“FROM THE HUDDLE”

BY COACH BRIAN WALKER       

                The Falcon football team went on the road for the first time on a Friday night, as we traveled to Heron Lake to take on the Wildcats of Southwest United.  The Wildcats were looking for their first win, and the Falcons were looking to get back in the win column after a tough over time loss to Wabasso last week.   After a rainy day, the night cleared before kickoff and was a great night for football.  SWU took the opening kickoff and moved the ball down the field by the pass, and caught us off guard some with a no huddle attack.  They actually scored a TD, but a penalty nullified that.  On the ensuing play, Josh Rogotzke fell on a fumble giving the ball to RRC on the 25 yd line.  From there we moved the ball down the field in 13 plays and scored on a 26 yd pass from Dylan Bunting to George Rogotzke.  It was our first TD pass of the year.  Josh Mason, our newly found kicker put in the PAT kick to give the Falcons a 7-0 lead.  SWU had not scored a TD on offense this year, so we wanted to get on the board early, and make them play catch up ball.  Our defense made some adjustments against their spread offense, and were able to hold them on downs.  From there, we moved the ball 40 yds in 8 plays as Zach Siemer scored the first of his 3 touchdowns in the game on a 1 yd run.  Mason kicked the PAT to give us a 14-0 lead with 9:43 left in the half.  Once again, we held them forcing a punt, and for the first time in the half, we were unable to punch it across the goal line.  However, our defense would hold, and on a first down, Dylan Bunting hit Nate Bierman on a beautiful 45 yd pass play to the 2 yd line.  From there, Siemer punched it into the endzone to give us a 20-0 lead going into the half.  At the break, we talked about staying focused on the second half, and finish the game with no let ups.  We came out and Nate Bierman took the opening kickoff returning the ball 30 yds setting us up at the 40 yd line.  We continued where we left of in the first half, as our success of running the ball continued.  This time Jake Fredrickson capped an 8 play drive on a 2 yd TD run.  Josh Mason kicked his third PAT to give RRC a 27-0 lead.  The rest of the third quarter saw 3 interceptions in a matter of 5 plays.  SWU threw two of those, as Nate Bierman and Tyler Erickson came up with the take-a-ways for the Falcons.  The Falcons then put together a 16 play drive that covered 63 yds, and ground out over 8 minutes to score on a 2 yd run by Zach Siemer.  Josh Mason capped the scoring with his 4^th PAT for a 34-0 lead with 5:38 to play.  SWU got on the board as they moved down the field to score with 4:48 to play to make the score 34-7.  Our younger players got another chance to play on a Friday night, and were able to pick up a couple of first downs on Dan Maras runs.  The key to the game was the fact that we were able to be a +4 in the take-a-ways.  Clay Peterson, Josh Rogotzke, and Ray Hagberg all came up with fumble recoveries, and Bierman and Erickson each had interceptions.  We had just 1 turnover in the game, and had just 3 penalties compared to 9 by the Wildcats that cost them 100 yds.  For the game, we rushed the ball 55 times for 235 yds, which is just shy of 5 yds/carry.  Jake Fredrickson and Zach Siemer each carried the ball 20 times for good balance in our offense.  Fredrickson gained 133 yds and 1 TD, while Siemer added 92 yds and 3 TD’s.  That kind of balance is so important, as defenses can’t key on just one back.  Dylan Bunting had a nice night throwing the ball hitting 8 of 13 for 122 yds and his first career TD pass.  Nate Bierman had 5 catches for 73 yds and George Rogotzke caught the other 3 for 49 yds and a TD.  For the game, the  Falcons outgained the Wildcats 357 to 196 yds.  The Falcon defense held SWU to just 79 yds rushing, and 117 yds passing.  Our defense continued to play well.  You take out that loss to CMC, and our defense has allowed just 21 points in the other 3 games, which is what we are going to need as we move into the second half of the conference schedule.  Nate Mattison had another stellar game with 11 tackles and 1 sack.  Ryan Schroepfer, getting his first varsity start at cornerback was in on 6 tackles.  Andrew Engen added 5 tackles, and Dillon Imker added 4 tackles.  We were able to rest our run stoppers a lot of the game on defense, and put our pass rushers on the field along with our cover people. 

                Next week the Falcons travel to New Ulm Cathedral to take on the #1 ranked team in Class 1A.  The Greyhounds are (4-0) and have an explosive offense to go along with a stout defense.  We will have to come out and play error free football again, and continue to move the ball to keep their offense off the field.  We have always played the Greyhounds tough, beating them 9-7 in 2007, and losing 7-6 in 2006.  The two teams didn’t play each other last year.  It will be there homecoming, and they are coming off two straight shutouts, 53-0 over BLH, and 48-0 over MLBO last Thursday night.  It is a great challenge for our team again, and we need another great week of preparation.  This team will be ready to play and be up for the challenge.  Come to New Ulm and support this Falcon team.  GO FALCONS!!