By John Beck
Head Football Coach
What a great win for our football program! We really played well and together as a team.
It was your typical rivalry game: Physical, emotional, and messy at times. I was very proud of how the guys managed their emotions and adversity throughout the night.
It all starts in the trenches with how our guys played. On the offensive side, the big guys up front were physical and dominated the line of scrimmage.
Briar Simpson, Houston Van Roekel and Braxton Plants had to keep their eyes up as they saw different fronts and blitzes all night long. They did a good job adjusting and we were able to break off some big runs!
On the defensive side, we bounced around having 2 or 3 down linemen in different scenarios. Not only were they able to hold their ground but got pretty good penetration being outnumbered.
I cannot give these young men, including Breck Simpson, Blake Smith and Isaac Wedgewoo in the trenches enough credit! They are playing extremely hard and getting better every week!
Being able to control the trenches allowed for our linebackers to flow to the ball and make some very good plays. While we were not perfect, as we have angles, leverage and tackling to fix (that is the coach in me being nit-picky), Brett Plants, Broox Stockman, Carter Michalek and Luke Erselius played extremely well!
We were able to blitz some and come up with some big turnovers off of it!
On the back end, we were able to get our hands on a few balls and be there on the catch most of the night. Brady Boulton, David Rose and Luke Brennan all are playing really well right now.
Except for two big plays which accounted for many of their passing yardage, we held the BGM passing game in check. The same could be said for the running game as two big runs, both of which containment was the issue, the ground game was held in check.
The challenge is to do your job every and we did that pretty consistently.
Our backs and reviewers did a great job all night long. Our reviewers were able to step up and make some big plays on key downs. Carter and Luke Erseslius along with Broox and Brett out of the backfield did a very good job on the limited passing opportunities.
Brady made some very good decisions both throwing the ball but also with his decisions to tuck and run. Our backs all ran the ball extremely hard.
Brett led the way with carries. His ability to get extra yards after contact is so valuable. His patience running with the football is very good, and he was able to show some quick bursts as well.
While Brett is the thunder, Broox and Brady brought some lightning as they were fast on the outside and up the middle to get some big yardage plays. Just having those three split the carries and complement each other goes a long way.
Next up, ‘tough, gritty’ Plainsmen
Now we don’t get to celebrate too much as we have a district title game this week as Belle Plaine travels to town.
The Plainsmen are a tough and gritty team that just seems to find a way to get the job done.
We will need to be ready to from the first kick.
Keys to this game will be winning the trenches, tackling and taking care of the football!
I cannot wait to see our guys out on Badger Gabriel Field on Friday!