This season the Hastings High Football team has been incredibly successful, with a regular season record of 6-1. The team is gifted and for that reason they made a run in the playoffs all the way to the semifinals. this was the first time in over 20 years they have made it this far. The playoffs started October 30 when the Tigers beat Omaha Roncalli 47-21 and then went on to beat Grand Island Northwest the following week with a score of 45-42. The Tigers went on to play their final game against Elkhorn ultimately losing 28-33.
The Tiger offense, led by quarterback Jarrett Synek was dominant this season, averaging 36.75 points per game. During the regular season, Synek threw for 1,921 yards and had 25 touchdown passes while throwing only six interceptions. The dual threat quarterback ran for 426 yards and eight touchdowns. The running backs for the team include seniors Carson Shoemaker, Trevor Sullivan, and Zaide Weidner. Sullivan rushed for 245 yards and two touchdowns. Weidner rushed for 334 yards and two touchdowns. Shoemaker mostly caught the ball out of the backfield having 670 receiving yards and eight receiving touchdowns. Another receiving target was Braden Kavelage; Kavelage caught eight touchdown passes and racked up 545 yards. The offense totaled 1,094 yards this season and 1,966 receiving yards.
The defense was shut out this season allowing an average of 15.25 points per game. They have caused 11 sacks and 380 total tackles. The defense has also accumulated six interceptions this season and recovered 10 fumbles and forced six fumbles. Senior Blake Davis, a middle linebacker for the Tigers, had a total of 46 total tackles for the team, along with two sacks on the quarterback and averaged 5.8 tackles per game. Another stand out on the defense is senior Landon Jacobus, an outside linebacker that has two sacks and one interception. Jacobus has also gotten a total of 29 total tackles and caused three fumbles.
During the regular season the Tigers did a good job executing what they practiced in the games they played, giving them a great success this season.
“We worked on a lot of different plays that come out of the same formation, and having a lot of formations also to put the defense in a tough situation, along with skill players making big plays after catches, and of course the O line protecting QB1,” Carson Shoemaker said.
Another thing that is important is to understand what you can improve on in order to be successful.
“We’re starting to play teams that like to pass it more in the flats and the hangs, so that forces me to play a lot more coverage than I’m used to. So definitely learning to drop into coverage and reading the QB’s eyes is what’s going to play a big role in improving myself,” Jacobus said.
Where the game is played is very important in the playoffs: while playing at home gives you more fans to cheer you on, it also can put pressure on you to perform at your very best.
“Home games have a much better atmosphere and are more fun to show out in front of your home crowd, and of course the hyped up student section.” Carson Shoemaker said.
Meanwhile Blake Davis had other opinions on where he would rather play.
“I think I do a little better at away games because I want to embarrass the home team in their own place, but I love the energy at home games from the student section.” Davis said.
Leadership is an important part of football, and everyone on that team found a way to lead their team in one way or another.
“In tough situations the key to leading a team is staying positive and staying consistent with what you do when everything is going good. Against Northwest we went down in the third quarter, and I just told everyone that we were going to score right away and stay positive and the next play we had an eighty yard touchdown.” Synek said.
The Tigers fought hard and played well this season. All of Hastings High is proud of what this team accomplished and look forward to what the team can accomplish in future seasons.
