Who, me?

There he was, freshman Quade Myers, standing there on the Dundy County-Stratton sideline, minding his own business, enjoying watching the scrimmage when his coach called his name. As in, Myers, get in there. Or something like that.

An injury to the team’s senior starting quarterback meant Quade, an untested freshman whose biggest football challenges had revolved around how to fake out a 13-year-old kid playing linebacker. Those guys out there now, they weren’t 13, guaranteed.

What he did have working in his favor is that just a few weeks earlier Quade and his team had attended the Chadron State College football camp and he played in that. And scored the first time he touched the ball.

“It was a little scary to get into my first varsity game like that but I was able to settle in,” he says. Sure did. As in he passed for three touchdowns and ran for another while his team won by 44 points. Yep, he settled in alright...

Quade’s freshman season at Dundy ended with the Tigers upsetting defending Class D-1 state runner-up South Loup to make the quarterfinals. The following season the Tigers took it another step further, reaching the semifinals before losing to eventual state runner-up Burwell. That brings us to last year, Quade’s junior season, one in which he went from being a very good player to the all-state quarterback of an unbeaten state championship team.

“Last year was crazy fun, winning state and doing it on the road against a great team like Burwell in an all-time classic game,” says Quade, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 190 pounds. “Winning the way we did (Myers scoring the winning TD in double overtime) only made the dream that much sweeter.”

In the aftermath the Dundy players and their faithful soaked that championship in, celebrating right through the winter and into the spring, when several Tigers seniors wore their state championship rings to prom. “Our whole community shared in our championship and they’ve been so supportive us all through my career. The T-shirts, the congratulations which I still get and the talk in school has all been great but now it’s time to focus up.

“Nobody’s a state champion anymore. We are all just oh-and-oh.”

Playing in the MFL as a youngster - this one isn’t a typo, it stands for McCook Football League - Quade had always been a running back with a little wide receiver mixed in until seventh grade. That’s when his coaches told him he was their new quarterback, a move endorsed by Dundy varsity head coach Mike Spargo.

And Grandma Myers.

Seems as though way back when before Quade had ever taken a direct snap from center Grandma Myers had told him he’d be a quarterback that day - and called him Quarterback Quade. “That will be what they call you,” recounts Quade. It’s unclear if they actually do call him that now, but they so should.

Beyond mystical advice from Grandma another way Quade has made himself into the best quarterback in eight-man football (takers?) is his relentless film study. Before school, after practice, during school, you’re going to find the kid studying film, looking for ways to beat the upcoming defense.

Wait a minute, in school?

“Sometimes when I am caught up with my school work I will go into Coach Spargo’s office and do some quick film work. You just can’t let up on stuff like that,” he teases.

Born in Benkelman, Nebraska (think where Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska come together then back up a half an hour), which is the home to Dundy County-Stratton High School, Quade has an older sister and his summer job is working at the local swimming pool. Where he just might have saved the season for the 2020 Dundy Tigers.

“Serbie can’t swim. We had an open swim after the pool had closed and he was going under when I grabbed him and pulled him to the edge of the pool. Guess you could say I sorta saved our star running back,” says Quade. As a point of reference recent Dundy graduate Serbando Diaz was, indeed, Huskerland’s 2020 Class D-1 player of the year. Remember it’s not swimmer of the year, but football player of the year...

Quade earns As and Bs in the classroom, is a member of the Dundy FBLA chapter and also competes in basketball and track. He’d like to play college football but that talk is on the back burner until he’s finished with his senior football season, one in which he’d like to win state again.

“We have a target on our back but we have a lot of good players on our team, and we will be good. We have hard working kids on our team and they have seen what it takes to be a champion. Going back-to-back has a nice ring to me.”