Football Friday Night (August 30)

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1. Akron-Westfield at Ridge View, 2. Cherokee at MMCRU, 3. Sioux Central at South O’Brien

Raptors secure win in Wilkens debut

HOLSTEIN — It had been 15 years since new Ridge View coach Brian Wilken had coached an 11-man football game. Back on that Friday evening Wilken’s Newell-Fonda team defeated Pocahontas Area, 21-14.

Fast forward to 2024, Wilken was noticeably nervous for the game to get underway against a rugged non-district team from Akron-Westfield. Like any coach, Wilken wanted his team to come out and play well from the onset. The final was the Raptors with the shutout 10-0.

“There was a lot of nerves for me. Obviously, this being by first at Ridge View. We probably had some added nerves.”

Brian Wilken, Ridge View head football coach

It was the first shutout victory for a Ridge View football team in its last nine games going back to a 14-0 win in Holstein a season ago against Unity Christian.

Following a scoreless first quarter, Ridge View put the initial points on the scoreboard when Gavin Vohs scooped up a Akron-Westfield fumble and races 25-yards to pay dirt with roughly four minutes remaining in the second quarter.

The Raptors final points came with around eight minutes left to play in the game when Kellen Jensen put his field goal attempt through the uprights from 20 yards.

Akron-Westfield ended up with more total yards than the Raptors, finishing with 190 total yards (78 rushing, 112 passing) to Ridge View’s 177 total yards, all coming courtesy of the Raptors backfield.

Senior Conner Jacobson became the feature back following an injury to Lucas Heilman in the first half. Jacobson finished with 75 yards rushing on 13 carries. Heilman wound up with nine carries for 43 yards.

The sophomore left-handed gunslinger Raif Jensen finished 0-for-3 passing with an interception. His counterpart, Tatum Wilken slung the football around 21 attempts with nine completions for 112 yards for the Westerners.

“We want to run the football. We would have liked to do a better job in the passing game. One of our objectives and priorities is to be able to run the football. You know your going to have to be able to throw the football from time to time. We didn’t do that well tonight. We have to get better, and do a better job of that. Being able to run the football and control the line of scrimmage was a huge emphasis.”

Brian Wilken, Ridge View head football coach

The leading rusher for Akron-Westfield was Wilken with 16 carries for 65 yards. Junior Reagan McKee caught four passes for 70 yards.

“Obviously scoring first was important, but equally important was our defensive effort to keep Akron-Westfield out of the end zone. We had a goal line stop on Akron-Westfield’s second drive of the game, which they had vfirst and goal at the seven yard line. They had three red zone appearances in the first half and got no points. Our defense deserves a lot of credit.”

Brian Wilken, Ridge View head football coach

Each team came up with an interception. Zach Zolpin had one for Ridge View, and Tayte Colt interception a pass and tacked on a 26 yard return.

Defensively, the Westerners’ Lane Hemmelink recorded a game-best 11 tackles, including two for loss. Blake Myrtue led Ridge View with six tackles, all solo’s. Kinnick Jensen finished with 5-1/2 avd Vohs had five tackles. For the Raptors, Dramelle McCray came up with a quarterback sack of Wilken.

Akron-Westfield 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 = 0
Ridge View 0 – 7 – 0 – 3 = 10

Scoring Summary
Not Available

Ridge View Individual Leaders:
Rushing — Conner Jacobson 13-75, Lucas Heilman 9-43, Raif Jensen 10-42, Gavin Vohs 2-25, Blake Myrtue 5-12.
Passing — Jensen 0-3-1
Tackles — Myrtue 6 (6 S), Kinnick Jensen 5.5 (5 S), Vohs 5.0 (5 S), Jacobson 4.5 (4 S), Kellen Jensen 4.5 (4 S), Raif Jensen 4.0 (2 S), Zach Kolpin 3.0 (3 S), Carson Harriman 2.5 (2 S), Dramelle McCray 2.5 (2 S), Kyle Burk 2.5 (2 S), Jonathan Friedrichsen 2.0 (2 S), Heilman 1 (1 S), Jacob Cougill 1 (1 S).
Fumble Recovery — Vohs
Interception — Kolpin

Depleted Royals falls to guest Braves take advantage in opener

MARCUS — MMCRU came into its home opener on Friday hoping to avenge a 28 point (51-23) loss from a season ago. Instead, the Royals went into the game missing eight potential starters do to a undisclosed disciplinary reason.

The Gazette Poll had Cherokee ranked tenth in Class 2A, and in the Iowa Prep Illustrated Poll had MMCRU eighth in Class A.

It became evident rather quickly Cherokee was going to capitalize on the MMCRU unfortunate situation. On their first series, it was a five play 66 yard drive with junior Blake Lovell finding the end zone from four yards out with 9:49 remaining in the opening quarter.

Cherokee never looked back leading by as many as 35 point activating the continuous clock with 11:44 remaining in the contest. Cherokee rolled over MMCRU once again 37-8.

The Braves improve to 6-1 all-time against MMCRU. The lone win for the Royals came back on August 26, 2022 in Cherokee, 38-22.

Cherokee compiled 391 yards of total offense, getting five rushing touchdown from the tandem of juniors’ Lovell and Jaxon Paulsrud. Lovell had touchdown runs of four, 24, and 45 yards. Paulsrud plunged in from one yard away, and dashed 46 yards on another score.

MMCRU’s one big play and only touchdown came with 11:31 remaining in the game when senior Tayden Hicks returned the kickoff 90 yards for the score. MMCRU’s first point of the game came late in the third quarter on a punting situation. The ball was snapped over the head of the Cherokee punter and rolled out of the back of the end zone for the safety.

Paulsrud connected on one pass of 60 yards to Henry Lugar, setting up Cherokee initial score. Landon Stowater came on under center and was 1-of-5 passing for 32 yards and a interception. Paulsrud toted the football for 140 yards on 17 carries. Lovell also went over 100 yards rushing, finishing with 109 yards on 11 carries.

The leading rusher for MMCRU was John Schmillen. He finished with 10 carries for 103 yards. Three different played served as quarterback for the Royals — Kamden Bork, Eli Harpenau, and Ayden Miller.

Cherokee finished with four interceptions — Christian Vander Broek, Lugar, Stowater and Brayden Good. Mason Campbell had a fumble recovery for the Braves. Sophomore linebacker Mallon Malausky stepped up and led Cherokee in tackles with 7-1/2 stops.

Parker Glassmaker intercepted a Braves pass attempt and tacked on a five yard return for the Royals. He also finished with the second most tackles for MMCRU five five in the game. The Royals tackles leade for the night was Schmillen with 6-1/2 tackles, including six solo’s.

Cherokee (1-0) will host another Class A opponent on Friday at George Hicks Field in Sioux Central (1-0), who picked up a Week 1 win at South O’Brien.

EDITORS NOTE: Would really like seeing Cherokee step up a class or more against a opponent and renew their rivalry with Storm Lake, who plays in Class 4A District 1.

MMCRU (0-1) will travel the short distance to LeMars to face the Gehlen Jays (0-1), who fell to Hinton on Friday night.

CHEROKEE 7 – 16 – 7 – 7 = 37
MMCRU 0 – 0 -2 – 6 = 8

Scoring Summary
9:49 1st Quarter – Cherokee | Blake Lovell 4 run, Coy Lewis PAT kick | 7-0
11:57 2nd Quarter – Cherokee | Jaxon Paulsrud 1 run, Lewis PAT kick | 14-0
8:03 2nd Quarter – Cherokee | Coy Lewis 25 yard FG | 17-0
4:37 2nd Quarter – Cherokee | Paulsrud 46 run, PAT kick no good | 23-0
6:22 3rd Quarter – Cherokee | Lovell 24 run, Lewis PAT kick | 30-0
1:06 3rd Quarter- MMCRU | SAFETY, Cherokee snaps ball out back of end zone | 30-2
11:44 4th Quarter – Cherokee | Lovell 45 run, Lewis PAT kick | 37-2
11:31 4th Quarter – MMCRU | Tayden Hicks kickoff return 90 yards, PAT kick no good | 37-8

Cherokee Individual Leaders:
Rushing — Jaxon Paulsrud 17-140 2 TDs, Blake Lovell 11-109 3 TDs, Landon Stowater 4-41, Tru Timmerman 3-9.
Passing — Paulsrud 1-4-0-60, Stowater 1-5-1-32
Receiving — Henry Lugar 1-60, Jacob Hurd 1-32
Tackles — Mallon Malausky 7.5 (3 S), Paulsrud 6.5 (4 S), Timmerman 6.0 (3 S), Hurd 4.0 (4 S), Coy Lewis 3.0 (1 S), Lovell 3.0 (2 S), Christian Vander Broek 3.0 (3 S), Colton Happe 2.5 (1 S), Brayden Good 2.5 (1 S), Lugar 2.0 (1 S), Oscar George 1.0 (0 S), Kyle Waldner 1.0 ( 0 S), Naoah Rapp 1.0 (1 S).
Fumble Recovery — Mason Campbell
Interception — Vander Broek, Lugar, Stowater, Good

Rebels march over Wolverines, 32-8

PAULLINA — A pair of Class 1A teams squared off on Friday with Sioux Central improving their record against South O’Brien to 9-7 in all-time meetings since September of 2009.

The guest Rebels outnumbered the Wolverines on the field 45 players to South O’Brien’s 34. The final outcome of the game was a lopsided 32-8 South O’Brien loss at home. Lack of depth hurt South O’Brien who was playing with two players out for injuries.

The Rebels marched to the tune of 524 rushing yards on 55 carries, and 568 total yards. South O’Brien was unable to establish any form of rushing, finishing with a meager 17 yards on 19 carries.

“Running is what they do well, and we struggled defensively to stop them. We failed to do our job. Sioux Central runs the triple option very well. We got distracted by (Owen) Mills’ spins and failed to do our job on our specific assignments and containing the outside.”

Mark Fuhrman, South O’Brien head football coach

Two Sioux Central athletes Owen Mills and Kinnick Fahrenkrog rushed for over 100 yards each. Mills had 10 totes for 190 yards and pair of touchdowns. Fahrenkrog had 19 carries for 104 yards and three touchdowns.

South O’Brien did finish with 154 yards passing to Sioux Central’s 44 yards passing. The Wolverines finished with 171 yards of total offense.

“We have got to do a better job executing our specific assignments. We had moments where some guys make the right blocks but one person didn’t.”

Mark Fuhrmann, South O’Brien head football coach

Brady Riedemann threw for 94 yards completing 10-of-17 passes with one interception. Jaden Kreber threw a touchdown to senior Derek Paulsen. Paulsen hauled in seven passes accumulating 125 yards with the 37 yard touchdown catch. Riedemann added the two point conversion on a PAT run. The Wolverines lone score came with 3:11 remaining in the third quarter.

Sioux Central wasted no time in putting the game’s first points on the scoreboard. Mills rushed 57 yards to the end zone with 11:33 remaining in the opening quarter. The Rebels added two additional touchdown runs of four and 20 yards for an 18-0 lead, scoring with 8:34 and 4:39 marks of the quarter.

The other two Sioux Central scores came with 2:37 remaining in the first half. The final score came with 10:12 left in the fourth quarter.

Defensively Ethan Wilson had an interception for Sioux Central. Kreber pounced on a loose pigskin for a South O’Brien fumble recovery. Defensively, senior Jordan Jenness had a monster game for South O’Brien. He finished with a game-high 13 tackles, five better than teammate Teagan Bahrenfuss and Sioux Central’s Fahrenkrog had to lead the Rebels.

Sioux Central 18 – 8 – 0 – 6 = 32
South O’Brien 0 – 8 – 0 – 0 = 8

Scoring Summary
Not made available

South O’Brien Individual Leaders:
Rushing — Brady Reidemann 12-8, Jordan Kreber 4-11, Caden Wittrock 1-Neg 1, Jordan Jenness 2-Neg 1.
Passing — Riedemann 10-17-1-94, Kreber 1-1-0-60
Receiving — Derek Paulsen 7-125 TD, Brody Van Beek 3-24, Jonness 1-5
Tackles — Jenness 13, Gabe Moermond 9, Teagan Bahrenfuss 8, Kreber 7, Riedemann 6, Carter Halvorson 5, Brett Evans 3, Paulsen 3, Wittorck 3, Brennan Billick 3, Jaxon Weier 3, Billy Lange 2, Jarven Miller 2, Reese Lundquist 1, Van Beek 1, Andrew Suarez 1, Jasper Johnson 1.
Fumble Recovery — Kreber

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