High Five: Rosemount vs White Bear Lake

The Rosemount Irish advanced to the second round of the 6A playoffs Friday night by defeating the White Bear Lake Bears 35-21. In this <span style="color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;">back and forth game</span>, who stood out on an individual basis? <strong>Christian Graske – Rosemount running back</strong> Graske provided most of the scoring for the Irish. He scored all five of their touchdowns. The junior has extremely good feet. In small spaces, he makes quick cuts to get to the second level. After scoring a 6-yard touchdown, he showed his speed to the corner on a sweep that resulted in a 14-yard touchdown run. After his third touchdown of the game, a 5-yard run, he showed his power by breaking a tackle and instead of no gain, picking up 60 yards. His power was on display again on a pair of one-yard touchdown runs – the fifth and final touchdown on a fourth and goal from the one. Oh – by the way – he also ran for over 250 yards. <strong>Charlie Barnick – Rosemount inside linebacker/fullback</strong> Early in the game, he pressured the quarterback to disrupt a screen. Then he used good timing and speed to get a sack on a second and short. Later he didn't get the sack, but his ability to find creases in the offensive line put him in the backfield again when he forced an intentional grounding penalty. The junior knocked down the quarterback at least two more times – forcing two incompletions. He was a problem in the running game too; stuffing runs between the tackles. As a fullback, he led the way on many of Graske's runs. Most notably, his pancake block helped his running back get the corner on a sweep. <strong>Sean Appold – Rosemount defensive back</strong> Appold was solid in coverage all game. He gave up some completions but was solid in his tackling and would only allow short gains on the completions he did allow. Early in the game, he made an open-field tackle that – if he missed – would have resulted in a first down. Later, he read and stopped a wide receiver screen for a short gain. <strong>Daniel Tesch, Xavier Sell RG, Grant Peroutka RT, Christian Prestegaard, and Koye Leenderts - Rosemount offensive line</strong> No running back scores five rushing touchdowns or gains 252 yards without the help of the guys upfront. This group was more physical than the White Bear Lake front seven and never let up. There were drives when the Irish would run off the right side of the line repeatedly. Right guard Sell and right tackle Peroutka allowed the Irish to pick up yards – big yards – almost every time they ran their way. <strong>Branden Berwald - White Bear Lake quarterback</strong> Although he was under pressure much of the night, when he had time, the junior quarterback could spin it. He has a strong arm to get the ball deep, but what stood out to me was how quickly he got the ball out to the receivers on shorter routes. The ball had zip on it, but his throws were still accurate. Because of the lack of time he had in the pocket, he couldn't go deep much, but under twenty yards, he was getting the ball to his receivers quickly so they could run after the catch.