Team Prospect Report: Rosemount

It wasn't pretty. With mediocre offense came great defense until the fourth quarter. That's what the fans in Rosemount Saturday evening were treated to from both teams for three and a half quarters. The Irish defense outscored the Farmington offense 6-0, and the Irish offense eventually got some consistency and defeated the Farmington Tigers 24-0. The obvious headliner from the game was Evan Geiwitz. After picking off two passes the week before, the junior intercepted three passes against the Tigers. Farmington continually to try to go downfield and get over the top of the junior corner. Even Geiwitz admitted one of his interceptions was a gimme with the ball severely underthrown, but the other two he played the ball perfectly and was in better position than the receiver. "Turnovers were a key for us," Geiwitz said. "We got five turnovers. It was a slow start for our offense but we tweaked it a bit at halftime and our second half was much better." Rosemount head coach Jeff Erdmann expected his 5-foot-9 corner to get tested. "Every corner that is under six feet should think they will be tested," Erdmann said. "They are going to go after them. We are going to go after them. (Corners) need to know that. They should have a chip on their shoulder about that." The entire defense played great and came up with five turnovers – including a fumble forced at the one-yard line and recovered in the end zone for a touchback. Cole Kraemer – ranked 139th in NFN’s Class of 2018 rankings – got the Irish on the board first with a scoop and score off a poor option pitch. Jake Ratzlaff came on a blitz for a sack while Nick Magnuson made some excellent reads and came up with some nice stops between the tackles. Keenan Wenzel read a bubble screen, closed a lot of ground from a deep safety position, made an open field tackle behind the line of scrimmage. That tackle set up a Farmington punt the Wenzel promptly blocked. Sam Willmott had two solid tackles near the line of scrimmage. Later Farmington tried to run an end around at him but read the play and made a tackle for loss. Colin Pomeroy read a run play and made a tackle in the backfield. Later came on a blitz and came up with a sack. Ezayah Oropeza stood out with a nice tackle from the linebacker position. He read the running play and filled the hole for a short gain. The two most productive offensive players for the Irish were running backs Garrison Green and Marvin Walker. Green is a physical runner who was most effective on runs between the tackles. The running game didn't have any consistency, but most of his effective runs were between two Division I offensive line prospects Ian Bass and Brigham Young commit Jacob Smith. That trio iced the game with Green's 42-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter. Walker was most active on the perimeter. On a sweep to the outside, Walker should have been stopped for a short gain but made a series of moves – including a spin move - to pick up fifteen yards. When given space, the junior is a nice open field runner. Wide receiver Jonathan Mann caught a short pass, made a nice open field move to pick up a first down. Late in the game, he ran a great deep slant or post, broke wide open with his speed and caught a perfectly thrown pass from quarterback Max Carter. Carter was under a lot of pressure and was unable to run the ball efficiently, but while not spectacular was an efficient passer and made throws to keep the chains moving. Although the offensive line's play was inconsistent, it was easy to see why colleges are interested in Bass and Smith – ranked 34th and 6th by NFN. They both have the size you would want and did have some nice moments where they could be seen driving defenders three or four yards out of the play. The game was a field position game until late and punter Sullivan Lanoue helped keep the Tigers pinned deep. His best moment was a 40-yard punt that pinned Farmington inside the five-yard line. Kicker Nathan Whiting's kickoffs also helped keep the Tigers pinned deep, and he also was three for three on extra points and added a 39-yard field goal. It wasn't pretty, but the win moved Rosemount to 2-2 halfway through the regular season and dropped Farmington to 1-3.