Coaches 2013-present

Tony Berger’s 21-yard field goal in overtime lifted the White team over the Red team 24-21 in the ninth annual Northeast Nebraska All-Star football game on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Field in Norfolk. This was the first time in the event’s history that the game went to overtime. The White team has now won each of the past four games and leads the series 6-3 overall.

“I feel very fortunate, happy for the boys. They played well,” White coach Kyle Schmidt of Plainview said. “I’m proud of them, and it was a lot of fun.”

Red got the ball to start overtime and gained a yard on first down. However, three straight incomplete passes, the second of which was an intentional grounding that backed the Red offense up to the 18-yard-line, gave White the ball with a chance to win it.

On White’s possession, Levi Belina of Howells-Dodge ran the ball each of the first three plays to bring the White team all the way to the 4-yard line on fourth down. That’s when Schmidt called in Berger, formerly of Cedar Rapids Riverside, to end the game with his leg.

It was a surprise for Berger, who didn’t expect his name to be called.

“I think all the other players on the team were kind of urging them to do it because they wanted to see us win on a field goal,” he said. “I didn’t think I was going to make it.”

Berger would have to make the kick from the right hash, something he hadn’t done before in his career. “My heart kind of dropped when the ball snapped and when I saw it go through, it was just like … finally,” Berger said. “It felt nice.”

“I would’ve liked to punch it in, but we had to get close,” Schmidt said, “because we knew Tony could probably poke it through there and he did.”

Berger also had seven carries for 55 yards.

White entered the second half up 14-7 before Evan Haisch of Laurel-Concord-Coleridge tied it on a 2-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. On the first play of the fourth, Red took its first lead of the game following a 72-yard strike from Tanner Walling of Wayne to Matt Christensen of Pierce to go up 21-14 with 11 minutes, 47 seconds remaining.  Walling completed nine of his 18 passes for 202 yards and a touchdown while running for 51 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. His performance was enough to make him the Red team’s offensive player of the game.

“He did an awesome job running the offense,” Red coach Troy Evans of Ponca said. “We’re going from double wing to spread to an I-formation and he picked it up all week and he did great.”

Charlie Schroeder of Wynot was Red’s defensive player of the game.

Quarterback Parker Krusemark of Stanton wasted no time trying to even things out. He led the White team on a six-play, 73-yard drive capped off by a 6-yard run for a touchdown.

Krusemark threw completed four of five passes for 65 yards on the drive. Three of those passes went for 61 yards to Carson Thomsen of Oakland-Craig, who had a bit of a rapport going with Krusemark before kickoff.

“We played last week in the Shrine Bowl, so we know each other pretty good,” Krusemark said. “We’ve always had to play each other in basketball. We’re both competitive, we just like to win so it was nice.”

Krusemark went 5 for 7 for 71 yards while running for 15 yards and a touchdown on seven carries to win the White team’s offensive player of the game award. Gus Gomez of Bancroft-Rosalie/Lyons-Decatur Northeast won the defensive honor.

Red marched deep down the field on the ensuing drive, eventually forcing a fourth and 1 at the Red 4-yard line. Walling took a bootleg to his left but was tackled at the line of scrimmage by Spencer Batenhorst of Wisner-Pilger, forcing a turnover on downs. Following the touchdown from Walling to Christensen, Schmit reminded his players that they still had work to do and wanted to see more results.

“We weren’t executing real well, but that was a credit to (Red) because they really picked up the intensity,” Schmidt said. “So we started executing better and started making a few adjustments and where we were going with the ball and things started to get a lot better for us.”

Neither team was able to do much the rest of the quarter, forcing overtime.

“You throw an offense, defense on them in four days, they come out, a couple of mental mistakes in there, but, all in all, they did what we wanted them to do,” Evans said of the Red team.

After scoreless drives to open the game, Belina got the scoring started with a 4-yard touchdown run with 3:03 left in the first quarter.  In the second quarter, Walling scrambled his way into the end zone on a 4th and 10 from the White 19 to tie it at seven. However, exactly one minute later, Cody Maricle of Boone Central put White back up with a 3-yard run across the goal line.

The White team took a 14-7 lead into halftime as a result.

Schmidt was impressed by the intellect the White team showed in the week leading up to the contest and over the course of the game.

“They’ve played a lot of football and they picked up on things really fast so it’s a credit to them,” he said. “They’re great football players. There’s a reason they’re here today.”

 

Northeast Nebraska All-Star football game

White 7 7 0 7 3 — 24

Red 0 7 7 7 0 — 21

FIRST QUARTER

WHITE: Levi Belina 5 run (Tony Berger kick) 3:03.

SECOND QUARTER

RED: Tanner Walling 19 run (Jon Munoz kick) 10:09.

WHITE: Cody Maricle 3 run (Berger kick) 9:09.

THIRD QUARTER

RED: Evan Haisch 2 run (Munoz kick) 7:20.

FOURTH QUARTER

RED: Matt Christensen 72 pass from Walling (Munoz kick) 11:47.

WHITE: Parker Krusemark 6 run (Berger kick) 9:39.

OVERTIME

WHITE: Berger 21 field goal

 

 

Dr Jon Cerny, 2022 Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award

Dr. Jon Cerny has been at Bancroft-Rosalie Community School since 1982. He began as a science teacher, became activities director in 1984 and principal in 1987. He was named Superintendent in 1993.

Dr. Cerny received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1982 and a Master of Science in Education degree from Wayne State College in 1987. He received a specialization in Educational Administration and Supervision Degree from UNL in 1992. Dr. Cerny received a Doctor of Education Degree in Administration, Curriculum and Instruction from UNL in 1998. 

Dr. Cerny served as head coach at Bancroft-Rosalie Community School for 32 years with a career record of 230-94. His teams qualified for the play-off’s 23 times, winning state championships in 1985 and 1999, and finishing runners-up in 1986 and 2006. Dr. Cerny coached in the Nebraska Eight-man all-star game in 1987 and 1992 (Head Coach), the Kansas-Nebraska all-star game in 2008, the Oklahoma-Nebraska all-star game in 2006 (Co-head Coach), and the Northeast Nebraska all-star games in 2013 and 2015 (Head Coach). He was elected to the Nebraska Eight Man Hall of Fame in 2017. Dr. Cerny retired from coaching football after the 2014 season. He returned to coach the 2021 Bancroft-Rosalie/Lyons-Decatur team. 

In 2015, Dr. Cerny received the Terrell Bell Award from the United State Department of Education for outstanding leadership, the only Nebraska Administrator to receive this award. In 2013 he received the Outstanding Superintendent Award from the Nebraska Rural Community Schools Association. 

Dr. Cerny has served on the Nebraska School Activities Association Board of Directors for the past four years and was chairman this past year.  Jon and his wife Carol have two daughters, Jessica (Omaha, Ne) and Elizabeth (Redondo Beach, CA), both special education teachers, and two granddaughters. 

Phyllis & Don Wood, 2022 Outstanding Contributors Award

Don and Phyllis Wood are former Pierce High School teachers who have supported the Northeast Nebraska All-Star Football Classic for nine years. Phyllis served as the Director of Football Operations, working with the Board of Directors, coaches, players and parents, and Don helped at the games by taking photos and manning the east gate, as well as providing Phyllis with support and assistance during the year.

Phyllis graduated from Ida Grove (Iowa) Community Schools and Don graduated from Stanton High School. The couple earned their undergraduate degrees at Wayne State College, and they earned master’s degrees at Northwest Missouri State University. They retired from Pierce High School after 40 years of teaching. Phyllis taught physics, eighth grade earth science and computer science courses and later became the district Technology Coordinator. Don taught chemistry, physical science and physics. Don coached girls’ basketball for several years, and later kept the scorebook for basketball and clerked the start at track meets for twenty years while Phyllis heated and scored every track meet held in Pierce for twenty-three years. The couple have two children Andrew and Amanda. Andrew and wife Jeana live in Seward. Amanda and husband Darrell Fieldgrove live in Grand Island with their five sons: Aiden, DJ, Dayton, Chevy and Dalton. 

 

 

 

 

Cheerleaders from Bancroft-Rosalie, Norfolk High, Pierce and Battle Creek kept the crowd alive and cheering in the 95 degree weather! The Board of Directors appreciate your hard work!

Norfolk cheerleaders 2022

Pierce cheerleaders 2022

Bancroft-Rosalie cheerleaders 2022

Battle Creek cheerleaders 2022