Season On The Sidelines Finale

Here is the final installation of the ’Season On The Sidelines’ Series. Since we doubled up on JCC I will mention a couple players again, but will have a couple new ones as well. The other two games were our Section Semifinal and the State Quarterfinal. We saw some great football from both our guys and a few guys from our opponents. It was a great well-rounded season for us, and I will be doing a follow-up story about our team after this one! Section Semifinals: Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers (5-5) The last time we faced this team was Coach Boomgaarden’s senior year in high school over a decade ago. They kept the same playbook in that whole span if I remember right and continue to do a good job running that scheme. They were a team that didn’t show any solid tendencies on film and had playmakers across the board, we knew this game would be difficult if we tried to outrun them, we needed to control the ball. Chargers Highlighted: ’22 QB/DB- Luke Thompson did a great job running the offense from in the pistol. A RPO dominant offense that he ran really well, meaning he made the best decisions in an offense full of reads. He threw a nice, tight spiral and could squeeze the ball into some narrow windows. His arm strength helped make his deep ball pretty accurate and could usually hit his receivers in stride. He also was a shifty guy with a lot of speed, made a lot of things happen in the open field. ’25 RB- Benjamin Price stepped up huge for the Chargers, being an every down back in a run-heavy offense. The kid took a beating in the game and just kept coming, a very high-motor kid. He has a lot of breakaway speed for long runs if he gets past the Line of Scrimmage. He’s not flashy either, for as young as he is, he loved to dish out contact and break tackles. ’23 WR/DB- Cole Thompson was the favorite target on most plays, particularly in crunch-time when they needed to gain yards. He’s a great route-runner with speed, so he gets open on most plays. He has a reliable set of hands where he caught everything he could catch-up to. Also ran his routes hard on run plays, until he had to block his defender, which he would stick with pretty well. Defensively, he was a kid who just found the ball, he would be a Free Safety and usually found the passing lane, or he would track the ballcarrier and get in on the tackle on run plays. ’23 OL/DL- Malachi Kohls played really well defensively. In a different type of defensive scheme, he put a lot of pressure up the middle flushing our QB on most pass plays. He also was able to slow the run game down by getting in the backfield when he would time the snap count. He has great size and speed for a lineman and has great football sense. He was good covering the flats and making plays out there when asked upon. Offensively, he seemed to be a favorite puller, the guy they wanted to run behind and could spark the run game from an offensive lineman standpoint. ’22 OL- Isaac Bakke did a great job sticking our NT at the line every play. He had some good feet as well, able to move lateral quickly and keep his guy in front of him. He did not have any bad snaps, which is huge when you have to block a quick guy lined up across from you. He kept a good position to give him leverage in his blocks whether he was pass or run blocking. Section 3AA Championship: Jackson County Central Huskies The big rematch for a trip to State on the line. We both knew we’d have some new things the other coaches haven’t seen from each other before, the question was; who would have the better damage control. We prepped all week to stop their strength and they definitely prepped to stop ours, the game down to the wire the whole time. Huskies Highlighted: Payton Handevidt- the kid is just a good athlete, Augustana Wrestling Commit, is also good at football, he kept this game tight on offense with his big plays. Will Freking & Caleb Vancura- Both did well running and blocking. Vancura was also a good target when they threw. Offensive Line- ’22 Zachery Rasmussen, ’22 Trace Michelson, ’23 Matthew Haley, ’22 Carter Henning, & ’23 [player_tooltip player_id="112194" first="Cameron" last="Scholten"]. I couldn’t pick out just one of these guys when they all did a great job keeping the always impressive JCC run game moving all game long. They all have good size, strength and above all; great footwork to shield the defenders away and really widen a gap. Did tremendous on the perimeter as well breaking contain many times. State Class AA Quarterfinals: Maple River Eagles (11-2) This Eagle team was a good football team I had been watching all year, because they had usually our opponents the week before we would. I had a good idea about them, their offense and their playmakers, but once I sat down and broke down their film they had an overwhelming amount of athleticism that they used really well. A power run team out of the spread offense, who had a lot of team speed, and size. Eagles Highlighted: ’22 TE/LB- Mason Frank was a huge difference maker in this game. Made many game-changing plays on both sides of the ball. It’s not too often in small town football that you can have run good routes, be quick off the ball, catch passes, and both pass and run block, and that’s only his offensive attributes. Defensively, he can read plays and react to do his job quickly, fill on run support, drop back and pass cover, and come up on blitzes and make tackles all bundled together. This kid is just a gifted athlete who will make plays for his football team, fun to watch, except when he’s wearing the other team’s jersey. ’22 OL/DL- [player_tooltip player_id="116191" first="Ethan" last="Fischer"] was wreaking havoc for us on both sides of the ball. Offensively, he was taking our tackle out every play on down blocks and making the C-gap huge. Pass-blocking he didn’t allow many pressures, if any came from his side. Defensively, almost took out our whole run game just taking out a couple blockers each play to try and double him. You could definitely tell that he wanted to win this game. ’22 Offensive Guards- Nolan Buckholtz & Colten Berkner really sparked the run game. Both guys stay low on pulls and make the opposing D-Linemen pay on trap blocks, many pancakes for both of them. They kept a low center of gravity all game and kept the defenders in the first and second levels off their backs. They were probably the best drive blockers I’ve seen all year. ’23 RB/LB- Timothy Buckholtz had his best game of the year. The kid had the motor and the determination to extend the season for his team. He took handoffs and was looking for the end zone every play. He would first get through the gap, find someone to run through, then hit the jets and rip off a big gain, and sometimes find the end zone. He was tough to bring down with his power, speed and sheer will to win this game. Defensively, he was also a backer that could read keys and react quickly and do his job well on each play. He also was a great tackler when he would fill on run support and could get off blocks easily. He covered his zone perfectly in pass cover and could run with anyone. ’23 LB- [player_tooltip player_id="188213" first="Cooper" last="Ochsendorf"] was a good edge rusher for the Eagles. Blitzing off the edge on most plays, timing snaps with a running start he had good speed to get up field and put pressure on the QB but keep contain and turn anything in that went his way. He was a good tackler that could deliver a hit when he got the right angle, hard to keep out of the backfield.