Nebraska
A History of Nebraska 8-Man Football – 2000 Class D-1/D-2 Playoffs, All-State Teams and Final Ratings.
*119 Nebraska High School Football Teams played 8-Man football again in 2000 and here is what the D-1 playoff field looked like at the turn of the Century.
For the first time in FIVE seasons, the playoff fields in all classes, Class B and below, shrunk from 32 to 16 teams. Yours truly, along with a ton of 8-Man football coaches, were not thrilled with this move and thank goodness the 16 team playoff fields in 8-Man football lasted just two years.
I have a ton of love and respect for high school football coaches,so let’s begin a new feature by adding who the head coaches were for all of these Class D1 playoff qualifiers in the year 2000. We’ll do the same for Class D2.
*Nebraska Christian (Jeff Hower), St. Edward (Rich Lemburg), Falls City Sacred Heart (Doug Goltz), Omaha Christian Academy (Tim Hamilton), Humphrey St. Francis (Tom Ridder), Sterling (Arlo Wusk), Howells (Mike Speirs), Cedar Bluffs (Mitch Egger) Pleasanton (Ricci Westland, Anselmo-Merna (Greg Wemhoff)), Kenesaw (Leland Skeen), High Plains Community (Andy Vrbka), Lawrence-Nelson (Gary DeBoer), Culbertson (Jeff Messersmith), Orchard (Don Sich), Hyannis (Lucas Lechman).*
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CLASS D1
First Round
East
(7-2) Nebraska Christian 23-20 St. Edward (7-2)
(9-0) Falls City Sacred Heart 38-14 Omaha Christian Academy (7-2)
(8-1) Humphrey St. Francis 41-16 Sterling (9-0)
(9-0) Howells 40-28 Cedar Bluffs (7-2)
West
(7-2) Pleasanton 34-20 Anselmo-Merna (8-1)
(8-1) Kenesaw 36-14 High Plains Community (8-0)
(8-1) Lawrence-Nelson 41-20 Culbertson (9-0)
(7-2) Orchard 52-2 Hyannis (9-0)
Quarterfinals
East
(10-0) Falls City Sacred Heart 68-20 Nebraska Christian (8-2)
(10-0) Howells 14-0 Humphrey St. Franics (9-1)
West
(9-1) Kenesaw 14-12 Pleasanton (8-2)
(9-1) Lawrence-Nelson 38-12 Orchard (8-2)
Semifinals
(11-0) Howells 42- Falls City Sacred Heart (11-0)
(10-1) Lawrence-Nelson 26-14 Kenesaw (9-1)
Championship Finals
(12-0) Howells 38-14 Lawrence-Nelson (11-1)
2000 Class D-1 State Champion; Howells. Head Coach: Mike Speirs
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Final 2000 Class D-1 8-Man Football Ratings (Omaha World-Herald)
1 Howells – 13-0, (568-197)
2 Humphrey St. Francis – 9-2, (438-176)
3. Lawrence-Nelson – 11-2, (5144-191)
4. Falls City Sacred Heart – 11-1, (568-178)
5. Kenesaw – 10-2, (448-144)
6. Cedar Bluffs – 7-3, (430-198)
7. Sterling – 9-1, (460-105)
8. Pleasanton – 8-3, (280-171)
9. Polk-Hordville – 8-1, (382-190)
10 Culbertson – 9-1, (473-143)
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2000 Class D-1 (Eight Man 1) All-State Teams
Offense
WR–Jeremy Hoefs-Bancroft-Rosalie, 6-1, 180, Senior
WR–Scotty McPeak-Nebraska Christian, 6-1, 165, Senior
OL–Jeremy Cordero-Omaha Christian, 6-0, 300, Junior
OL–Andy Wemhoff-Humphrey St. Francis, 5-11, 205, Senior
OL–Jerron Suck-Kenesaw, 6-4, 210, Senior
QB–Andrew Shanle-St. Edward, 6-1, 175, Senior
RB–Alan Bohaboj-Howells, 5-7, 148, Senior
RB–Brandon Hagen-Culbertson, 6-3, 240, Senior
Kicker-Brandon Bonk-Falls City Sacred Heart, 5-11, 230, Senior
Class D-1 All-State
Defense
DL–Brad Metz-Pleasanton, 6-1, 185, Senior
DL–Adam Eickman-Lawrence-Nelson, 5-6, 150, Senior
DL–Ted Straub-Waterloo, 6-1, 230, Senior
LB–Anthony Weaver-Falls City Sacred Heart, 6-1, 215, Junior
LB–Matt Mastny-Howells, 6-0, 182, Senior
LB–Ben Hansen-Cedar Bluffs, 6-0, 190, Junior
DB–Jake Weyers-Sterling, 5-10, 165, Senior
DB–Mitch Blum-Howells, 6-0, 175, Senior
Punter-Joel Grotrian-Johnson-Brock, 6-2, 185, Senior
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AND, here is a glance at the 2000 Class D-2 playoffs.
Once again, here is a list of the D2 playoff field with their Head Coaches.
Lindsay Holy Family (Rusty Rautenberg), Prague (Gary Brown), Coleridge (Ken Swanson), Benedict (Lynn Jurgens), Nebraska City Lourdes (Andy Fedoris), Shickley (Gary Filipi), Greeley (Dennis Hurlburt), Silver Creek (Scott Porter)
Sargent (Mike Kozeal), Elgin Pope John (Mark Koch), Hayes Center (Jim Cole), Ansley (Mike Sorenson), Dunning Sandhills (Reggie Smith), Ewing (Jim Crilly), Dalton Leyton (Harlan Dormann), Petersburg (Mike Kennedy)
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CLASS D2
First Round
East
(8-1) Lindsay Holy Family 53-6 Prague (5-4)
(6-3) Coleridge 54-8 Benedict (6-3)
(8-1) Nebraska City Lourdes 26-0 Shickley (8-1)
(9-0) Greeley 40-0 Silver Creek (5-3)
West
(9-0) Sargent 20-14 Elgin Pope John (8-1)
(5-3) Hayes Center 28-24 Ansley (8-1)
(8-1) Dunning Sandhills 54-22 Ewing (8-1)_
(9-0) Dalton Leyton 50-0 Petersburg (7-2)
Quarterfinals
East
(9-1) Lindsay Holy Family 46-0 Coleridge (7-3)
(10-0) Greeley 12-8 Nebraska City Lourdes (9-1)
West
(10-0) Sargent 36-24 Hayes Center (6-3)
(9-1) Dunning Sandhills 30-24 Dalton Leyton (10-0)
Semifinals
(10-1) Lindsay Holy Family 36-12 Greeley (11-0)
(11-0) Sargent 34-20 Dunning Sandhills (10-1)
Championship Final
(11-1) Lindsay Holy Family 28-24 Sargent (12-0)
2000 D-2 State Champion: Lindsay Holy Family. Coach: Rusty Rautenberg
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Final 2000 Class D-2 8-Man Football Ratings (Omaha World-Herald)
1. Lindsay Holy Family – 12-1 (510-159)
2. Sargent- 12-1 (465-166)
3. Greeley – 11-1 (510-87)
4. Dunning Sandhills – 10-2 (532-155)
5. Dalton Leyton – 10-1 (634-177)
6. Nebraska City Lourdes – 8-3 (362-144)
7. Elgin Pope John – 8-2 (346-150)
8. Ewing – 8-2 (362-200)
9. Shickley – 8-2 (392-132)
10 Hayes Center – 6-4 (333-263)
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2000 Class D-2 (Eight Man 2) All-State Teams
Offense
End-Levi Gray-Harrison, 6-4, 175, Senior
End-Jason Herbert-Verdigre, 5-10, 150, Senior
OL–Tony Kurtenbach-Lindsay Holy Family, 6-1, 225, Senior
OL–Wyatt Johnston-Dunning-Sandhills, 5-11, 225, Senior
OL–Matt Mitchell-Dalton Leyton, 5-9, 235, Senior
QB–Brandon Holtorf-Prague, 5-10, 165, Senior
RB–Jared Franzluebbers, Dodge, 6-0, 205, Senior
RB–Carl Jarecki-Lindsay Holy Family, 5-9, 175, Senior
Kicker-Brad Schlegel-Shickley, 5-10, 200, Senior
Class D-2 All-State
Defense
DL–Mike Smith-Sargent, 6-4, 205, Senior
DL–Kory White-Nebraska City Lourdes, 6-1, 205, Senior
LB–Mat Korth-Greeley, 5-9, 175, Senior
LB–Tyson Cox-Dunning-Sandhills, 6-0, 160, Senior
LB–Matt Woodward-North Loup/Scotia, 6-0, 185, Senior
LB–Reggie Twarling-Dalton Leyton, 6-2, 190, Junior
DB–Tim Wiese-Lindsay Holy Family, 5-10, 175, Senior
DB–Brian Selting-Elgin Pope John, 6-1, 180, Junior
Punter-Adam Schueth-Ewing, 5-10, 185, Senior
Emma Bullerman is spending her summer riding around in fields with her dad, and she’s thrilled about it. It’s not just for fun, either — she’s interning for the Prairie Plains Resource Institute and working alongside her father to conserve Nebraska grasslands.
“Prairie Plains has literally been in my life since I was born. I guess you could say I’m a bit of a grasslands nepo baby,” Bullerman said. “My dad is the restoration director, so even as a kid I would be out helping him in the field.”
Today, Emma is taking a more active role in aiding her dad’s work to restore native prairies.
“A lot of my summer will be in the truck with him driving across Nebraska to collect the native grassland seeds that we put into our restoration sites,” she said. “Basically, I’m just learning the ropes of everything that goes into grassland restoration.”
As a teen, Bullerman thought she wanted to do anything but follow her dad’s footsteps. Eventually, a few stalled paths helped her rediscover her love for her hometown.
“In high school and coming into college, I really thought I wanted to leave Nebraska and do something totally different from my dad,” she said. “I tried a few other directions, but pretty quickly could tell that I wasn’t passionate about them. I took a semester off, and then my boss at Prairie Plains reached out about helping with social media.”
It didn’t take long for Bullerman to catch the bug for conservation work and switch her major to fisheries and wildlife, the same degree program her father graduated from in 1995. In fact, she is a fourth-generation Husker with strong ties to ag and food science. Her grandfather is Dr. Lloyd Bullerman, a former a professor of food science, microbiology and food safety at the university, and her aunt studied food science at NU as well.
Getting back to Prairie Plains in her early college years helped Bullerman realize that she, too, had a calling toward this field.
“Being out in the field with my dad one day, I had a moment where I was like, ‘Oh, this is what I’ve been looking for. This is what I want to do.’ Finding my way back has been really, really beautiful.”
Working with her dad, she’s is feeling better than ever about her direction, her hometown and her future in Nebraska.
“Doing this work and studying at UNL has given me a whole new perspective on the state,” she said. “I used to be someone who was like, ‘I want to get out of here after I graduate.’ Restoring prairies and traveling all over Nebraska has helped me see that it’s so beautiful here, I just didn’t take the time to see it before.”
The future of data centers in Nebraska took center stage at a North Omaha town hall Thursday evening.
The event was hosted by State Sens. Terrell McKinney and Ashlei Spivey, who alongside Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh sponsored a bill in the Nebraska Legislature that looked to help regulate data centers.
Parts of their bill were adopted and passed in LB1010, which requires reports on annual power usage, water usage and ownership.
“Having this passed in a package showed a lot of bipartisan work,” Spivey told a crowd of attendees at Nelson Mandela Elementary School.
The proposed regulations were shaped in part by Bold Nebraska, an advocacy group focused on eminent domain and clean energy. Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party and founder of Bold Nebraska, said before the bill passed there were “zero laws on the books” to address a boom in data centers.
“If one is coming into the community, we wanted to make sure that there were some basic transparency things in place,” Kleeb said.
Political discussions around data centers heated up in recent months following reporting by the Flatwater Free Press that showed Google is considering a data center in Nebraska that could require more than three times the amount of power the entire city of Lincoln uses at peak demand in the summer.
The Nebraska Legislature recently passed another bill, LB1261, that allows private developers to build and own power plants to serve a large industrial customer, including data centers. That bill was proposed by the governor’s office and celebrated by Gov. Jim Pillen.
“Our state is once again taking a bold and strategic step – one that will create an environment that attracts business and multibillion dollar investment, while legally preserving Nebraska’s unique and consumer-friendly public power model,” Pillen said at the time.
At Thursday’s town hall, McKinney called LB1261 “the bogeyman bill.”
“It’s a bill that the governor pushed through the legislature to allow for data centers to create their own power,” McKinney said. “It’s a bill that I stood on the floor and said this is going to harm our communities.”
LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – Hundreds of people are without power in southeast Nebraska after a severe storm passed through Thursday morning.
The Lincoln Electric System outage map showed 115 customers without power across the city at 11:36 a.m.
Norris Public Power District’s outage map also shows 45 customers affected by the storm. As of 11:36 a.m., there were nine active outages.
According to the Nebraska Public Power District outage map, 657 customers were affected by the storm. Most of the affected customers were near Plattsmouth in southeast Nebraska. As of 11:37 a.m., 27 customers remain without power.
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