Now, it’s New London.
A challenge for the Braves?
You might say that. No, you WOULD say that.
It will be a pair of 2-0 eight-man teams squaring off in New London Friday night at 7.
Montezuma has fallen four straight times to the Tigers since beating a just-developing program 61-0 in 2011.
Last year, the Braves hung with them for a while, but wound up on the short end of a 94-68 track meet.
So far this year, shoes worn by the Braves seem to be leaving larger prints. Montezuma was rated seventh in the 8-man class by the Associated Press and ninth by the Cedar Rapids Gazette. New London wasn’t in the top 10.
The Braves have Eddie Burgess. They did last year, too. All he did was throw for 557 yards and seven touchdowns and rush 106 yards and two more. (Just against New London).
And Montezuma LOST? You might say he could have sued his defense for non-support. But oh, he was – and is – part of that defense, which would like to bring some attitude – along with more technical mastery – into this year’s game.
What New London had – and no longer does – was running back Shae Summerfield, who spun away from and outran the Braves for 448 yards rushing and eight touchdowns on 32 carries.
He graduated.
Running that many times for that many yards takes time off the clock. The Braves hung with them for a while, but just couldn’t keep up.
This year, the leading New London rusher is sophomore Blaise Porter, who has 213 yards on 26 carries (8.2 per) and five touchdowns.
No one else has more than 91 total yards in two games. But keep in mind that guy, Caydin Wahls, rushed 21 times for 192 yards against Montezuma last year.
New London has completed just two passes so far.
The Braves are something else, entirely. Burgess has hit on 37-of-62 pass attempts for 682 yards and eight touchdowns. He has rushed for seven touchdowns and 200 yards on 28 attempts.
His kickoff return score last week gave him 16 touchdowns – tops in Iowa in all classes.
His 952 all purpose yards are also number one in all classes.
Receiver Cole Watts has 10 catches for 269 yards and three scores.
Watts also has 21.5 tackles and two interceptions.
The Braves’ defense has improved steadily during the first two weeks. Coach Pat O’Brien thought the offense began to really click last week against Winfield-Mt. Union.
An area that needs cleaning, according to the coach: Penalties. The Braves were whistled for a dozen of them last week.
KICKOFF – is at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 11, in New London.
