On a warm Friday night at Hopkins, we were able to take on an opponent that played fast and competed on every down.   The result was an ugly game that probably is one we will not circle at the end of the year, but somehow still found a way to get a win.   Behind a defense that had to play a ton of snaps, we were able to leave our first road game with a record of 2-0 after a hard fought 23-14 win.

Defensively, we were able to force five turnovers, with interceptions from linebacker Kyle Anderson, and defensive backs Isaac Collins, Adam Brant, and Sam Franta.  Emmanuel Ehrich had another big game with 16 tackles, Jake Engelken had 13 tackles, and Peder Olson had 3 tackles for loss and two sacks.  Also, they were able to give the offense a short field throughout the night and the offense took advantage a couple times that allowed scores to get onto the board.    It was a gutty defensive effort and they just keep getting better and better on their path to becoming the defense they believe they can be.  

Offensively, we had far too many turnovers with six of our own, but we did enough to get a win.  Obviously the turnovers will be addressed, but our offensive line still set a great tone during the night as our team ran for over 340 yards again last night.   Tahi Nomane, who was battling an injury all week, gutted it out and had another great game.  He had 29 carries for 296 yards with one touchdown on what will be a play remembered for a long time, a 98 yard touchdown run.  What made that play great was it truly was blocked to perfection up front and it will always be a play I show at clinics in the future.  It was blocked that well.  Brady Engelke made three big catches, with one of them being our first touchdown, and Ian Hanson scored from five yards out sealing the victory.    Also, sophomore kicker Tyler Knutson has been a huge plus to our team making all of his well-snapped extra points and a 34 yard field goal that put us ahead by three points in the second half.   Also, punter Jebah Doe has done a great job and currently averages over 40 yards a punt, so our special teams have been huge for us.

However, the players and coaches truly feel the stars of the game were our fans and the crimson family that came that night and filled the stands at Hopkins!  We truly want to be a team that makes our community proud, but the support shown on Friday night made us proud as well.  We look forward to seeing us fill every stadium from here on out and showing what Crimson Pride truly is about.  It was awesome!  We have a tough game next week at 5 PM on Friday at 'the Grove' against Elk River.  A team that I know expects to be going late in the year as well.  We need all the support we can to get to 3-0 against this team and we look forward to seeing everybody out there for our 2nd home game of the year!