Naper High School Bears Football

[AC] denotes All Conference Team Selection
[C] denotes Team Captain

*1 - Naper High School only competed in modern day football from 1957 through 1969.

*2 - Results compiled from the following Naper High School "Bear Facts" yearbooks (1958 -1970), from available Naper High School "Bear Tracks" monthly newspapers, from local Newspapers (e.g. Bonesteel Enterprise, Butte Gazette/Spencer Advocate), and from NHS Alumni.

*3 - The Niobrara Valley Conference (NVC) consisted of eight man football teams from Naper, Springview, Butte, Spencer, Lynch, Niobrara, Chambers, Verdigre, and O'Neill St. Marys from 1957-1962. [NOTE: Butte, Spencer, Springview, Stuart, and Atkinson also formed the eleven man football Three Rivers Conference in 1961 with Lynch joining later.]

*3 - The Rosebud Conference (Rose) consisted of eight man football teams from Naper, Colome, Bonesteel, Fairfax, Pickstown, Marty Mission, and Kennebec from 1963-1969.

*4 - Daniel Schonebaum & Rollen Kibby almost certainly hold the school record for touchdowns in a game with five each. Complete game or season statistics are not available for any football season but the best football game performances that can be documented are as follows:

Touchdowns scored in a game (team) - 10; Naper vs Wood Lake in 1961 and Naper vs Stuart in 1965

Least points allowed in a game (team) - 0; Naper vs Wood Lake in 1960, vs Orchard in in 1960, vs Niobrara in 1961, vs Pickstown in 1965, vs Long Pine in 1965, and vs Fairfax in 1965.

Touchdowns scored in a game (player) - 5; Schonebaum & Kibby (each) vs Wood Lake in 1961 (game called after third quarter)

[NOTE: No records are available to determine the mix between rushing touchdowns (& TD Yards), pass receiving touchdowns (& TD yards), and/or kick return touchdowns (& TD yards) for either Schonebaum or Kibby]

Rushing yards in a game - 170 yards, Lyle Graesser vs Chambers in 1963

Rushing touchdowns & yards (TD's only) in game - 4 for 95 yards (50, 40, 3, & 2 yards), Larry Ahlers vs Marty Mission in 1966

[NOTE: Melvin Bentzen scored three rushing TD's (60, 50, & 35 yards) totaling 145 yards vs Lynch in 1957 which might be the school record for touchdown rushing yards in a game.]

Longest touchdown run - 70 yards, Lyle Graesser vs Long Pine in 1963

Passing touchdowns & yards (TD's only) in game - 5 for 226 yards (78, 70, 23, 35, & 20 yards), Ed Peppel vs Stuart in 1965 *5

Pass reception touchdowns & yards (TD's only) in game - 4 for 173 yards (78, 35, 40, & 20 yards), Stan McLaughlin vs Stuart in 1965 *5

Longest touchdown pass - 78 yards, Ed Peppel to Stan McLaughlin vs Stuart in 1965 *5

Tackles in a game - 20, Lyle Graesser vs Bonesteel in 1963

*5 - Stuart typically played an 11 man football schedule on a standard 100 yard field. Stuart hosted Naper in an 8 man game on their 100 yard field to conclude the 1965 season. Naper typically played their games on a standard 80 yard 8 man field.

*6 - Naper played six man football against Wood Lake and Kilgore and eight man football against traditional NVC teams Chambers, Orchard, and Verdigre in 1960. Naper played six man against Wood Lake again in 1961.

[NOTE: The NSAA website documents Spencer-Naper High School qualified for the Nebraska State High School Football Playoffs 10 times from 1988 through 2006 winning the Class D-1 Championship in 1988 (50-14 championship game win over Ansley) to complete undefeated season.]

Highlighted results are school record performances