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Championship pedigree follows decorated Ashland-Greenwood quartet to Concordia

By Jacob Knabel on Jul. 9, 2026 in Men's Basketball

Brooks Kissinger didn’t know it at the time, but his college decision opened the door wide open for a flock of fellow Ashland-Greenwood Bluejays to fly through. Brooks arrived at Concordia University, Nebraska in the fall of 2023 and was followed one year later by Dane Jacobsen and now three years later by brother Cal Kissinger and brother-in-law Derek Tonjes. Make that four Ashland-Greenwood High School alums on Head Coach Ben Limback’s 2026-27 men’s basketball roster.

Limback and his coaching staff identified the AG products as the right kind of people and basketball players who individually sought out a college experience that mirrors what they had roughly 50 miles away in Ashland. It’s a place that has become a title town thanks to Ashland-Greenwood’s run of four Class C-1 state boys basketball championships in a five-year span.

“Ashland-Greenwood’s clearly had a lot of success and is a well-coached team,” Limback said. “Coach (Jacob) Mohs has done a great job building that program and sustaining high level success. We love that they’re used to winning, but the biggest part is that all four of those guys are outstanding human beings and come from great families. I just love who they are. I think the draw for all four of them was the opportunity to continue to compete for championships and to play with quality people who they played with in high school.”

The reunification of the decorated quartet is already underway in team workouts that began this summer. Brooks and Dane are the established GPAC All-Conference guards while Cal and Derek are looking to make their mark following glorious prep careers. Both incoming freshmen garnered all-state recognition with Derek being tabbed the Lincoln Journal Star’s Boys Athlete of the Year for 2025-26. Incredibly, all four standouts soaked in multiple basketball state championships during the current run from 2022 through 2026. Brooks and Dane began the spurt with the program’s first state title in 2022.

The current circumstances present a dynamic never before seen in Bulldog Men’s Basketball history. During Limback’s tenure, Concordia dipped into Colorado to find the Smith brothers (Gage and Tristan) and has mined local talent at familiar high schools in the Lincoln and Omaha areas, but this is different. It’s especially a family affair for Brooks, who is married to Derek’s sister Danielle. Brooks actually veered from his older brother Rece, a 2025 Midland graduate.

There were plenty of options for the talented Brooks Kissinger to consider. His father Kipp played basketball at Nebraska Wesleyan and is a member of the school’s hall of fame.

Says Brooks of his decision to ultimately choose Concordia, “I think the biggest thing for me was the coaching staff. When I was on my visit here, they really were intentional about making me feel welcome. It felt good to feel welcomed and feel loved. I could picture myself being here four years with those guys. It gave me a lot of peace. I felt a sense of calm in my heart that this was what I wanted for the next four years. On the basketball side of things, I knew they had a tradition of winning. Coming out of high school and winning a couple state championships, I wanted to continue that. I felt like I could do that here.”

In the recruitment process, it struck Limback when Brooks stated that he valued the faith component at Concordia. It wasn’t purely a basketball decision. As Limback said, “At that point, I felt like we really had to get this guy.”

As Limback would learn, Brooks and his AG teammates weren’t so different in what they wanted out of a college basketball program. In separate interviews, all four Bluejay alums referenced faith and/or team culture as primary factors in their decisions. They all believed that they found what they were looking for at Concordia, a place that could serve as an extension of their high school environment.

Dane was a sophomore when he helped power AG to its first ever state championship in boys basketball in March of 2022. He shared that moment with Brooks and with his older brothers Cale (now a member of the Nebraska Cornhusker men’s basketball program) and Tyler. Previously coached by Concordia assistant Ryan Tegtmeier on the AAU circuit, Dane wanted more of what he had at Ashland-Greenwood. (In fact, Dane feels connected enough to his alma mater that he lent his services to broadcasting state tournament games this past season).

Said Dane, “Seeing the towns of Ashland and Greenwood rally behind a group of high school kids playing basketball is something I'll never forget. What made that first championship even more meaningful was that I got to share it with my brother Cale as a teammate and my brother Tyler as an assistant coach. That was a dream come true. More than anything though, it was the relationships we built. We were as close off the court as we were on it, and I've never been part of a group that cared for each other the way we did.”

Along come Cal and Derek, two prominent pieces in a 2026-27 freshman class Limback expects a lot from. In the recruiting process, Cal didn’t necessarily feel as though he absolutely had to follow Brooks to Concordia, but he relayed to Limback that he was “open to it.” As Cal became more familiar with what the Bulldogs had to offer, the realization set in.

“It definitely came down to the culture of the team,” Cal said. “You could tell everyone was so close. I did want to become closer with my brother. I thought being able to play with him would be really cool. I noticed that faith was a big part of the basketball team, and I wanted to grow my faith more. I understood that basketball was going to be the next four years of my life, and I knew Concordia was going to put me in good position for the rest of my life.”

Derek and Cal averaged 17.4 and 12.7 points, respectively, for Ashland-Greenwood’s latest state championship team. At 6-foot-5, Derek projects as a post player for the Bulldogs. He took the Journal Star’s top prep honor thanks to his prowess on both the basketball court and football field. For Derek, at least some consideration had been given to playing college football. But the opportunity at Concordia was too good to pass up.

“I think it was the coaches and the overall culture the team has,” explains Tonjes. “It’s a good distance from home and I knew there would be people I would know with four Ashland guys. It was a combination of everything. I love the coaches and I love talking to them. I knew a decent amount of the team. Whenever I was around them, I liked them a lot. Every time I went on a visit, everything went well. Everything was smooth so I wanted to go there.”

Even before beginning classes at Concordia, dorm roommates Cal and Derek know they have an open invitation at the apartment of Brooks and Danielle. Derek says they’ve been over countless times already.

Brooks relishes the chance to play the role of a mentor, even if that sometimes means playful banter back and forth. In an interview with an Omaha TV station following this past season’s state championship game, Cal cracked, “Brooks would always make fun of me, honestly, when he had two state championships and I had two. He said he was always a better athlete in high school. Now he’s clearly got nothing on me.”

In a more serious tone, Brooks described the new dynamics by saying, “It’s been a joy playing with Dane the last two years. I look forward to playing with Cal and Derek. It’s going to be super joyful. When I look back at my college career, I’ll be able to say I played with my brother and brother-in-law. I’m looking forward to seeing the success they have on the court but also off the court making memories. I’m really looking forward to getting closer and building deeper relationships with them.”

Brooks and Dane are a testament to the type of growth that can happen inside Concordia’s program. Brooks became a star as a junior as he averaged 22.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game while Jacobsen blossomed as a sophomore and averaged 13.3 points while shooting 46.4 percent from 3-point range. Off the court, the moments spent together are every bit as meaningful.

Says Dane of his relationship with Brooks, “One of the biggest blessings has been watching both of us grow in our faith. We have gone from finding our identity in basketball and chasing success to simply enjoying the game as a gift from God and playing with the freedom Christ has given us. That perspective has changed both of our lives for the better … With Cal and Derek joining the team as freshmen, it would be pretty special if all four of us had the chance to share the court together. That would be an incredible experience for our families. At the end of the day, I think we complement each other because of our trust, our different leadership styles, our understanding of the game and the friendship we have built over so many years. Those things allow us to play together naturally and make each other better.”

Collectively, there’s a desire to leave Concordia better than they found it, just as they did when they hung up their jerseys at Ashland-Greenwood. Their high school coach, Jacob Mohs, was quoted as saying this past March, “They’ve put together quite a legacy, but I hope they’re remembered for the work they put in and the type of kids they are.”

There’s plenty more of this story to be told. Limback and his program are the beneficiaries of a pipeline no one realized had been started when Brooks pledged his commitment in August 2022. One by one, Ashland-Greenwood Bluejays kept on coming. As Brooks says, “I’m so happy they made the decision to come to Concordia.”

The plan is to keep on winning – and not just on the basketball court. All four AG alums know what it takes. Says Limback, “We would have recruited each of them separately even if they went to different schools. To have them all on one team is quite unique. I’m sure it will be fun for them to have that experience carry into college. Hopefully they keep winning championships.”