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Round 2 - Check, #ontostate

By Coach Lombardi, 10/25/15, 12:00PM CDT

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On a rainy Friday night, we had the opportunity to take the field at ‘The Grove’ for the final time and left with a heart-pounding, nail-biting 21-18 section championship victory over a very talented and gutty Armstrong squad.  A game with highs and lows throughout, we found a way to come out on top at the end and get to Step 3.  

Offensively, we gained over 410 yards of total offense, but we had trouble finishing drives in a way that we like to do.  Isaac Collins was able to muster 186 yards on his 29 carries and Brad Davison scored on two touchdown runs from his quarterback position on a night where we needed every one of those yards.   Also, our passing game made some huge plays that gave us much needed points and first downs throughout while the game felt constantly out of sorts.  Brad Davison completed 7 of 11 passes for 133 yards and 1 Touchdown, while Eddie Lee pulled in 98 of those yards and had two extremely critical catches that everybody will remember for a long time.   Even though we gained a lot of yards, this is one area that we will improve greatly coming into the next game, because we need to finish drives in games that come down to the wire.

Defensively, outside of one bad drive at the end of the game where we played on our heels, was the key to our entire victory.   They were put in some bad spots, but came out of it forcing a punt and keeping points off of the board.  Peter Doyle had a huge game from the outside linebacker spot with eight total tackles and five of them for a loss of yardage.   Kayode Awosika continued his stellar play having seven tackles and a tackle for loss, while Joe Wallick made a couple of huge pass break-ups at critical times during the game.  This truly is the side of the ball that inspires us week in and week out, so we need a great week of preparation as we go into a very tough Step 3.

As Ryan Hancome got hurt early in the game, Teddy Raasch stepped in admirably and did a great job punting, but once again Special Teams is an area that we need to improve.   No weak points in this area can be allowed at this time, so I look forward to the week of prepation we have entering our next challenge.

Winning this game provided us the opportunity to be in the state tournament for the third consecutive year and I am very proud of all of the players, parents and staff members that have made a huge commitment to the cause and allowed it to flourish   Now, we play Friday Night at Hopkins stadium against a one-loss Burnsville team that has been rated high in the state throughout the year and again has a ton of talent.  It is a great opportunity to be one of the final eight and to go out and try to take Step 3 on our journey.  It truly is a blast and it is what all of the hard work and dedication is about.  We need to pack Hopkins stadium because all of the support of the fans means a ton to our players as they head out onto the field against a very good opponent that has had great success this year.   Our job this week is to prepare at a different level and to be so ready that we take the field playing our absolute best game  the year.    After watching film and seeing a ton of areas from the Armstrong game that vastly need improving, we feel fortunate to have another chance to keep playing this great sport with other great teams.  It’s time we take ownership of our ship and make it the best it ever has been.   Let’s get step 3.  Prepare like champions.  Enter the field like champions.  Be champions!   Enjoy this one!

Lombo