Last Friday night, at Centennial's homecoming, our squad took the field to take on a very good team that had won their last four games by a ton of points. Centennial plays the game the right way.  They play fast, physical, with enthusiasm and passion and they presented an opponent that challenged us in every sense of the word.  Therefore, our 32-13 win last Friday was one that we truly can be proud of because we beat a very good team.

Also, I am proud of our team because there were hidden obstacles in there that nobody knew was present except us and they made no excuses and found a way to manufacture a win despite all of the challenges.   Offensively, we realized late that Karl Altenberg (qb) was injured and had a great deal of difficulty throwing the ball, so the offensive line and running backs knew the offensive end would come down to them.   We played far from a perfect game on that side of the ball, but when we were fortunate enough to get short fields and Centennial on their heels, we were able to capitalize and put the ball in the endzone when needed.   Both Tahi and Clark had 19 carries a piece and they combined for 192 yards from the tailback position against a defense that was averaging giving up five points a game.  Karl played a gutty game fighting a tough injury and he completed only three balls, but one of them was a big touchdown toss on third down to Jake Sterling that put us up by a three score margin.   Our offensive line still keeps getting better and we hope by playoff time we can ride this group because they need to be the life of our team.

Defensively, our knack for getting turnovers continued and we were fortunate enough to get to the endzone twice on this side of the ball.   Other than a four minute span in the second quarter where we were on our heels because of a good Centennial team, they played with enthusiasm and speed that I hope they can build upon for weeks to come.  For the second consecutive week, Jake Engelken had a huge game with 14 total tackles, and a touchdown on a fumble return that was fun to see because of the convoy of blockers that escorted him to the endzone.   Also, Emmanuel Ehrich had 10 tackles and 2 Sacks, Gunnar Ayres had 9 tackles and 2 tackles for loss,  Peder Olson had 5 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a touchdown, and Adam Brant pulled down his third interception of the year and his second in two games.  As said before with the o-line, this group has to carry us come playoff time, so hopefully we can be better next week and every week that follows.

Next week we play another hard-nosed, well-coached team in Coon Rapids. They are coming off of a win last week against Anoka, and they have been with every team they have played throughout the year including Totino.  It will be a challenge for us and another week where we need to get better as a ball club. It's hard to believe but we have Coon Rapids on Friday, Champlin on Wednesday after a short week and then it is playoff time.  It's starting to get fun!  Hope to see everybody at Coon Rapids next week supporting the boys because I know every fan that is there means a ton to them and they appreciate all the support...Go CRIMSON!  Get Step 7!