January 13, 2025

Seven new leaders on Creston football records list

By LARRY PETERSON

Creston/O-M quarterback Alex Nielsen (7) and running back Chase Shiltz (24), shown here behind the blocking of Jake Gutschenritter (65) and Alex Tamerius (40), are two of the new leaders on the Creston/O-M single-season records chart after last fall's state semifinal campaign. (Contributed file)

The historic 2014 Creston/Orient-Macksburg football season, which included the school’s first-ever appearance in the state semifinals in the UNI-Dome at Cedar Falls, produced some performances ranking high on the all-time individual season records list.

Among them are seven new leaders after the Panthers’ 10-3 season. They are defensive pass interceptions (9 by McClain Haines); total tackles (181 by Seth Maitlen); passing yards (2,868 by Alex Nielsen); passing touchdowns (23 by Nielsen); rushing touchdowns (24 by Chase Shiltz); total rushing and receiving touchdowns (30 by Shiltz; and total passing and rushing touchdowns (32 by Nielsen).

Records are not available prior to 1985.

Individual season

Records (1985-2014)

Defense

Interceptions — 1. 9 — McClain Haines (2014); 2. 8 — Tony Hartman (2005); 3. (tie) 7 — Clark Kuntz (1988), David Rectenbaugh (1995), Michael Buck (2003), Luke Neitzel (2012), Conner Pals (2014).

Total tackles — 1. 181 — Seth Maitlen (2014); 2. 147 — Matt Buck (2000); 3. 146 — Trevor Frain (2013); 4. 135 — Todd Pettit (1985); 5. 127 — Corey McKie (1995); 6. 124 — Todd Edsall (1994).

Fumble recoveries — 1. 6 — Darren McCollum (1985); 2. 5 — Matt Buck (2001); 3. (tie) 4 — Ethan Owens (1994) and Keaton Hulett (2011).

Offense

Passing yards (comp/att) — 1. 2,868 (170-297) — Alex Nielsen (2014); 2. 2,014 (147-234) — G.G. Harris (2005); 3. 1,743 (121-232) — Eric Crittenden (2003); 4. 1,732 (127-200) — Kyle McCann (1996); 5. 1,583 (110-187) — Kyle McCann (1995); 6. 1,473 (104-213) — Gabe Stofferahn (2001); 7. 1,430 (87-185) — Jared Jensen (2000).

Passing touchdowns — 1. 23 — Alex Nielsen (2014); 2. (tie) 16 — G.G. Harris (2005) and Luke Neitzel (2011); 4. 15 — Kyle McCann (1995); 5. (tie) Gabe Stofferahn (2001) and Eric Crittenden (2003).

Rushing yards (attempts) — 1. 1,260 (173 att) — Luke Neitzel (2012); 2. 1,250 (222 att) — Chase Shiltz (2014); 3. 1,236 (209 att) — Gabe Stofferahn (2000); 4. 1,187 (164 att) — Dennis Shaw (1988); 5. 1,159 (192 att) — Adam Baker (2013); 6. 1,142 (174 att) — Dennis Shaw (1989); 7. 1,095 (206 att) — Kalab Evans (2007); 8. 1,013 (251 att) — Tyler Hanson (1999); 9. 1,003 (127 att) — Tyler Hanson (1997).

Rushing touchdowns — 1. 24 — Chase Shiltz (2014); 2. 20 — Luke Neitzel (2012); 3. 18 — Gabe Stofferahn (2000); 4. 14 — Jed Gammell (1992); 5. (tie) 12 — Dennis Shaw (1988) and Tyler Hanson (1999); 7. (tie) 11 — B.J. Hellyer (1991) and Tyler Hanson (1997).

Receiving yards (receptions) — 1. 828 (61) — Trevor Conner (2005); 2. 725 (40) — J.D. Schroder (2000); 3. 708 (49) — Ben Gerleman (1996); 4. 693 (26) Bryce Briley (2014); 5. 652 (49) Christian Groumoutis (2014); 6. 596 (40) — Michael Buck (2003); 7. 511 (33) — Joe Calvin (1992).

Receiving touchdowns — 1. (tie) 8 — Joe Calvin (1992) and J.D. Schroder (2000); 3. Trevor Conner (2005); 4. (tie) 6 — John David Weber (1994), Jason Hyde (2001), Bryce Briley (2014) and Chase Shiltz (2014).

Total rushing & receiving touchdowns — 1. 30 (24 rushing/6 receiving) — Chase Shiltz (2014).

Total passing & rushing touchdowns — 1. 32 (23 passing/9 rushing) — Alex Nielsen (2014); 2. 28 (8 passing/20 rushing) — Luke Neitzel (2012.

Longest field goal — 1. 56 yards — Kevin Downey (1975); 2. 52 yards — Conner Pals (2014); 3. 47 yards — John Blazek (1972).