Jon Schriner

Cameron Baker would rather not do this. No, it's not football he wants to avoid. “There's a lot of things about football to love," he said. He beams when talking about starting football as a seven-year-old, skipping the flag variety and jumping right into full contact. It's not practice he wants to skip. Ask Council Bluffs...

Athletic ability and academic intelligence don't always go hand-in-hand. Jeyvon Ducker knows that. He puts it a bit more bluntly. “The stereotype is that football players are dumb." The very mention of “football" might bring images of hulking brutes battering each other into mush, repeatedly smashing their heads together until they're no longer high functioning humans. But...

Kohl Herbolsheimer is a rarity. As a freshman in 2016, he started on the varsity football team at Millard South High School. It happens, from time to time, that a ninth-grade student has the skills and ability and maturity necessary to compete against varsity competition. It's rare in Class A in Nebraska, but it does...

Dynamic duos exist throughout history and lore. Batman and Robin. Sherlock and Watson. Peanut butter and jelly. What about Bena and Hasz? For Creighton Prep football, it's definitely true. Ryan Bena and Jack Hasz are certainly dynamic. The pair has grown into two of Nebraska's most sought after recruits. As a duo, they get up to...

Tucked behind the school at 36th and Ames Streets in Omaha, there's an artificial turf football field. There aren't any bleachers to speak of because this is just a practice field. Omaha North doesn't have its own stadium. The football team plays games about five miles away at Omaha Northwest High. But it's no trouble. The...

Few 14-year-old freshmen are ready to play varsity football from day one. Look up and down the rosters of Nebraska's Class A high schools and you won't find many with a “9" listed under grade. Bellevue West wide receiver Zavier Betts was no different. At least, he wasn't different initially. His head coach, Mike Huffman, remembers...

Recruiting in college athletics is big business. It's no secret. According to Forbes, nearly every school in the Power 5 conferences spends more than $1 million per year to bring in new athletes. Over the past two-and-a-half years, dozens of schools around the country have dedicated a portion of the millions spent to gain...

Millard West High School was born into football success. At least, that's the way it may seem to the rest of Omaha. The school, which opened in 1995, has had only two seasons in which it finished below .500. It's surprising that a school with such a short history has cemented its position as an...

Athletes at the highest level often exhibit the same basic traits. They possess uncommon work ethic, a willingness to sacrifice, and a competitive fire that burns seemingly 24 hours a day. Emma Wilson has all of those things working for her. And she's got something else: a family as dedicated to soccer as she...

In the final game of the 2016 Nebraska state baseball tournament, Millard West sophomore Colby Gomes took the mound against Creighton Prep, the state's premier baseball program. Gomes, then a lanky, promising pitcher, hadn't pitched against Prep in the earlier meeting between the two teams in which Prep won 11-1. But this time, he...