Bluejay Football
Pierce Advances 4-0 after a 56-13 Victory Against Arlington
by Ella Gaes
The Pierce Bluejays are starting off their season strong going 4-0 after triumphing over the Arlington Eagles 56-13 Friday.
Head Coach, Mark Brahmer commented, “We were quite pleased with our boys' effort on Friday night against Arlington. Our overall execution of the game plan was excellent. Despite a few minor breakdowns, everyone played hard and played well. Once again, we feel quite fortunate to come out of a physical football game without any injuries. Looking ahead to our match-up against Boone Central, we will have to prepare very well this week to beat a good team.”
In the first quarter, the Bluejays were able to put 19 points on the board. It all started with a touchdown from Benjamin Brahmer with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Abram Scholting. The kick from Chaden Roth was good. The second touchdown came from Tyler Race with a 12-yard run; however the kick from Roth was no good. To end the quarter with another touchdown, Brahmer took a 27-yard pass from Scholting with a failed two-point conversion. The Jays were leading 19-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Moving into the second quarter, the Eagles scored one touchdown, but the Bluejays fought back with three more. Garret Meier had the first touchdown with a 31-yard pass from Scholting, and Brahmer added the two-point conversion. For the second touchdown, Logan Moeller had a striking 62-yard interception return. The run for the two-point conversion was good by Scholting. The third touchdown was made by Brahmer with a 6-yard touchdown pass from Scholting. After the touchdown, Roth made the point after the kick. This ended the quarter with a score of 42-7.
After halftime, Dawson Watts made a 40-yard touchdown catching the pass from Chaden Roth with the successful kick from Roth as well, adding seven points to the board.
In the final quarter, Arlington scored for the last time, but the Bluejays weren’t done fighting yet. They finished off the game with another touchdown from Jayden Coulter with a 5-yard run. Keenan Valverde had a successful kick to follow. The final score was 56-13.
Senior lineman Trevor Pettitt commented on the overall execution saying, “I feel we executed our game plan well with little errors and throughout the game, we played our level of football.”
The Jays were able to rack up 513 total yards to Arlington’s 270.
The next game for the Bluejays is against Boone Central at Pierce High on Friday, September 25.
JV Football Boys Take Close Loss to Battle Creek
by Kallie Edins
On Tuesday, September 22, the Pierce Bluejays JV football team journeyed to Battle Creek where they ended up taking a close loss to the Braves 7-8.
The game started out slow with the score 0-0 in the first half.
In the second half, however, the Bluejays kicked it into gear with a touchdown by Keenan Valverde and a good kick also by Valverde.
Valverde commented on the game saying, “We played decently. The Braves played harder than us both offensively and defensively. We could have won the game easily, they just pulled through with the win.”
Following the Jays touchdown, the Braves came bouncing back with a touchdown to tie the game, and then a two point conversion to win the game by one.
Coach Grant Doerr said, “I thought the boys played hard and just made a few too many mistakes like too many turnovers.”
Catch the boys play again on Monday, October 5, against rivals Norfolk Catholic in Pierce at 5 p.m.
JV Football Edged Out Against HCC
by Ella Gaes
On Monday, September 14, the Pierce JV football team battled against Hartington Cedar Catholic resulting in their first loss this season with the final score of the game being 21-14.
Coach Grant Doerr said, “Overall I thought the boys played well. It was a very physical game, but they played hard. One thing we need to focus on is execution and getting better at running our plays defensively and also knowing our coverage.”
To start off the game, Cedar Catholic came out with a touchdown and ended the first quarter with a score of 8-0.
Moving forward to the second quarter, the Bluejays fought back and scored a touchdown but Cedar Catholic scored one more leaving the score 15-6.
After halftime the Bluejays flipped the switch and scored a touchdown leaving Cedar Cathloic scoreless. The score was then 15-14 with HCC in the lead.
For the final quarter, Cedar Catholic slipped in another touchdown, but the Bluejays didn't have enough time on the clock to score again. The final score of the game was 21-14.
Colby Anderson and Tristan Kuehler both scored touchdown runs for the Jays.
Freshman running back Keenan Valverde said, “I think we could have played harder on both sides of the field. They were a good team, but I definitely think we could have won the game.”
The next JV football game is at Crofton on Monday, September 28.
