed, and Friesen was in the middle of all of it. He took a direct snap 70-plus yards for a score, caught a TD late in the third for a 20-3 lead, then picked off a pass at 7:13 of the fourth as Gretna came back.

Gretna East · Class B

Quinn Bera

3 TD catches of 12, 78 and 13 yards in a 48-21 win over Blair.

The 78-yarder came 72 seconds after Blair had pulled within 28-21. Blair never got that close again.

Adams Central · Class C1

Wilson Huyser

An 8-yard TD catch and a 60-yard TD run that broke a 15-15 tie with 7:31 left, in a 21-15 win at Syracuse.

Adams Central was down 12-0. Huyser's catch got the Patriots on the board, and his 60-yard run won it.

The No. 9 seed has now won three straight road playoff games and plays Boys Town for the C1 title.

Diller-Odell · Class D6

Peyton Humphreys

5 TDs in a 59-42 win over Leyton, including a 51-yard TD on Diller-Odell's first snap.

Leyton scored first. Humphreys answered on his team's very first snap and kept answering in a Class D6 shootout that sends Diller-Odell to its first state final.

Also starred

  • Landry Larsen, Blair: scored all three Blair TDs.
  • Preston Foxhoven, Crofton: threw the 65-yarder to Jackson and ran for two more.
  • Shawn Lewis, Boys Town: turned 4th-and-10 into a 22-yard TD catch.
  • Janard Murphy, Boys Town: a 68-yard TD run for the 20-10 margin.
  • Jackson Gangwish, GICC: his 46-yard TD sealed the win over Yutan.
  • Easton Hochstein, Cedar Catholic: ran for both Cedar TDs.
  • Kam Sealey, Sandy Creek: two TD runs in a 52-16 rout of Stanton.
  • Shoemaker, Central Valley: 213 yards and 3 TDs by early in the fourth.

Title games

All times Central. Every score and every game: the all-classes semifinal recap · State finals

Sources

Stats are as reported during the games by trusted reporters and school accounts. Full box scores were not available at publication. Update from @Huskeradiosport, @stuOWH, @Austin2Jacobsen, @astem00, @SkuttFB, @LjsLuke, @RandySpeer_FT @Chris_Basnett79, @_SpencerThomas, @NCNSports, @njbenes and @markyz99. Humphreys' touchdown total per the Beatrice Daily Sun. Names checked against MaxPreps rosters. Title-game times from the NSAA bracket.

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