@HuskerlandBob Sez: Ethan is our player of the year but in many ways it is hard to tell his story without including his Sandy Creek teammate, Connor Rempe (dba The Butcher), so we didn't...this is from our 2024 season preview magazine...

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Connor Rempe, the Butcher. Figures.

As an all-state receiver he’s been carving up opposing defenses for a couple of years now with a helping hand (and arm) from his quarterback, Ethan Shaw. Together they form the most exciting passing combination in eight-man football, part of a team that is ready to become Class D-1’s main feature.

The Butcher? Well, yeah. Connor’s folks bought the local butcher shop a while back and had an opening for the position of, well, butcher. Connor dove right in. “It is hard work but I enjoy it and I like being able to help out like that,” he says, plain and simple.

Before Connor was a butcher he was a quarterback, under center for what amounted to the Sandy Creek youth football team. So was Ethan, only he played in a league up at Hastings. When they joined forces in junior high it was Connor at quarterback and Ethan at running back. “During that time we were playing basketball together and we knew we had a good thing going,” says Connor.

They did, they just didn’t have enough guys on the football team. As they moved into high school Ethan, Connor and their freshman class at the time were part of Sandy’s last 11-man football team, one which won just three games the wins coming against teams which finished a combined 1-26 that season. The following year, with Ethan at QB and Connor at wide receiver, the Cougars dropped into the eight-man ranks and finished 6-4, winning their first playoff game since 2003. Good times.

“That season was huge for us because it showed us we could be winners,” says Ethan. “It was a big reason we did as well as we did last year.”

Ah yes, last year. It was a pretty epic season of Sandy Creek football as the Cougars were undefeated in the regular season to win the district title then notched a two playoff wins (another first since 2003) before losing to unbeaten eventual state champion Stanton in the semifinals. Maybe, maybe the Cougars lost but it was a night none of them will forget, the Stanton kids either.

See, there was a big screen love streaming the game from the sideline facing the grandstands. It was a pretty awesome setting, not gonna lie.

“It was sort of surreal with so many fans there and all hype leading up to the game. The game was the only one being shown on TV that night and for us to be part of all that after what we’d been through it was really satisfying and fun,” says Ethan.

Sandy Creek head coach Andrew Kuta appreciates the pair of senior leaders beyond all their glossy, all-state numbers.

“Both Connor and Ethan are outstanding players, but more importantly they’re great leaders and teammates. Ethan is the vocal leader of our team. He does an excellent job of leading by example, but he also communicates so well with his teammates, and does a great job of balancing holding his teammates accountable while maintaining a lot of positive leadership.

“Connor is more of a lead by example type of kid. He goes as hard as he can all the time, and never takes a play off in practice or games. He’s an outstanding example for all of his teammates, and gives great effort and has a great attitude all the time. He’s as hard working of a kid as I’ve ever been around.”

Born in Hastings, Ethan has three brothers and a sister and has lived in Fairfield (think a half-hour southeast of Hastings, or 15 minutes east of Pauline, the town) his entire life. For fun he and his brother run a herd of Angus and he enjoys showing them at the county and state fair. In fact, his ultimate goal is to stay involved in the cattle trade and “make it big in that world.” He’s a top notch student - 4.0, NHS, all that kind of stuff - with math his favorite subject. (Good, then he’ll be able to keep track of all the points his team is going to score this season.) He’s a two-year starter in basketball, a hurdler in track, and is active in his church youth group.

Ethan is planning to play college football and is still looking around, looking for place like home, and once he’s there he plans to study agribusiness.

Connor was also born in Hastings and he is the middle child with both an older and younger sister. He earns Bs in the classroom and is also a member of the Sandy Creek golf team, which qualified for state in 2023. Following graduation Connor plans to keep helping at the meat locker but also plans to work in the farming and welding industries.

Another thing they share is, unfortunately, is that both have had recent appendix surgery, Connor having his appendectomy in the early stages of last wrestling season and Ethan having his just a couple of months ago. They are both healthy as a horse, maybe a head of Angus, but Connor was only able to wrestling a couple of tournaments before districts.

No doubt, 11-1 was fun, that home semifinal was something the kids will never forget, but what about this year guys? Not so fast, Connor tells you.

“We aren’t focused on winning state. We are focused on going 1-0 each week. We don’t think about all the other stuff very much, we just show up to work every day because we know you get out what you put in and we don’t want to have any doubts that we did all we could to win.”