MaxPreps Nebraska 2014-15 Male Athlete of the Year: Blair's Vance Janssen

Video: Vance Janssen's highlight vs. Skutt Catholic
See the Nebraska Male Athlete of the Year in his biggest football game of the season

On one single play, Blair High receiver Vance Janssen lifted any doubt as to what kind of senior sports season he was about to have.

With the ball positioned at midfield on the first play from scrimmage, Janssen blew by an Elkhorn cornerback on a go-route, pulled the ball in at about the 10-yard line, and took a couple steps before succumbing to an ankle tackle at the 1-yard line.

Despite scoring shortly after Janssen's play, Blair fell short in last fall's season opener to the eventual Class B state runner-up Antlers 24-14. But the athletic Janssen carried the Bears into the Class B quarterfinals before starring on the basketball court and on the links as well, earning the Wayne State basketball signee Nebraska's 2014-15 MaxPreps Male Athlete of the Year award.

"I think what makes him special is his hand-eye coordination. It's amazing," Blair basketball coach and defensive coordinator on the gridiron Scott Flynn said. "He is so quick and explosive. He's worked hard on his skill set. He can go up and get it whenever he wants to. Obviously that was huge for us in basketball too."

The first team Super-State receiver made a name for himself on offense, bullying Bear opponents for 50 catches and 1,076 yards. The 6-foot, 2-inch senior scored 14 touchdowns in 11 games last fall. Janssen stepped up on defense as well. Flynn's free safety brought down 39 enemy ball carriers, intercepted a couple of passes and deflected two more.

He also called the defensive plays in the huddle.

"In football, Vance called our coverages and made adjustments," Flynn said. "He really is a coach on the floor. Vance was tremendous at making others successful. He was an A-student, finishing in the Top 10 in his class, and he always brought his intelligence onto the court or the field, or wherever he competed."

The Bears began the football season with three straight losses to Elkhorn, Gretna and Seward, all of who made it to at least the Class B state quarterfinals, by a total of 33 points. Blair then shut out Platteview 40-0 before stopping defending Class B champion Omaha Skutt Catholic's 16-game win streak, 45-28. Skutt eventually went on to win its second-straight title.

Janssen caught 10 passes for 197 yards and a pair of scores in the state's biggest upset of the 2014 season.

Blair bolted to a 31-21 halftime advantage over Skutt, but Janssen said that because of who they had played, Blair's first half performance left the impression that the Bears were holding a much more commanding advantage.

"It seemed like we were up by 45 points," he said. "We played the perfect game against them."

The Bears won another four games in a row to finish the regular season with a 6-3 record and earned a berth in the Nebraska state football playoffs. After knocking off Crete 31-22 in opening-round action, Janssen and company fell to McCook, 13-7, seeing their season end at 7-4. They finished Janssen's senior campaign with a No. 8 ranking in MaxPreps' final Class B football rankings.

With Janssen on the varsity roster, the Bears went 25-17 and qualified for the playoffs all four years.

"The whole town showed up for us," Janssen said. "It seems like the Omaha schools draw parents, families and friends to their games. But with us, whenever we played the whole town showed up.

"People were tailgating and the stadium was packed every game. It was wild."

As the basketball season approached, Janssen said there were some pretty high expectations. But the Bears finished the 2014-15 season 9-15 after dropping a handful of contests by 10 points or less, including overtime losses to Platteview and Columbus.

With Janssen piloting the Bears, Blair did get the better of Plattsmouth (56-52) and Bennington (55-50, OT), both of whom finished the season with winning records.

"There were five or six of us freshmen on the varsity my first year," Janssen recalled. "So our first year wasn't all that great because we lacked depth. Over the years though we had some guys quit for whatever reason, so I guess we kind of got weeded out. We continued to work hard and after my junior year, we knew we had potential. We felt like maybe we were close to having a big year."

Janssen earned second-team all-state honors after averaging 20.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.5 steals a game. During the 2014-15 basketball season Janssen connected on 112 of 179 field goal attempts and converted 42 of 113 3-pointers. Considering Janssen made 118 of 152 free throws it's easy to see why Flynn described the future Wildcat as an efficient scorer.

Janssen scored 468 points for the 2014-15 season, the most in Blair boys basketball history, and in the process became his school's all-time career scoring leader with 1,416 points. Janssen also leads all Bear basketball players with 138 career 3-pointers, 58 steals in a season, 214 career steals and 304 career free throws made.

It had been typical for Janssen to hit the AAU basketball circuit shortly after the hoop season came to a conclusion. But he decided to focus on his golf game this spring as his prep sports career was nearing its end. And it paid off.

As a freshman, Janssen just missed placing his first state golf medal around his neck by one stroke after firing an 82-83-165. Each season went better than the previous in regards to his state meet golf score and his placing. As a sophomore Janssen fired a 79-77-156 to tie for eighth.

At the conclusion of his junior season, Janssen managed a consistent 75-74-149 good for a tie for sixth. This spring Janssen finished all alone in second place after crushing the course for a 73-72-145. Blair as a team took home third place in 2015 after finishing sixth in 2012, second in 2013 and tying for third a year ago.

"I think people will remember me as being one of the best athletes to come out of Blair," Janssen said of his legacy. "And I built relationships in the community. I really liked visiting with people. I tried to do things the right way and I think I helped Blair keep its good name and helped maintain the great image Blair has worked so hard to achieve."