HUMBOLDT — There’s a good chance Humboldt High classmates Trey Sommer and Maddox Johnson have suited up together for the last time.
Football season ended in early November. Sommer’s focus is on basketball now, while Johnson recovers from knee surgery and sets his sights on the upcoming track and field season in the spring.
There’s a slight chance they’ll play baseball together in the summer, but that depends on how their upcoming endeavors go.
Both also still need to decide where they’re going to college, which could supersede any summer activities.
But that’s OK. The seniors have already made their peace if no such opportunity to play as teammates arises.
But what a ride it’s been.
Sommer and Johnson were mainstays for the past three years on the Cub football team, concluding this fall with a trip to the Class 2A state quarterfinals, where Humboldt bowed out to eventual state champion Nemaha Central, 44-20.
“We gave it all we had,” Johnson said. “Not much we could do about it.”
“You can’t be too disappointed in losing to the state champs,” Sommer said.
Only one other team — Class 3A power Holton — scored more points against the champion Thunder this season.
The fall season marked the second straight year both Sommer and Johnson earned consensus first-team all-state honors in multiple positions.
Earning all-state honors is a remarkable enough accomplishment for a single player to earn at a single position in a single year.
But as the postseason accolades kept rolling in, news of Sommer and Johnson’s accolades became almost routine.
Johnson earned his accolades on both the offensive and defensive lines.
Sommer — perhaps the living embodiment of the term “jack of all trades” — earned his honors as running back, linebacker and punter.
They did so despite each suffering injuries that would have sidelined their seasons.
Johnson suffered a torn meniscus in his knee in the season-opener, which required surgery almost immediately after the Nov. 11 loss to Nemaha Central.
