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Coaches Corner: Crimson Open Season Strong

By Coach Lombardi, 09/01/13, 12:45PM CDT

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Maple Grove Football finds success in the first week against Armstrong

After days and hours of work throughout the offseason, summer, and fall camp, it was great to finally get a chance to get under the lights and get a game under our belt.  Seeing all of the youth football players lined up, and our players running through them with flags waving and high fives connecting created a scene that truly represents what the Crimson football family is about.  It is a proud moment as a coach because we truly hope to make this team something that the community of Maple Grove will embrace, and that goes for all ages.    It was fun to see the enthusiasm of the kids as the game began and how it maintained throughout with our fans and players alike.

On both sides of the ball, we did some really good things, and obviously things that need improving like any other team after a first game.  We played a gutty Armstrong squad that was young but battled us hard in the first half until we scored a couple quick touchdowns late in the half.  Armstrong had us on our heels for a twelve minute span in the first half while both teams battled the heat and the excitement of the first game.   Our defense did a good job setting the tone early in the first, and our offense came right out and ran the ball effectively leading to an early touchdown.  After that, both teams moved the ball, but had trouble finding the endzone until we were able to break a couple long runs at the end of the half which gave us the momentum needed to take over the game.

On offense, we were able to manufacture over 500 yards of total offense and over 415 yards rushing which means major kudos to our offensive line for setting the tone.   Obviously, it was a huge game for our senior running back Tahi Nomane, who had 246 yards on 11 carries and 4 TD's,  Clark Wieneke also had 71 yards on 9 carries, and Tyler Coyne was able to get 47 yards on 7 carries.   Sophomore Karl Altenberg stepped in and did a great job as senior quarterback Corey Ross had a season ending knee injury earlier in the week.  Our team stepped up and did a great job in his absence as Karl was 6-11 for 94 yards and did a great job controlling the game.  Our receivers Brady Engelke, Will Ampe and Teddy Kainz did a good job catching the ball  when called upon and were outstanding making blocks down field for Tahi and Clark on their long runs.

Defensively, it was fun to see the defense get better and better as the game went on and they hit their stride in the 2nd half as they played at a speed that hopefully represents Crimson defense.  Its always exciting to get a shutout and that means all defensive players had to play well to be able to keep a zero on the board throughout.   Emmanuel Ehrich was able to have 9 tackles in the game with 4 tackles for loss and a sack.  Zach Corbin did a great job in his new role on defense and had 7 tackles.  Jake Engelken was in on 9 tackles, and the rest of the defense all made an impact to keep Armstrongs offense at bay.  As the game ended, we had only given up 110 yards total offense which is a pretty good output for an entire game.  It was great to get out to a 1-0 record and we look forward to week 2 against Hopkins at their place.  School is starting, new things are upon us, but hopefully we prepare at a higher level this week because we need to get better week to week.   Hope to see everybody at Hopkins at 8 PM next Friday night and hopefully we can pack the place with the family that is Crimson football!!!  See you Friday night!