(KWMN)- The Rushford-Peterson football team advanced through the first round of the section 1A tournament after toppling Hayfield, 41-6.
The Trojans shot out to a quick 13-0 first quarter lead and never looked back. Extending the lead to 34-0 by the end of the first half.
The rest of the game, the Trojans controlled the clock, as they scored one more time in the second half to get to the final score of 41-6.
“I think just the physicality-the way we played…I thought we played really smart, really hard and really good assignment football on both sides of the ball,” head coach Davin Thompson said when asked about what he liked most about the game.
For the first time since early in the season, the Trojans deployed not only Riley Tesch at quarterback, but mixed in Grady Hengel. Quite frequently at that.
One could call the game last night ‘The Grady Hengel’ show as he totaled 196 yards on offense with three touchdowns. One coming on the ground, two coming through the air.
Thompson said of Hengel at quarterback, “Having Grady play QB a little bit gives us a little different flavor, opens up that inside zone for Jonah (Bunke) with Grady’s ability to pull it (The ball) …I thought he did a really, really good job of throwing the ball, better than I expected if I’m being honest. He doesn’t surprise me much with anything he does, but ya know he threw a couple dimes where you’re like ‘oh wow Grady.'”
Other standouts include the usual suspects. Jonah Bunke, the sophomore running back carried the ball 10 times for 64 yards and touchdown. Tesch played well as a counterpart to Hengel as quarterback, throwing for 65 yards and touchdown as well. Dalton Hoel, another senior, had three catches but made noise on the defensive side of the ball with a pick six.
The one player that stood out, that typically doesn’t have a night like he did last night, was Sampson Wilkemeyer. He had four catches for 123 yards, 103 of those yards coming from after the catch. Something any team needs to get deep into sections, players stepping up and making plays that typically don’t.
In the second round of the section tournament the Trojans will face off with Bethlehem Academy (BA). A team they just played, and lost to, a mere week ago. In that loss, it was the Trojans beating themselves more than anything. Thompson said he thought they played really well the first time around with BA, but there were too many mistakes, errors and turnovers that got in the way of victory.
That can certainly change, and although as the lower seed, the Trojans don’t see themselves as underdogs,
“More so we deserve to be here, we can beat these guys, but we have to execute…The team with less mistakes, doesn’t turn it over, executes, will win,” Thompson said.
Thompson was also asked about the disadvantages of having to travel in the second round. He doesn’t see it that way,
“We’ll pretty much be together all day long,” he said, also referencing that if it was a home game, that wouldn’t be the case, “I think that is an advantage. I don’t see it as a disadvantage…These guys just want to go 1-0…I don’t think it matters where we play,” Thompson concluded.
The Trojans and BA on paper are quite similar, and equal in talent. Which sets up to be quite the matchup, especially with a section championship berth on the line. It all comes down to execution.
They’ll face off to earn that berth this Saturday, Oct. 29th, Kickoff at 2 p.m. from Bruce Smith Field in Fairbult, Minn.
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