Seven Questions for the 2017 Preseason

1. Is Class A ready for a new leader? The recent emergence of Omaha North and last year’s dominating championship run by Bellevue West has taken some of the edge off but prior to the Vikings appearing in four state finals since 2012 the previous 10 Class A state champions had all been named Millard Something, or so it seemed. Great programs, those Millard programs, and Lincoln Southeast (2011) also snuck into the winner’s circle during that time frame.

Creighton Prep and Omaha Burke have also both appeared in a state final over the past decade and Prep is one of the most decorated programs in state high school football history. We expect big things from both this season (hint, hint), real big things.

2. Can Elkhorn South Three-Peat? Gotta admit if I’d asked this question in March I would have leaned to another answer but with a couple of key transfers (Jake Knott from Ralston and The Reetz Boys from Norris) that settles the waters. The expected emergence of new starting QB Cole Hanafan is another bonus. Bonus question: Can a guy go from a non-starter to all-state in a single senior season? Maybe.

Having said that McCook is lurking as is Omaha Skutt and York. And tell you what, Scottsbluff is loaded with talented underclassmen, including Husker commit Garrett Nelson. Class B should be fun in 2017.

3. Can Boone Central/Newman Grove Stay Healthy? Tell ya what, if the Cardinals can do just that they figure to be as big a surprise as a state championship program can be. There was a lot of near-missing on the part of Boone football in 2016 but if the cards fall right the Cards will be alright. More than alright. The return of a healthy Jessie Sullivan to the line is a huge bonus for Boone.

Beyond that it’s a lot of the usual suspects in Class C-1, as the blue bloods will rise to the top, at least toward the top, again this season.

4. Is Class C-2 Really THAT Wide Open? Seems like it. More than in any other class it seems any of the top five teams could wind up your champion in November. Defending state champion Wilber-Clatonia, and that magnificent line, is in a bit of a rebuild - gonna win its district just not state, or so it says here - which opens the door for several other teams.

We are still to publish on this website the Huskerland top fives in each class but chew on this fun fact: among those projected top five Class C-2 teams only one has won a state title (and that program has won four) but three of the other four have reached state finals. Stay tuned.

5. Class D-1 Football Will Produce a Surprise Champion. Right? Well, maybe. When going about ranking the top ten in this class it was tough to get started; as I always say, you can’t rank a top ten until you rank a top one.

All of the teams we have ranked in the top five - hold on, it’s coming - have holes to fill, some more substantial than others. And then you have a team like East Butler which has never won a state playoff title but returns all eight starters on both sides of the ball, led by all-stater Trevor Havlovic. Hmm, something fishy could happen here but I would also caution you with this - winning programs win because they don’t know any better, they just win.

6. How Does a Guy Get the Parking Concession for the Sacred Heart-BDS Game? It’s still weeks away - I will save you looking, it’s gonna be played Oct. 6 at Falls City’s beautiful Jug Brown Field - but the anticipation for this rematch of eight-man titans is palpable. Look, it’s still “only” a regular season game that only really guarantees an inside track to a district title but you know both teams want to prove something that day. Especially BDS, which saw its perfect season go down the drain following a clutch last-minute scoring drive by eventual champ Sacred Heart in last year’s state playoff semifinals.

But then, who’s counting. Right?

7. Whither Thou Goest, Trenton Harbur? One of the great athletes in Nebraska small school sports the 6-3, 215-pound Harbur will be a junior at Stapleton this fall. That much we know. What we don’t know is his football future for 2017, or that of his school’s team for that matter.

Harbur’s school has forfeited its eight-man varsity schedule which leaves Trenton and his (very few) teammates searching for a football answer this fall. Last report had Stapleton trying to get permission to once again combine forces with McPherson County to play a varsity six-man schedule. Not sure the rest of six-man would be real wild about that but it’s in the conversation.

Here we have a strapping young man who is an all-state caliber player and there is, or at least was, a chance he’d be playing a JV schedule this fall. An athlete like Trenton Harbur playing against a bunch of six-man JVs is something I don’t want to ponder, especially if I am a six-man JV.