Area football players earn All State honors

Two local athletes earned First Team All State status for their prowess on the football field this season.

Jaymison Cattau was named to the 2023 Class C2 All-State Football Team by the Omaha World Herald, and made other lists by other Nebraska publications.

Cattau was chosen as a receiver in his junior campaign, and had teammates join him with honorable mention accolades.

He was one of the leading receivers for quarterback Braeden Reifenrath, and was a menace to opposing offenses on the other side of the ball.

“Jaymison really developed and had had a great year for us,” Chad Cattau said. “I think the biggest area he improved on throughout the season was his vocal leadership on the field. He really understands what we are wanting to do on both sides of the ball which really helps make our communication during games much easier.”

His abilities are pretty good as well.

“He had a lot of big catches for us during the year and a lot of that was because of his route running ability,” his coach said. “He has a knack for creating separation when the ball is in the air and he has a large catch radius because of the length of his arms so he can get most balls that are close to him.”

Cattau caught 40 passes this season for over 500 yards and led the team in sacks on the other side of the line of scrimmage.

“He was a tough match up for teams, but part of that was because there were other weapons on the field that allowed him to get coverage mismatches,” Coach Cattau said. “That is a tribute to our other receivers.”

Ty Thoene, Ryan Pick and Braeden Reifenrath were also named Class C2 honorable mention by the World Herald.

“Ty was a physical player in space for us on both sides of the ball,” Cattau said. “He moved to a linebacker position on defense and he was our fullback on offense. He was a great tackler and we were able to rely on him as a blocker and a runner, he had the ability to break some long runs for us.

“Ryan Became our most consistent and best overall lineman during the course of the year,” his coach said. “He was our most experienced guy coming into the year and he really took that role and developed into a leadership position for that group of players.

Braeden came into the season with some big game experience for us at quarterback after starting our playoff games as a sophomore,” said Cattau. “As the season progressed he made some really good decisions for us and became a real threat in both the running and passing games offensively.”