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Crimson, Football, 2022, Osseo, Opener, Maple, Grove, Lombardi, 45-7

Crimson win Opener With Explosive 3rd Quarter

By Coach Lombardi, 09/04/22, 9:00AM CDT

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Crimson Win Opener Over Osseo 45 - 7

After a long offseason with lots of hard work and anticipation, the time came to finally go into battle at a packed Grove against our District rival, Osseo, and we came out on top with a 45 - 7 victory to start the season off.   Osseo had great size and was very physical, so they provided us many challenges  in our opener on a very hot night, and exposed many things that we need to get better on as the year progresses.

Offensively, we did many good things as we accumulated over 400 yards of total offense and 300 yards rushing against an opponent with good size and athleticism.     Jordan Olagbaju had a great opening game as a tailback gaining 122 yards on 18 carries and 2 TDs, while Charlie Rausch is learning just how explosive he can be as he gained 58 yards on only 2 carries where he scored on each one.   Jacob Kilzer battled the elements but still lead us in many ways as he threw for 90 yards and a score and rushed for 66 yards on only 6 carries.   Tight End Sam Peters played limited time during this game, but still landed a touchdown on a well executed Play-Action pass that kicked off the 3rd quarter onslaught.  This is a group that will keep getting better as the year goes on relying on our offensive line while we figure out where our offensive threats will be throughout the season.

Defensively, with many new starters on the field,  we  got better as the game progressed and we were opportunistic creating 5 turnovers, a safety, and a defensive score while giving the offense some great field position in the 3rd quarter.    Tanner Albeck kicked off his defensive career with an impressive opener totaling 11 tackles and 2 tackles for loss.   Michael Ross showed his Senior Leadership totaling 9 Tackles while Cayden Vokal and Ben jameson led the turnover brigade with three and two fumble recoveries respectively with Jameson finding the Endzone for our first Defensive score of the year!   I am a firm believer that explosive offenses are the result of great defensives that provide them short fields to work on, so we will rely heavily on this group as the year moves on.   They will keep getting better week in and week out and by the time the playoffs come should be a swarming, fast moving defense that will make a big impact!  Can't wait to watch this development!

On Special Teams, we saw the good and the bad as our punt team suffered a bit from a bad snap that we will sure up, but our kicking game was unreal.   Connor Fournier punched through all 5 extra points he attempted while Ben Jameson put on a kickoff show as he boomed 7 consecutive touchbacks.   This will be a group that will make a big difference for us throughout the year.

Now school starts!  Next Friday night we take on a much improved Totino-Grace team that won its opener and plays with great enthusiasm and skill.   They will provide a great test for us and we need to give them our best to walk off their field victorious on Friday night in Fridley.   Usually the biggest improvements come from week one to week two for people that have never seen Varsity action before, so hopefully that will happen this week.   We need everybody Crimson there cheering us on because you can never underestimate what it means to our kids to have you there having a blast with us for every game.    It was so fun last week to be in front of fans playing the game we love.  There is nothing like it!  It's great to be back, now let's keep getting better!   GO CRIMSON!

Lombo