Westside’s Cole Payton wins Gatorade Nebraska Football POTY
OMAHA, Neb. (BVM) — Cole Payton most recently finished his final high school baseball season with Omaha Westside High School. He had a team-best 31 hits, 15 of which went for extra bases for the Warriors, who finished their spring season with a record of 19-13.
But baseball isn’t the sport Payton is known for. It’s on the gridiron where he has truly shined for Westside, and his accomplishments have now earned him one of the highest awards a prep football player can obtain. On May 13, Payton was named the Gatorade Nebraska Football Player of the Year. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound dual-threat quarterback was rewarded for a standout senior season, during which he threw for 1,704 yards and 22 touchdowns and also ran for 1,029 and 17 TDs as he led the Warriors to a 12-0 season and their first state title in 38 years.
“Cole Payton is just a winner,” Lincoln East head coach John Gingery said in a Gatorade press release. “He’s big, tough and smart, and he finds ways to make plays.”
The North Dakota State commit made a lot of those plays in the final football game of his Westside career. In the Class A state championship against Elkhorn South, Payton rushed for 139 yards, passed for 218, and accounted for all five touchdowns the Warriors scored in the 37-21 victory. It was a performance that Westside head coach Brett Froendt called “one of the best performances ever at [Westside] and certainly in the annals of state titles.”
Payton will have the chance to make a lot more big plays and win a lot more games at the next level when he suits up for one of the most successful FCS programs in the country.
