Bluejay Football
Launch the media gallery 1 playerBlue Jays Defeat Columbus Scotus 50-21
by Sarah Miller
The Bluejays were supported well during their fourth game of the season against Columbus Scotus on their homecoming night. The Jays were able to get through the game with only 4 penalties total and accumulated 527 yards of total offense.
In the first quarter, the Jays were able to march down the field and put Chaden Roth in position to make a 31 yard field goal. Later on in the first quarter, Brett Tinker was able to run the ball in for a 30 yard rushing touchdown. After the run, Roth’s extra point kick was good. The score after the first quarter of play was 10-0.
In the second quarter, Tinker had another touchdown, this time from 3 yards out. Roth’s PAT kick was good. Jeremiah Kruntorad was also able to add to the scoring with a 10 yard rushing touchdown. Roth’s extra point kick was good. Carson Oestreich also put points on the board with a 13 yard rushing touchdown. The score going into halftime was 30-7, Bluejays on top.
After halftime, the Jays were able to score an additional touchdown. The touchdown came from Brett Tinker from 26 yards out. After the rushing touchdown Roth’s PAT kick was good.
In the fourth quarter the Jays were able to score two touchdowns. The first touchdown of the quarter was from Tinker with a run from the 2 yard line. The second touchdown was a 51 yard rushing touchdown from J. Kruntorad. With Roth’s PAT kick, the final score was 50-21.
Head coach Mark Brahmer commented on the team’s effort throughout the game, “We were very pleased with our boys' effort and their physical intensity against a good Scotus football team.” Coach Brahmer also commented on what they need to do for their upcoming game against Wayne, “With a 3-1 Wayne team coming to town next Friday, we will have to practice and prepare very well and very hard to be successful.”
Senior Dylan Svobada commented on the linemen during the game, “The lineman executed very well except for a couple of mess ups but after that, we played well.” Dylan also commented on the defense throughout the game, “The team executed the defensive game plan well because we had to stop their run game and shut down number 18 and make them pass the ball.”
The next game for the Bluejays is against Wayne at home on Friday, September 27.
JV Football Notches Another Win
Monday night lights proved to be successful for the junior varsity football team as they notched a second win in their belts in an 18-14 defeat of Hartington Cedar Catholic at the Bluejay Sports Complex.
Ashton Schweitzer scored two touchdowns for the Bluejays, while Michael Kruntorad scored one.
Although the Bluejays claimed the win, coach Les Painter noted, “Our kids need to be more amped up before the game. We came out flat a little bit and our kids need to understand the magnitude of every game, not just Friday nights.”
Additional improvements mentioned by sophomore Michael Kruntorad would be “less penalties and no holding.”
On the defensive side of the ball, Pierce held the Trojans to just 14 points. Schweitzer talked about the defensive strengths saying, “They couldn’t really run outside on us, we kinda shut them down so they couldn’t do anything. Our d-line played pretty well. Our inside backers, outside backers, and also our corners and safeties stayed on top of plays.”
Freshman quarterback, Abram Scholting, commented that the team, “started out sluggish, but as the game progressed we definitely got better. We were not ready to hit.” Scholting said to be prepared for next week’s JV game, the Bluejays need to “be more ready and more physical.”
The next JV contest will be Monday, September 23, versus Battle Creek, followed by a game against Crofton on September 30.
Junior High Football Starts Season
The junior high football teams split the evening in their games at O’Neill, with the seventh graders recording a loss and the eighth grade team earning the win.
Although the seventh grade team did score one touchdown by Ben Bolling and the points after, they fell short to a stronger O’Neill team 18-8.
Junior high coach Mike Emory remarked, “I thought for the first game defensively they [Pierce] tackled pretty well; offensively we had a hard time with their blitzing defense.” In practice next week, the junior high plan to focus on defense. Coach Emory noted, “Norfolk Catholic runs the same defense as we do, so we should be better off in terms of knowing our blocking schemes.”
Starting the season off with a win, the eighth grade team defeated the O’Neill Eagles 28-12. Scoring touchdowns for the Bluejays were Keenan Valverde, Gavin Sullivan, and Champion White.
Coach Jason Freudenburg said, “We came out in the game really well. We were up 20-0 right away, so we executed really well.” Despite O’Neill adjusting their defense to try to shut down the Bluejay offense with blitzes, the Bluejays responded to the defensive change. “We adjusted the second half and did really well, and then we scored the touchdown.”
Next week in practice Coach Freudenburg said, “We need to work on fine tuning the blocking, definitely from all angles on blocking, we’ve gotta work on tackling better. A lot of little basics, we’ve got to fine tune those things.”
The junior high football team will be in action every Tuesday through October 15.
