“FROM THE
HUDDLE”
BY COACH
BRIAN WALKER
The Falcons of Red Rock Central hosted the Greyhounds from New Ulm Cathedral for the annual Homecoming game last Friday night. It was breezy, but out of the south to keep it warm, and a great night for football. If you didn’t get to the game until halftime, all the scoring was already over, as the Falcons were able to hold on to a 9-7 win over the (2-2) Greyhounds to give RRC its first win of the season. We have been in so many close games over the past few years, and this one we were able to close the deal. We had some guys really step up and play, and came up with several key plays to put this one in the win column. RRC dominated play, as for the game we ran 71 offensive plays to just 29 of the Greyhounds. We don’t keep a time of possession stat, but we had to have had the ball for 2/3 of the game. It seemed like every drive, we were putting together 10-15 plays, but were only able to find the endzone once. That happened in the second quarter. Our defense held the Greyhounds to just 13 offensive plays in the first half, and was able to set us up late in the first quarter. From there we took the ball and moved 66 yds in 12 plays to score on a 2 yd run by Turner Nickel. Matt Fox kicked the PAT to give us a 7-0 lead with 9:45 left in the half. That lead was short lived, as NUC struck quickly on a 43 yd pass from Jon Braegelmann to Ben Wolf to tie the game at 7-7. From that point, our offense was able to move the ball down the field again on 12 plays only to get stopped on a 4th and 1 at the goal line. The only good thing was that our defense was playing well, and Ryan Benedict made back to back tackles for no gain, then on 3rd down, NUC didn’t account for our sophomore def. tackle, Zach Siemer as he came in untouched on the QB for a sack for a Safety which gave the Falcons two points and a 9-7 lead with a little over 1 minute left in the half. That was a huge boost for us, as we were able to then take their kick and run 3 plays and go into the half with a lead. In the second half, we continued our physical play, as we were able to run 32 plays to NUC’s 16. Even though no points were scored, our offense kept the ball out of their hands with a punishing ground game, and some timely passing. The drive ate over 7 minutes off the clock. We put ourselves in position again putting 15 plays together, only to get stopped on 4th down. That set up the final sequence of the game. Once again, Zach Siemer used his quickness to rip through to get the QB for a 9 yd loss on their fist play with 2 minutes left. Then on 3rd down, Eric Altermatt came up with a diving interception with just over a minute to play to seal the win.
Our kids were hungry for a win, and made
the plays to give it to them. Once again, our offense ran 71 plays to just 29
for NUC. The Falcons rushed the ball 58 times for 184 yds, just over 3 yds/carry.
Through the air, Blake Walker hooked up on 9 of 13 passes for 100 yds.
Josh Fredrickson hauled in 3 for 44 yds. Bevern Kedl caught 3 for 15 yds,
Turner Nickel caught 2 for 27 yds and Ryan Benedict had 1 for 14 yds. In
the rushing department, the Falcons once again had great balance with Bevern
Kedl getting 25 carries for 95 yds. Turner Nickel had 16 carries for 51
yds, and Ryan Benedict carried 13 times for 46 yds. On the defense, Ryan
Benedict and Taylor Mattison each had 8 tackles. Turner Nickel had a QB
sack, and Zach Siemer had 2 QB sacks. Bevern Kedl recovered 2 fumbles, and
Taylor Mattison had one as the Falcons forced 4 Greyhound turnovers. Nate
Bierman and Eric Altermatt each had interceptions for RRC’s defense. The
Falcons held NUC to just 19 yds rushing on 20 attempts in the game, and just 84
yds passing for only 103 total yards in the game. We should have been able
to widen the margin of score, but couldn’t get into the endzone. Our
kids played physical all night long, and we have really been playing well in the
past three games, losing two games by a TD, and now winning a two point game.
This week we travel to BLH in Hector to take on the (1-4) Mustangs. We
need to come out and play with that same desire we have in the past few games
and travel on the road to do it. This should give us confidence to
continue playing well and get some more wins!! GO FALCONS