Cedar duo earns First Team All State football honors again

OMAHA — A pair of Cedar Catholic athletes have once again been honored with some of the top awards in Nebraska high school football.

Rex Becker and Jacob Keiser joined a very elite list this week. The Cedar Catholic duo both earned First Team All State Football honors.

This is Becker’s third straight year to make the First Team All State team. Keiser is making his second straight appearance on the elite squad.

Becker becomes only the second player in Cedar Catholic school history to be named First Team All State for three straight years. Chad Koch was the first Cedar athlete to pick up that honor, earning First Team All State after the 2007, 2008 and 2009 football seasons.

A Cedar Catholic/Holy Trinity football player has now earned All State First Team status 43 times since the school first started competing in football in 1951.

Eight different Cedar Catholic football players have earned All State football honors more than once.

The first Cedar athlete to earn two First Team All State honors was Jason Merkel, who did it in 1990 and 1991 as a running back and as a kicker.

The 1990 season also marked the first time Cedar had more than one player listed on an All State First team. Merkel and Kevin Steffen both made it on the honor list that season.

Jamie Jones became the second Cedar Catholic athlete to earn multiple All State nods. The record-setting quarterback earned First Team honors after the 1993 and 1994 seasons.

Russ Hochstein earned the first of his two First Team All State selections in 1994. In 1995, Hochstein was also named to the All Nebraska team, which was made up of the top players in the state, regardless of which division they competed.

Ben Hochstein was also a dual winner, claiming the honors after the 2001 and 2002 seasons.

Another Cedar County athlete, Noah Schutte, Laurel, was also listed by Huskerland Prep Report as a First Team All Stater for the second straight year. 1954 Jerome Feilmeier center 1975 Tim Bruening Tackle 1978 Jeff Steffen OL 1980 Jeff Kathol E 1982 Chuck Becker OL 1983 Shane Kuchta RB 1983 Tom Vlach DL 1990 Kevin Steffen 1990Jason Merkel RB/K 1991Jason Merkel RB/K 1991Aaron Frank WR 1993Jamie Jones QB 1994Jamie Jones QB 1994Paul Howey WR 1994 Russ Hochstein OL 1995 Russ Hochstein OL 2000 Neil Wortmann DB 2001 Jesse Hochstein DB 2001 Ben Hochstein OL 2002 Ben Hochstein OL 2003 Greg Sudbeck OL 2005Preston Leise RB 2006 Jesse Noecker DL 2007 Kyle Dump OL 2007 Chad Koch RB 2008 Chad Koch RB 2008 Todd Bottolfsen DL 2009 Chad Koch RB 2009 Todd Bottolfsen DL 2011 Keenan Sudbeck RB 2013 Connor Wieseler DL 2013Taylor Kathol DB 2014Ryan Becker RB 2014James Kaiser DB 2014Chase Kelley DL 2016 Stephen Hillis LB 2016Sean Kathol WR 2017 Rex Becker OL 2018 Rex Becker OL 2018Jacob Keiser RB-RT 2019 Rex Becker DL 2019Jacob Keiser RB-RT