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  Freeman 44 Sterling 24

 

     Austin Ruskamp rushed for 192 yards on 14 carries and accounted for 4 scores in leading the Freeman Falcons to the opening night victory over the Sterling Jets.

     The Jets opened the scoring on a 17 yard pass from Colin VanGroningen to Chris Wenzl. The PAT was converted on a VanGroningen to KodyBenson hookup. The Falcons answered with a touchdown pass of their own with Kyle Schoen finding Derek Zimmerman open from 24 yards out. The PAT pass from Schoen to Austin Ruskamp was good. The Jets got the final score of the quarter on a 65 yard kickoff return by Chris Wenzl. The PAT pass from VanGroningen to Michael Lucas was good. The score stood at 16-8 at the end of one quarter.

     The Falcons got on the scoreboard early in quarter number two on a 25 yard pass from Schoen to Ruskamp. The PAT pass from Schoen to Zimmerman was good. The Jets answered back on a 1 yard run by Levi McCartney. The PAT was converted on a VanGroningen to Benson hookup. The Falcons capped off the scoring for the quarter on a 61 yard by Ruskamp. The PAT run failed. The score was Sterling 24 Freeman 22 heading into the halftime break.

     The Falcons came out firing on all cylinders and dominated the 2nd half by scoring 22 unanswered points. The 1st score of the 3rd quarter came on a 43 yard run by Ruskamp. The PAT run failed. The Falcons added one more score in the quarter on a 37 yard pass from Ruskamp to Kellen Unvert. Dallas Ashelford ran in the PAT. The Falcons led 36-24 going into the 4th quarter.

     The Falcons finished off the scoring late in the 4th quarter on a 31 yard run by Andy Buhr. The PAT run was good from Schoen. The final score was Freeman 44 Sterling 24.

     Leading the Jet ground attack was McCartney with 106 yards on 16 carries. Wenzl had 70 yards on 17 carries, Lucas had 15 yards on 1 carry,VanGroningen had 13 yards on 8 carries, Archie Keebler had 1 yard on one carry, Trey Trauernicht had -3 yards on 3 carries, and Trevor Huls had -6 yards on 3 carries. VanGroningen was 5 of 8 passing for 35 yards, Huls was 1 of 1 passing for -4 yards, and Wenzl was 0 of 1 passing.

     Leading the defense for the Jets was Ryan Zuhlke with 5 tackles and 6 assists. Helping out on defense for the Jets were as follows: Lucas 5 tackles, 2 assists, Wenzl 4 tackles, 8 assists, Keebler 4 tackles, 1 assist, VanGroningen 3 tackles, 3 assists, Nathan Thies 2 tackles, Benson 1 tackle, 3 assists, Dalton Clark 1 tackle 2 assists, Billy Richardson 1 tackle, 1 assist, Trauernicht 1 tackle, Matt Erickson 2 assists, McCartney 2 assists, and CeatonMalone 1 assist.

     " The story of the night was our inability to control the line of scrimmage, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. They controlled our defensive line from start to finish. Our pass defense had some lapses as well, but some of that was the direct result of our non-existent pass rush. The good thing is that these issues are fixable and we will get back to work in practice and get these areas ironed out. We are by no means throwing in the towel, we have a lot of season left. Our kids usually respond well to adversity and we see no reason for that to change this season. "

     Sterling's next game is scheduled for Friday, September 9th at Lawrence-Nelson. Game time is set for 7:00 pm.