Vote: Who should be SBLive’s Nebraska Athlete of the Week (9/12/2023)?
Here are the candidates for SBLive’s Nebraska high school athlete of the week for September 4-10. Read through the nominees and cast your vote. Voting will conclude Sunday at 11:59 p.m. If you would like to make a nomination in a future week, email athleteoftheweek@scorebooklive.com.
Editor’s Note: Our Athlete of the Week feature and corresponding poll are intended to be fun, and we do not set limits on how many times a fan can vote during the competition. However, we do not allow votes that are generated by script, macro or other automated means. Athletes who receive votes generated by script, macro or other automated means will be disqualified.
Riley Boonstra – Norris Cross Country
Boonstra is going on two years of wins thanks to starting the season with a pair of victories on his home course and in Beatrice. The Norris senior is a three-time state meet qualifier, two-time medalist and last year’s Class B champion. Boonstra won each of his six races last season and took the Class B title by more than 10 seconds. Last week he took the title at the Beatrice Sodbuster Shuffle by 23 seconds over second place and ran his streak to eight wins in a row.
Jaron Cannon – Omaha North Football
The Discoverers are the ones with the nautical mascot but it was Cannon who was true to his name, blasting holes through the Columbus defense in Friday’s 40-32 win for North. The sophomore was the workhorse of a Viking offense that rushed for 430 yards and scored five rushing touchdowns. Cannon had 285 of that total and found the end zone four times.
James Fogleman – Boone Central Football
Boone Central has been rolling over opponents so far this season but typically doing it with a dynamic rushing attack. Fogleman flipped the script on Friday when he hit 11 of 15 passes for 245 yards and three touchdowns. He had five completions of over 20 yards and connected with five different receivers. Fogleman has now thrown for more than 100 yards in all three games and is completing 69% of his passes.
Tyler Hetz – Gothenburg Cross Country
Hetz kept a winning streak going on Saturday when he took the title at the Broken Bow Invite with a run of 16:39.2. He was 13 seconds ahead of second place and won his third meet of the year in three tries. Hetz was also the champion at the Minutemen Invite in Lexington and took the crown at the Minden Invite. Each of his three wins came in a span of 11 days.
Hunter Hoerle – Chambers/Wheeler Central Football
Hoerle plays quarterback on offense but isn’t your typical QB. He had a good game under center on Friday during a 36-28 eight-man win over Palmer, but it was his overall performance that earned him a spot on this list. Hoerle completed 10 of 17 passes for 113 yards and two touchdowns and picked up 76 yards on the ground. He’s had similar offensive performances in all three games but has also been a playmaker on defense, totaling 48 tackles. Against Palmer, he had a season-high 19 tackles including 17 solos.
Grady Kelley – Central Valley Football
Kelley repeatedly gashed Anselmo-Merna and helped carry Central Valley to 3-0 during Friday’s 49-12 eight-man road victory. The Cougar junior nearly went for 300 yards, had 277 on 19 carries, found the end zone five times and had a long of 50. It was a new career-high and kept the momentum rolling for a running back who already has 539 yards rushing in three games. It’s also the second straight game Kelley scored five rushing touchdowns.
Tallon McDonald – Scottsbluff Football
McDonald made just one field goal on Friday night, and it wasn’t a game-winner or all that crucial in a 23-point win for the Bearcats. But while it was only a detail in the final result, that detail is now in the record books. McDonald drilled a 59-yarder right before half to set the Class B record and tie the all-class record. He was also a perfect 3 for 3 on extra points and averaged nearly 60 yards per kickoff.
Brady McGill – Roncalli Catholic Quarterback
The beat goes on for one of the best signal callers in Nebraska. McGill, no stranger to big games, had another one while improving Roncalli to 3-0 following a 43-14 win over Raymond Central. The senior was 18 for 28 throwing for a season-high 245 yards and another three touchdowns. McGill has thrown three touchdowns in every game this season and is completing 65% of his passes. His career now includes six games with more than 200 yards passing.
Jacob Motacek – Niobrara/Verdigree Football
Motacek covered the field sideline-to-sideline in Friday’s 54-14 eight-man win over Walthill. The senior piled up 11 solo tackles and five assisted for a game and career-high 16 and also had a quarterback sack. Motacek had contributed in each of the first two games, but nothing like on Friday when he doubled his tackle total for the season.
B.J. Newsome – Omaha Central Football
Newsome was lobbing darts all over the field in Friday’s 45-0 road win at Lincoln High. The sophomore quarterback missed on just three of his 23 passes while totaling 289 passing yards and two touchdowns. He had a long of 68 yards and connected with three different receivers throughout the evening. Newsome is up to 583 passing yards through three games and is completing 69% of his passes. He has six touchdowns and just one interception.
Hannah Allen – Lakeview Softball
Allen is no stranger to this list, making several appearances last fall while also winning the award. She’s back here again for her continued excellence as both a hitter and a pitcher, this time achieving program history. Allen went 8 for 15 at the plate, drove in two runs, had a double and a triple and scored five runs during a five-game stretch in which the Lady Vikes went 3-2. In the circle, the dynamic senior tossed just 8 and 2/3 but struck out 11 and set a new school career strikeout record. Allen is 2-2 with a 2.18 ERA and 30 Ks.
Mackenzie Groninga – Mercy Softball
Who do the Monarchs turn to when they’ve lost three in a row and need to turn it around? Look no further than Groninga who struck out 14 hitters then 11 in games earlier in the week but was a tough-luck loser who lacked run support. She didn’t need more than one during a 3-0 win over Yutan-Mead that saw Groninga toss all seven innings, allow just four hits and strike out 17. For the week she struck out 45 hitters and increased her season total to 84. Seventeen set a new career high and increased her career figure to 276 Ks in 158 innings pitched.
Hayden Liebsack – Bennington Volleyball
Liebsack keeps adding to her kill total and the Badgers keep adding wins. This past week in the course of five matches, Liebsack totaled 61 kills and had three matches in the double digits. Those matches included 17 against Gretna East, 16 against Gross Catholic and 14 against Millard West. She hit .312 on a total of 144 swings and was a workhorse with 47 attempts in a three-set match with Millard West. Liebsack has 148 kills on the season and is hitting .298.
Ellie Morgan – Wood River Volleyball
Morgan set the tone early with a 30-dig performance in her fourth match of the season and hasn’t slowed down since. The Wood River junior has 225 digs through just 13 matches, is well on her way to passing last year’s career-best 455 and will likely go over the 1,000-dig mark later this month. Morgan’s line last week included 109 total digs and a high of 27 in a win over Hershey. She now has five matches with more than 20 digs.
Daveigh Munter-McAfee – Wakefield Volleyball
Munter-McAfee is a six-rotation player for the Trojans who are off to a 9-5 start. A busy schedule last week included 60 kills and 32 digs for Munter-McAfee who now has 146 kills and 129 digs on the season. She was unstoppable in a two-set sweep of Lutheran High-Northeast on Saturday when she put together 13 kills on 20 swings with two errors and a .550 hitting percentage. In the back row, she had 10 digs in the same match.
Nyah Potthoff – Gretna East Volleyball
There’s only one other player in the state of Nebraska with more assists than Potthoff. The Gretna East junior had a monster week last week that included two matches with more than 30 assists and four with over 20. She now has nine matches with 20 or more assists and 356 total in 18 matches. During six matches a week ago, Potthoff assisted on 141 kills and set a new career high of 35 in a win over Omaha Central.
Raegyn Ruyle – Kearney Catholic Softball
Ruyle is pretty much guaranteed a couple base hits and a few runs every time she steps on the diamond. With a .605 batting average, 26 runs scored and a .660 on-base percentage, she’s one of the best table-setters in Nebraska. During a span of five games last week, Ruyle was 11 for 14 hitting, came around to score nine times, walked four times and had four doubles. In a 16-7 win over Ord, she was on base four times, scored four times and drove in a run.
Gracie Suppes – Papillion-La Vista Cross Country
Suppes has taken to varsity competition quite well. Were it not for a runner-up finish by under two seconds in the first race of the season, Suppes would be a perfect 3 for 3. Last week she won for the second time this season and the second time in five days when Suppes took the top spot in Fremont. The freshman set a new personal record of 19:14.2, surpassing her previous best by 30 seconds. She was more than eight seconds better than the runner-up.
Evelyn Timmons – Fairbury Volleyball
Timmons has been one of the top newcomers anywhere in Nebraska through the first couple weeks of the season. The 5-foot-11 freshman has had double-digit kill totals in all of her matches but three and is among the state leaders at 145 kills. Last week during a series of five matches she had 10 or more kills five times, put together seven aces and dug up 45 shots. Altogether, Timmons recorded 58 kills with a high of 17 against Thayer Central. Seventeen also set a new career high.
Sarah Wiese – Gering Softball
Wiese added to her state-leading total last week and now has 12 victories on the season. She’s made 14 starts and lost just twice while currently putting together a winning streak of four in a row. All four came last week during a stretch in which she pitched Gering to two wins over Chadron and one win apiece against Alliance and Scottsbluff. Her line included 19 innings pitched, 29 strikeouts, just three walks and five runs allowed. A 5-2 win over Chadron was her top performance of the season – seven innings and 10 strikeouts.
--Nathan Charles
