The 2025 Nebraska High School Football Season By the Numbers
0 – Class C-1 state champion Wahoo and Class C-2 runner-up Grand Island Central Catholic finished the 2025 season tied for the state lead in shutouts with five.
1 – Millard South (A), Waverly (B), Wahoo (C-1), Bishop Neumann (C-2), Sandy Creek (D-1), Wynot (D-2), and Garden County (D-6) finished No. 1 in the final NEBHSFB.com Top 10 Ratings.
3 (Or: D-3)- There will be three classes of Eight-Man football in 2026 with the addition of Class D-3.
6 – Garden County claimed its first state championship in school history with a 41-22 victory over Southwest.
7 – Three Nebraska high school football athletes picked off seven passes in 11-Man this past season. Fort Calhoun’s Logan Brewer, Trey Norman of Kearney, and Kearney Catholic’s Atreyu May all swiped seven passes in 2025.
8 – Sandy Creek rolled to a 66-26 win over Crofton to win the Class D-1 state title, while Wynot won its first football state championship in program history by outlasting St. Mary’s 71-60 in Class D-2. Also, in Class D-6, Stuart’s Drew Schmaderer led the state in interceptions with eight.
9 – Both Tucker Czarnick of Archangels Catholic and Wynot’s Kotner Koch picked off nine passes in 2025 to lead the state in Eight-Man.
16 – Penn State commit Amarion Jackson of Millard South and Doniphan-Trumbull pass-catcher Jack Poppe tied for the state lead with 16 touchdown receptions in 2025.
26 – Wahoo leads the state with 26 consecutive victories over the past two seasons.
38 – Bloomfield maintained its state record of consecutive seasons in the playoffs at 38.
47 – Kip Brigham rushed for 47 touchdowns while leading Wahoo to its second straight state championship. Brigham finished with 2,657 rushing yards on the campaign to lead the state of Nebraska.
53 – Crofton”s bruising running back Tyson Jackson led Eight-Man with 53 rushing touchdowns in 2025.
54 – Kearney’s Carter Symington kicked the longest field goal in the state in 2025 with a 54-yard effort in a Week 5 loss to Class A runner-up Papillion-La Vista South. Platteview’s Ethan Nelson kicked a 52-yard bomb in a 42-28 win over Beatrice and banged one in from 50 yards in the season opener.
58 – Millard South quarterback and USA Today Midwest Player of the Year Jett Thomalla set the state record for passing touchdowns with 58. Thomalla signed with Alabama. Expect to see Thomalla’s name a few more times in this post.
78-76: In Week 1, Wynot’s 78-76 four-overtime victory over Crofton made headlines statewide. For Wynot, quarterback Devin Brummer threw for 332 yards and seven touchdowns in the victory. For eventual Class D-1 runner-up Crofton, Jackson erupted for 332 yards and nine touchdowns in a losing effort. Article
89 – While leading St. Mary’s to a runner-up spot in Class D-2, quarterback Gage Hedstrom signed off an illustrious career by accounting for 89 touchdowns over the 2025 season. Hedstrom threw for 46 scores, rushed for 38 touchdowns, returned punt and kickoff returns for six points twice, and returned an interception for a score.
101 – Millard South kicker Dave Fajardo set a NSAA state, Class A, and school record with 101 point after attempts made for the back-to-back state champions. Fajardo set the new record with 20 more PAT’s than Millard South’s Trenton Vansurksum from just last season. Fajardo led the nation in PAT’s from states who report statistics to MaxPreps (not all do).
134 – Thomalla set a NSAA state record with 134 career touchdown passes to go along with 10,253 passing yards and will likely go down as the best signal caller the Cornhusker State has ever seen.
230 – If the 2026 regular season were to start in Week 1 on August 27, we are 230 days from kickoff. If there is a Week 0 unlike the past two-year cycle, it is 223 days until August 20.
307.5 – Northwest Missouri State commit Michael Knudsen broke the Class B record with 307.5 yards per game in 2025. He broke his own state record of 307.4 yards per game in 2024.
425 – For those scoring at home, Norfolk Catholic coach Jeff Bellar’s tally of Nebraska state record coaching wins hit 425 this past season. Over the past four seasons, Bellar is 46-3 with three Class C-2 state championships.
1,000 – Eight receivers went over 1,000 yards for the 2025 season. The six from 11-man is Bryce Lakers of Gretna (1,284 yards to lead Nebraska), Cal Kissinger of Ashland-Greenwood, Poppe, Daniel Martins of Gordon-Rushville, Central City’s Wyatt Dent, and Peyton Steuer of Crete. In Eight-Man, Ben Barlow of St. Mary’s and Wynot’s Koch both eclipsed 1,000 yards.
1980 – For the first time since 1980, Waverly took home a Class B state championship in football with a 42-27 win over Gretna East.
2,000 – There were four 2,000-yard rushers in the state in 2025. They were Brigham, Crofton’s Jackson, Air Force commit Connor Sams of Class B runner-up Gretna East, and Nathan Axmann of Waverly.
2026: Other than Class D-1, expect to see a lot more parity in Nebraska high school football in 2026.
3,000 – Two quarterbacks threw for 3,000 yards this past season. They were Knudsen and, you guessed it, Thomalla.
4,180 – Super sophomore Kam Sealey of Sandy Creek accounted for 4,180 total yards while leading the Cougars to a second straight state title in Class D-1. Sealey threw for 2,439 yards and 36 scores while averaging over 10 yards per carry with 1,781 yards and 38 touchdowns on the ground.
2025 All-State Teams
Super-State
Class A
Class B
Class C-1
Class C-2
Class D-1
Class D-2
Class D-6 Coaches
2026-27 Classifications
2026-27 Districts
2026 Watch List | Commits
2027 Watch LIst | Commits
2028 Watch List
Nebraska HS Football 
