Football Friday Night (September 6)

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1. Sioux Central at Cherokee, 2. Ridge View at Unity Christian 3. South O’Brien at Sheldon, 4. MMCRU at LeMars Gehlen

‘Ground and Pound’ leads Braves over Sioux Central

CHEROKEE — A 2024 version of Braves football is titled ‘Ground and Pound’ as Cherokee racked up 375 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns in a 31-12 win over Sioux Central on Friday. It was the annual Robert Martin Memorial game

In two games this season the Braves are averaging a sparking 9.1 yards per carry, having racked up 674 yards on the ground.

The Braves offensive line deserves plenty of credit for allowing sophomore Jaxon Paulsrud to finish with 18 carries for 168 yards and touchdown runs of 5, 83, and 17 yards. Junior Blake Lovell went for 202 yards on 15 carries, including a touchdown run of nine yards.

Paulsrud rushed for 120 yards in the first half and Lovell 86 yards.

“Offensively we played pretty well. There were too many fumbles on snaps which just gives plays and drives away. We are really getting comfortable with our counter game. Were getting better on the regular zone, inside zone, heck we didn’t run outside zone tonight, which is going to be a huge play for us down the road. Blake had a tremendous night and Jaxon did a great job reading. If we can keep that going, the skies the limit for these guys.”

Tony Gunter, Cherokee head football coach

The dynamic duo has accounted for 619 of the 674 rushing yards in two games and totaled all nine touchdowns. The remaining points have come from the toe of Coy Lewis with a pair of field goals, including a 19 yarder Friday against Sioux Central.

Cherokee in the only other meeting (Sept. 1, 2023) won 50-0 at Sioux Central High School.

Cherokee scored first in the non-district game With 2:35 remaining in opening quarter, Paulsrud on a quarterback keeper scampered on a five yard run, capping off a eight play 70 yard drive. A Henry Lugar to Christian Vander Borek PAT pass put the Braves up 8-0.

Sioux Central responded on a fourth down and two, with the Rebels quarterback Owen Mills running 39 yards with 11:09 left in the first half. Cherokee held on a PAT run attempt by Sioux Central.

Paulsrud and Lovell added touchdown runs of 83 and nine yards in the second quarter, and a Coy Lewis PAT kick to push the lead to 21-6 with 56 seconds remaining in the first half.

On the ensuing kickoff, Mills raced 98 yards for a score. The Rebels PAT run was stuffed by the Cherokee defense, and the score was 21-12 at halftime favoring Cherokee.

The only scores of the second half were a 17 yard touchdown run by Paulsrud off a fumbled snap with 10:46 left in the third quarter, and the aforementioned Lewis field goal with 6:25 remaining in the game.

Overall, Cherokee amassed 432 yards of total to 212 yards (185 rushing, 27 passing) by Sioux Central.

“We didn’t get many penalties. I’m pretty proud of that fact. No pre-snap penalties, things that are just drive killers.”

Tony Gunter, Cherokee head football coach

Mills finished with seven rushing attempts for 66 yards, while Kinnick Fahrenkrog had 18 carries for 82 yards for the Rebels. Mills was also 2-for-6 passing for 27 yards. Defensively, Sioux Central received game-high in tackles from Mills and Gavin Casey each with nine stops in the game. Casey was credited with a fumble recovery, and Titus Koster had an interception.

Defensively for the Braves, Paulsrud had five of his 7-1/2 tackles go for solo stops. Mallon Malausky finished with seven tackles, including three solos.

Cherokee (2-0) with host Ridge View (2-0) for homecoming on Friday at George Hicks Field. Ridge View is under the direction of first-year coach Brian Wilken who spent numerous seasons leading Newell-Fonda.

“We’ll have to get after it Friday night. We got to be very physical. Ridge View, I believe is running a lot more out of the I formation. That will be an interesting challenge to our guys.”

Tony Gunter, Cherokee head football coach

Sioux Central 0 – 12 – 0 – 0 = 12
Cherokee 8 – 13 – 7 – 3 = 31

Scoring Summary
2:35 1st Quarter – Cherokee | Jaxon Paulsrud 5 run, PAT pass Henry Lugar to Christian Vander Broek | 8-0
11:09 2nd Quarter – Sioux Central | Owen Mills 39 run, PAT run no good | 8-6
7:55 2nd Quarter – Cherokee | Paulsrud 83 run, Coy Lewis PAT kick | 15-6
:56 2nd Quarter – Cherokee | Blake Lovell 9 run, PAT kick no good | 21-6
:41 2nd Quarter – Sioux Central | Mills 98 kickoff return, PAT run no good | 21-12
10:46 3rd Quarter- Paulsrud 17 run, Lewis PAT kick | 28-12
6:25 4th Quarter – Cherokee | Lewis 19 FG | 31-12

Cherokee Individual Leaders:
Rushing — Blake Lovell 15-202 TD, Jaxon Paulsrud 18-168 3 TDs, Henry Lugar 1-15, Landon Stowater 5-Neg-10.
Passing — Paulsrud 5-9-1-57
Receiving — Jacob Hurd 2-23, Lugar 2-13, Christian Vander Broek 1-6.
Tackles (solo’s) — Paulsrud 7.5 (5), Mallon Malausky 7.0 (3), Lovell 5.5 (2), Brayden Good 4.5 (3), Tru Timmerman 4.0 (0), Vander Broek 4.0 (3), Colton Happe 3.0 (1), Lugar 3.0 (2), Ty Schlichting 2.0 (0), Mason Campbell 2.0 (0), Landon Stowater 1.5 (0), Hurd 1.0 (0), Coy Lewis 1.0 (0), Oscar George 1.0 (0).
Interception — Vander Broek, Hurd

Raptors win with two second half scores over Unity Christian, 16-8

ORANGE CITY — The Brian Wilken Era at Ridge View High School is off to a 2-0 start to the 2024 football season with a pair of second half touchdowns and two-point conversions leading the Raptors over Unity Christian, 16-8.

Ridge View’s victory makes it three straight wins over the Knights, and 3-1 in the all-time series. Last season’s 14-0 win was the first meeting of the two teams since September 2015.

Unity Christian led at halftime 8-0 behind a safety with 10:31 left in the second quarter and a Dylan Bosma six yard run with 3:40 to play in the first half. Kolton Smit was credited with tackling the Ridge View runner in the end zone for the safety.

Ridge View finally put its first points on the scoreboard with 2:24 left in the third quarter. Sophomore quarterback Raif Jensen connected on a short six yard touchdown pass to Kellen Jensen. Blake Myrtue then hauled in the two-point PAT pass from Raif Jensen to tie the non-district game at 8-8.

The Ridge View defense was solid against the run limiting Unity Christian to just 80 yards on 29 carries, including holding the Knights out of the end zone over the final three quarters of play.

Ridge View got a safety of its own to take a 10-8 lead with 8:23 left in the game when Unity Christian was flagged for an intentional grounding in the end zone. Ridge View added its final touchdown with Gavin Vohs finding the end zone on a one yard carry with 5:28 left.

The Raptors finished with nine yards of fewer offense than Unity Christian. Ridge View compiled 181 yards (118 rushing, 63 passing) against an aggressive hard-hitting Knights defense. Raif Jensen completed 5-for-12 passes including two interceptions by the Knights’ Braeden Bosma and Jacob Breen. Raif Jensen also led Ridge View in rushing with nine carries for 50 yards. Vohs added 45 yards rushing on only five carries.

The Knights’ Dylan Bosma finished 10-for-23 passing for 110 yards and two interceptions. Coming away with the picks for the Braves were Raid Jensen and Zach Kolpin. Jonah DeJong led Unity Christian in receiving with five catches for 60 yards. Weston Huisman was the leading ground-gainer with 18 rushing attempts for 58 yards.

The strongly made defense for Ridge View was led by Vohs with 12-1/2 tackles including 12 solo’s. Kellen Jensen added six tackles and Conner Jacobson finished with 5-1/2 tackles. Vohs was also credited with a fumble recovery.

Ridge View travels once more this Friday as they come northward up Highway 59 to lock horns with Cherokee (2-0).

Ridge View 0 – 0 – 8 – 8 = 16
Unity Christian 8 – 0 – 0 – 0 = 8

Scoring Summary
10:31 1st Quarter – Unity Christian | Kolton Smit Safety | 2-0
3:40 1st Quarter – Unity Christian | Dylan Bosma 6 run, PAT kick no good | 8-0
2:24 3rd Quarter – Ridge View | Kellen Jensen 6 pass from Raif Jensen, Blake Myrtue PAT pass from Raif Jensen | 8-8
8:23 4th Quarter – Ridge View | Safety on intentional grounding in end zone | 8-10
5:28 4th Quarter – Ridge View | Vohs 1 run, PAT kick no good | 8-16

Ridge View Individual Leaders:
Rushing — Raif Jensen 9-50, Gavin Vohs 5-45, Blake Myrtue 5-17, Conner Jacobson 6-6.
Passing — Raif Jensen 5-12-2-63 TD
Receiving — Kellen Jensen 4-36 TD, Kinnick Jensen 1-27.
Tackles (solo’s) — Vohs 12.5 (12), Kellen Jensen 6.0 (4), Jacobson 5.5 (5), R. Jensen 5.0 (4), Myrtue 4.5 (2), Zach Kolpin 4.0 (3), Carson Harriman 3.5 (3), Dramelle McCray 3.0 (3), Austin Wood 2.5 (2), Kinnick Jensen 1.0 (1), Drew Burk 1.0 (1).
Fumble Recovery: Vohs 1-0
Interception — R. Jensen 1-55, Kolpin 1-12

South O’Brien unable to keep pace with Sheldon

SHELDON — The South O’Brien football team led for the first half of the non-district game on Friday 13-12, but the second half the host Orabs turned things around to their advantage outscoring the Wolverines 33-8.

The 45 point output by Sheldon in the 45-21 victory ties for the most points allowed in the Wolverines last 60 games played dating back to a 45-7 loss to Ridge View on October 20, 2017. The last team to score more points against South O’Brien was Sheldon, 68 games ago on September 1, 2017 when they lowered the boom on the Wolverines 48-14.

Sheldon scored the first points of the game on Friday when Isaac Wenthe found paydirt on a 12 yard run at the eight minute mark of the opening quarter. The PAT was no good, and the Orabs led 6-0. South O’Brien took its first lead with 5:03 on the clock in the first quarter with Brady Riedemann chugging into the end zone on a two yard run. Derek Paulsen added the PAT kick for the 7-6 Wolverines lead.

The Wolverines found the end zone once more in the first half on the first play of the second quarter (11:47) as Riedemann connected with Paulsen on a 28 yard touchdown aerial. the PAT kick was missed.

“We were able to move the ball up and down the field. It was a nice night for senior Derek Paulsen. We also had a nice night up front. We’re getting better, and that’s a good thing to see. We needed to punch it in at the end of the half. We had it at the one-yard line and couldn’t score. Otherwise we’re up 20-12, instead of 13-12.”

Mark Fuhrmann, South O’Brien head football coach

South O’Brien had put together a 11 play drive before in stalled.

Sheldon was able to make it only a one-point deficit at halftime when Cooper Meyer-Vander Sluis dashed 26 yards with 11:05 left in the opening half of play. The Orabs elected to go for the two-point conversion and the pass failed.

It turned into a tiresome second half for South O’Brien as Sheldon put the first two scores on the scoreboard in the second half for a 26-13 lead. Wenthe had his second touchdown of the night on a two yard run and Landon Sietstra got into the act on a 27 yard jaunt.

South O’Brien puts its final touchdown and points on the board with 4:59 remaining in the third quarter. Jaden Kreber connected on a 72 yard pass to the sure-handed Paulsen. Paulsen kicked the extra point and the Wolverines trailed 26-21.

“That Wenthe kid is fast for Sheldon. We did a poor job of containing him. I don’t know if that’s fatigue. He got to the edges on us. He had some long runs.”

Mark Fuhrmann, South O’Brien head football coach

Sheldon put 19 unanswered points on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter. Sietstra had his second and third touchdowns of the night on a four and 20 yard run. Wenthe also latched on to a pass from Sietstra that covered 69 yards.

Wenthe finished with only five rushing attempts for 24 yards, but had two catches that tallied 101 yards. Siestra finished as the Orabs leading rusher with 16 carries for 109 yards. Meyer-Vander Sluis backed that up with an 11 carry 92 yard showing.

Defensively Mitchel Fischer had a game-best 15 tackles for Sheldon. Jordan Jenness led South O’Brien with 10.5 tackles, including eight solo’s tackles.

“We have to figure out how to play four quarters of football. We had a decent first half and an OK third quarter. Last week too, we struggled to finish the game. We need to keep our composure to get on the winning side.”

Mark Fuhrmann, South O’Brien head football coach

This Friday, South O’Brien (0-2) will host unbeaten Sibley-Ocheyedan (2-0). The Generals lead in all-times meetings 3-1 since 2010. It also is the Class A District 1 opener for both teams.

South O’Brien 7 – 6 – 8 – 0 = 21
Sheldon 6 – 6 -14 – 19 = 45

Scoring Summary
8:00 1st Quarter – Sheldon | Isaac Wenthe 12 run, PAT kick no good | 6-0
5:03 1st Quarter – South O’Brien | Brady Riedemann 2 run, Derek Paulsen PAT kick | 6-7
11:47 2nd Quarter – South O’Brien | Paulsen 28 pass from Riedemann, PAT kick no good | 6-13
11:05 2nd Quarter – Sheldon | Cooper Meyer-Vander Sluis 26 run, PAT pass no good | 12-13
7:39 3rd Quarter – Sheldon | Wenthe 3 run, PAT pass no good | 18-13
5:35 3rd Quarter — Sheldon | Landon Sietstra 27 run, Meyer-Vander Sluis PAT run | 26-13
4:59 3rd Quarter — South O’Brien | Paulsen 72 pass from Riedemann, PAT run | 26-21
11:18 4th Quarter — Sheldon | Sietstra 4 run, PAT kick no good | 32-21
8:00 4th Quarter — Sheldon | Wenthe 69 pass from Sietstra, PAT kick no good | 38-21
6:45 4th Quarter — Sheldon | Sietstra 20 run, Jonathan Martinez PAT kick | 45-21

South O’Brien Individual Leaders:
Rushing — Brady Riedemann 27-115 TD, Jaden Kreber 3-3, Jordan Jenness 1-Neg 1
Passing — Riedemann 11-22-113 TD, Kreber 1-2-72 TD
Receiving — Derek Paulsen 6-146 2 TDs, Kreber 5-33, Jenness 1-6
Tackles (solo’s) — Jenness 10.5 (8), Paulsen 5.0 (5), Teagan Bafrenfuss 3.0 (1), Caden Wittrock 3.0 (1), Reese Lundquist 2.0 (1), Austin Negus 2.0 (1), Marshall Warnke 1.5 (1), Gabe Moermond 1.5 (1), Billy Lange 1.5 (1), Hayven Miller 1.5 (1), Jaxon Weier 1.0 (0), Carter Halvorson 1.0 (0), Kreber 1.0 (1), Riedemann 1.0 (0)
Fumble Recovery: none
Interception — none

Big plays, turnovers costly in Royals loss to Gehlen

LEMARS — Three MMCRU turnover Friday at LeMars Gehlen were only part of the issue for the Royals. The defense gave up 329 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns of 90-55-47-27 and 1 yard.

“Our defensive ends were not fully engaging and doing their jobs which allowed them to get to our linebackers and then we start shying away from contact instead of being willing to take it on,”

Kyle Oswald, MMCRU head football coach

Gehlen took control of the line of scrimmage, finishing with 406 yards of total offense. Kale Pearson toted the pigskin 18 times for 180 yards and touchdown runs of 55, 47, and 27 yards. Cole McCarthy finished with 10 carries for 138 yards and touchdown runs of 90 and 1 yards.

MMCRU scored first in the contest on a six-play, 77 yard drive, culminated by a 22-yard rushing score by John Schmillen.

“We started off where we wanted to be, but we have a hard problem right now this year about response. When something bad happens, we don’t respond well,”

Kyle Oswald, MMCRU head football coach

John Schmillen finished as the Royals leading rusher finishing with 15 carries for 76 yards. Eli Harpenau added 13 carries for 63 yards. As a team, MMCRU finished with 138 rushing yards on 32 carries. They added 138 yards passing yards. Kamden Bork finished 9-for-13 with 107 yards and an interception. Harpenau finished 1-for-4 for 31 yards.

There were seven different receivers for the Royals that caught a pass. Michael Schmillen finished with two grabs for 62 yards. Michael Peterson had two catches for 45 yards. John Schmillen had two catches, Blake Barinsky, Parker Glassmaker, Tayden Hicks and Schlenger each finished with one catch.

Bork suffered an ankle injury and was forced out of the game in the second quarter. The Royals were also without several starters for the second straight week for disciplinary reasons.

“Yeah, we’ve got some guys missing and a lot of talent is missing at the moment, but we’ve got plenty of talent that should be able to take care of that. “We’re making more excuses than we should. We don’t deserve to make that many excuses, so it’s time to analyze that film and be real hard and honest with ourselves. Right now it’s just a matter of, ‘Where do you want the season to go?’ Do you want it to be a disappointment or do you want to get back to where you thought you were going to be?”

Kyle Oswald, MMCRU head football coach

Its been two weeks of numerous mistakes and penalties for the Royals. In Week 1 hosting Cherokee, MMCRU had five turnovers (fumble, four interceptions). That brings their season total to eight turnovers.

Defensively, Michael Schmillen led MMCRU in tackles with six, including four solos.

Gehlen (1-1) avenges a 34-27 loss to MMCRU from a season ago. The Jays lead the Royals 7-1 all-time since the formation of the MMCRU athletic programs.

MMCRU (0-2) will host Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn (1-1) this Friday.

MMCRU 6 – 0 – 0 – 0 = 6
LeMars Gehlen 0 – 21 – 7 – 6 = 34

Scoring Summary
(Was not reported)

MMCRU Individual Leaders:
Rushing — John Schmillen 15-76 TD, Eli Harpenau 13-63, Luke Kintigh 3-15, Kamden Bork 1-Neg 4
Passing — Bork 9-13-1-107, Harpenau 1-4-0-31
Receiving — Michael Schmillen 2-62, Michael Peterson 2-45, John Schmillen 2-18, Blake Barinsky 1-5, Schlenger 1-5, Parker Glassmaker 1-3, Tayden Hicks 1-0
Tackles (solo’s) — Michael Schmillen 6 (4), Grant Prescott 4 (1), Barinsky 4 (3), Bork 3.5 (2), John Schmillen 3 (1), Carver Miller 3 (2), Glassmaker 2.5 (1), Brayden Dunn 2 (1), Peterson 1.5 (1), Max Schnepf 1 (0), Schlenger 1 (0), Brandon Dreckman 1 (1), Kintigh 1 (0), RJ Krier 1 (1), Hicks .50 (0), Mason Hill .50 (0), Carter Astidias .50 (0), Lukas Peterson .50 (0)
Fumble Recovery: none
Interception — none

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