KFBCA Top 11: Gabe Garber

The Kansas Football Coaches Association picked their All-State teams December 8th and 9th, including their Top 11. Kansas Pregame is providing detailed capsules for each of Top 11 selections.

Check out Sabetha senior Gabe Garber's capsule below:

Gabe Garber, QB/LB, 5-11, 185, Sabetha

By the time Gabe Garber graduates high school, he may have a ring for every finger on his hand. Regardless, he’ll be remembered as a winner. 

Garber was not merely a part of two state football and two state baseball championships, he was a leader on both teams. 

In the 2017 state championship, Garber had the game-winning interception to seal a 7-6 win over Marysville. The next season, Garber had the game-winning two-point conversion to defeat Pratt 43-42.

While Sabetha went 6-3 this past season and fell in the first round of the 3A playoffs, Garber went out with a bang on both sides of the ball his senior season.

Garber added to a long list of high school sports accolades with All-State recognition from both the Topeka Capital-Journal and the Wichita Eagle.

This season, Garber rushed for 19 touchdowns and 788 yards while throwing for nine more scores and adding 1,103 yards passing. Defensively, Garber finished with 113 tackles.

For his career, Garber tallied 52 rushing touchdowns and 23 passing TDs to go along with over 4,800 combined passing and rushing yards. He displayed similar dominance on defense with at least 110 tackles in each of his final three high school seasons, with 384 career tackles and seven career interceptions. 

Garber maintained a .552 batting average during the 2018 baseball season with 48 hits and 34 RBIs, earning him All-State recognition from multiple media outlets and helping the Bluejays to a 3A state baseball title in just their second season of high school baseball.

But that's not all, Garber struck out the final batter for the final out to clinch the 2019 3A championship to deliver back-to-back titles. As a junior he batted .405.

The resume and statistics speak for themselves. While Garber still has one more season left on the baseball field, his football teammates and coaches will miss him tremendously.

“When there is a big moment in a big game, I want the ball in his hands and I will live with whatever happens,” Sabetha head coach Garrett Michael said.

Check out Garber's career offensive football highlights below:

Check out Garber's career defensive highlights below:

Garber was part of our #KSQBs feature in our Fall Football Preview. Find that feature by Conor Nicholl below:

Gabe Garber is a two-time all-state Class 3A outfielder and is leaning toward playing college baseball. On the gridiron, Garber helped the Bluejays defeat Marysville, 7-6, for the ’17 state title.

Garber effectively sealed the ‘17 game with an interception in the end zone. Last year, he scored on the game-winning two-point conversion on the contest’s final play for a 43-42 overtime victory versus Pratt in the 3A final. 

Sabetha has captured two consecutive state titles in football, baseball and golf. 

Garber said his favorite memory was looking at the official and seeing his conversion was good.

“In the moment I thought I made it, but I wasn’t sure,” Garber said.

Garber rushed for 668 yards and 14 scores as a sophomore running back, and then switched to QB last fall. Last year, he guided the Bluejays to a 13-0 mark for a squad that rushed for 312 yards a contest.

Garber completed 58 of 90 passes for 990 yards with a 13/1 TD/INT ratio. He rushed 191 times for 1,155 yards and 18 scores.

Then senior Joe Gruber led with 201 carries for 1,437 yards and also delivered 18 scores. Sabetha also won titles in ’93 and ’97.

“Our goals are always to get better and win the next game,” Garber said. “We don’t want to be focused on state. It starts with practice in the summer. Obviously our goal is to always win state.”