In a tight race for first place, Humphrey St. Francis’ consistency fell just short of Howells-Dodge state championship material, allowing the Jaguars to edge Eric Kessler’s Flyers 422-407 to become the MaxPreps’ most dominant 6/8-Man. football program since 2004 in Nebraska.
Former conference rivals Cornhusker have battled many times over the years when Howells and Dodge have played as separate entities, and there was always a lot at stake in terms of conference and state championship material. .
Howells and Dodge have combined to win six state football titles and a second-place finish since 2004. They have since consolidated to form Howells-Dodge. The Flyers, meanwhile, have three state titles and two second-place finishes in the same span.
St. Francis parted ways with Howells-Dodge by finishing in the Top 25 of MaxPreps’ 18 Nebraska 6/8-Man football rankings over the years. The Flyers finished twice first, four times second and 10 times in the Top 5. Howells and Dodge fought their way into the season-ending Top 25 16 times, finished five times in the top and eight times in the Top 5 collectively.
St. Francis, the only Cornhusker state school to make it into all 18 MaxPreps polls, outscored Howells-Dodge 327-292 in points accumulated in the Top 25, while Howells-Dodge had a solid 130-80 advantage in state championship points.
Bruning-Davenport/Shickley is third with 297 points. The Eagles have won four state titles and finished second once in the past 18 years, finishing first place once, second twice and Top 5 six times. Falls City Sacred Heart and Burwell clinch the fourth and fifth place after finishing with 250 and 225 points respectively. The two powers have won three state soccer championships between them since 2004.
Arthur County, Nebraska’s top 6-man program since 2004, narrowly missed the Top 10 after posting 153 points and a 14th-place finish.
Since many small schools in Nebraska have consolidated over the years, we had to resort to a little extra math to calculate a fair and accurate Top 10. All calculations made for this week were based on the 2022 name of a school. For example, Howells and Dodge now go by Howells-Dodge, which is how they are listed in this Top 10. However, from 2004 to 2011 the two schools competed separately before joining forces in 2012.
MaxPreps has developed its own system for determining which football programs are competing at the highest level over a long period of time. Here is how points are accumulated:
1. 20 points for a state title
2. 10 points for finishing second in the state
3. Other points are based on the ranking of the top 25 teams in the final MaxPreps Nebraska computer rankings. For example, if a school claimed first place, they received 25 points, while a #25 ranking was good for one point.
The calculations were pretty straightforward for programs that have always competed on their own like St. Francis, Sacred Heart and Creighton. But, as far as the consolidations are concerned, certain points had to be razed.
For example, in 2011, Howells and Dodge each played on their own merit and both were ranked in the MaxPreps Top 25 at the end of the season. Instead of giving the Jaguars 36 points for Howells’ second-place finish and Dodge’s No. 14 ranking, we gave Mike Speirs’ program the 24 points Howells earned that year because they were the higher ranked of the two. teams.
Points are also shaved off when two schools in the same consolidation have participated in state championship games in the same year. In 2007, Elgin lost to Chambers 28-24 in the Class D2 State Championship game. But, the same year, Pope John overthrew Clarkson 39-30 in the D1 title match. Elgin/Pope John failed to earn 30 points for a state championship and second-place finish that year. Instead, Greg Wemhoff’s Wolfpack scored all 20 points Pope John had earned since earning the most points.
If both programs had won state titles in 2007, Elgin/Pope John would have only gotten 20 points. Any consolidations that earned full points as this consolidation was, of course, awarded full points.
Top 10 Nebraska’s Dominant 6/8-Man Football Programs Since 2004
1. Howells-Dodge (Howells) — 422 Points
State titles: 6
Second place: 1
Ranking of the top 25 states: 2004 (1st), 2005 (1st), 2006 (3rd), 2007 (12th), 2008 (5th), 2009 (1st), 2010 (1st), 2011 (2nd), 2012 (10th), 2013 (6th ), 2014 (18th), 2017 (12th), 2018 (25th), 2019 (9th), 2020 (17th), 2021 (1st).
2. St. Francis (Humphrey) — 407 dots
State titles: 3
Second place: 2
Ranking of the top 25 states: 2004 (2nd), 2005 (2nd), 2006 (14th), 2007 (7th), 2008 (2nd), 2009 (2nd), 2010 (3rd), 2011 (7th), 2012 (3rd), 2013 (19th), 2014 (4th), 2015 (1st), 2016 (13th), 2017 (23rd), 2018 (3rd), 2019 (1st), 2020 (18th), 2021 (17th).
3. Bruning-Davenport/Shickley (Bruning) — 297 Points
State titles: 4
Second place: 1
Ranking of the top 25 states: 2004 (14th), 2005 (4th), 2006 (20th), 2007 (23rd), 2008 (23rd), 2011 (21st), 2012 (8th), 2013 (14th), 2014 (5th), 2015 (2nd ), 2016 (3rd), 2017 (1st), 2019 (17th), 2020 (2nd).
4. Sacred Heart (Falls City) — 250 Points
State titles: 2
Second place: 0
Ranking of the top 25 states: 2004 (12th), 2012 (4th), 2013 (1st), 2014 (6th), 2015 (11th), 2016 (1st), 2017 (11th), 2018 (5th), 2019 (2nd), 2020 (11th), 2021 (12th).
5.Burwell — 225 Points
State titles: 1
Second place: 4
Ranking of the top 25 states: 2008 (16th), 2009 (23rd), 2011 (25th), 2012 (16th), 2013 (20th), 2015 (5th), 2016 (2nd), 2017 (25th), 2018 (4th), 2019 (4th) ), 2020 (3rd), 2021 (4th).
6. Elgin/Pope John (Elgin) — 208 Points
State titles: 3
Second place: 0
Ranking of the top 25 states: 2004 (5th), 2005 (14th), 2006 (22nd), 2007 (1st), 2008 (6th), 2009 (19th), 2011 (3rd), 2012 (2nd), 2015 (14th).
7. Exeter-Milligan/Friend (Exeter) — 191 Points
State titles: 2
Second place: 1
Ranking of the top 25 states: 2004 (8th), 2005 (13th), 2009 (21st), 2011 (12th), 2012 (5th), 2013 (2nd), 2014 (2nd), 2015 (20th), 2018 (10th).
8. Twin Wolf (Sargent) — 188 Points
State titles: 1
Second place: 3
Ranking of the top 25 states: 2004 (16th), 2005 (7th), 2009 (15th), 2010 (4th), 2011 (1st), 2013 (10th), 2016 (8th), 2017 (9th).
9. Creighton — 183 Points
State titles: 1
Second place: 1
Ranking of the top 25 states: 2010 (8th), 2011 (18th), 2012 (22nd), 2013 (3rd), 2014 (13th), 2015 (4th), 2016 (7th), 2017 (4th), 2018 (2nd).
10. Kenesaw — 174 Points
State titles: 1
Second place: 0
Ranking of the top 25 states: 2005 (11th), 2011 (4th), 2012 (15th), 2014 (9th), 2015 (19th), 2017 (15th), 2018 (6th), 2019 (11th), 2020 (13th), 2021 (3rd).
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