“FROM THE HUDDLE”

BY COACH BRIAN WALKER       

            The Falcons traveled to New Ulm Cathedral to take on the unbeaten Greyhounds.  Cathedral came in ranked #1 in Class 1A, so the Falcons would have to be on the top of their game.  We really came out and played inspired football early on in the first quarter, and held then without a first down the entire first quarter.  They have a potent offense with lots of pulling and misdirection, and our guys were focused early on.  After a scoreless first quarter, the Greyhounds got on the board on a 3rd down and 16 when they connected on a 27 yd pass to the corner of the endzone. The two point conversion was successful to lead 8-0.  After exchanging possessions, the Falcons put together a 14 play and 78 yd drive to score with 50 seconds left in the half to pull to within 8-6.  However, the Greyhounds were able to score on a 19 yd pass with just 7 seconds left in the half to make the score 15-6 at the break.  We broke down defensively for just a couple plays and they made us pay for it with scores.  After playing a fairly even first half, we were able to get the opening kickoff of the second half.  However, we lost fumbles on back to back possessions deep in Greyhound territory and they took advantage of it scoring two quick touchdowns to make the score

29-6 with still 9:49 left in the third quarter.  For the game, we had 5 turnovers, and we didn’t get any take-a-ways from them, and when you play the top team in the league you just can’t have that many miscues in a game.  NUC tacked on their 4th touchdown pass of the game on a 26 yd pass to close the scoring at 35-6.  We knew that it would be tough to move the ball against their defense, but we were able to piece some good plays together on our scoring drive, and a few on our opening drive before we lost another fumble.  For the game, we rushed for just 43 yds.

We need to run the ball better than we did to have a chance to win games.  Zach Siemer ran 10 times for 30 yds, while Jake Fredrickson rushed 13 times for 9 yds.  Our passing game was working good at times, as Dylan Bunting hooked up on 11 of 21 passes for 97 yds.  George Rogotzke hauled in 5 catches for 47 yds.  Tyler Erickson had 3 catches for 44 yds and Nate Bierman added 3 catches for 6 yds.  On the defensive side of the ball, linebacker, Nate Mattison was all over the field as he was in on 20 tackles on the night.  Aaron Furth played a great game at his defensive end position with 13 tackles.  There wasn’t too many times they got around Aaron in this game.  Nate Bierman added 9 tackles, and Josh Rogotzke and Ray Hagberg were in on 8 tackles apiece.  NUC rushed the ball 44 times for 168 yds, and hooked up on 6 of 11 passes for 100 yds for 268 total yards of offense.  We took them out of a lot of their running game, and we were right there on the coverage for the most part, but on a couple of the touchdowns, they just jumped over the top of us.

They are a good football team, and our guys played a tough, physical game.  Our team was complemented by their coaches on how physical a game we played, so we can take that away from this game. 

            This week is Homecoming week, and we will host BLH on Friday night.  We will need to get our offense in gear again and get back to running the football.  BLH will play an odd front defense, while on offense, they like to throw the ball, and run out of several different formations.  We will need to eliminate our mistakes and win the battle of the turnovers.  In our losses this year, we have turned the ball over too many times.  The Defense will have to play well again, and come up with some turnovers.  We are home for the next two weeks.  After the homecoming game, we will host MLBO on Wednesday night of MEA break, and it will be Jr. League night when the Flag football elementary teams will play at halftime.  Come out and support the Falcons.  GO FALCONS!!