SEASON FOOTBALL OPENER

Hawks Fall At No. 8 Ar-We-Va, 15-2

A valiant defensive effort against one of the state’s top teams wasn’t enough to overcome a sluggish offense performance as East Greene dropped its season opener to Ar-We-Va 15-2 last Friday night in Westside.

The Hawks held the highly regarded Rocket offense, which averaged 42 points last season, to just two touchdowns, a big improvement over the 39 points that Rockets racked up against EG last year and the 57-7 and 63-14 drubbings from the previous two seasons.

EG gave up an average of 38 points a game last year, so to hold Ar-We-Va, ranked No. 8 in 8-Player Football by the Des Moines Register, to just 15 points is impressive. Ar-We-Va is the returning co-champions of District 1 and advanced to the second round of the state playoffs last year. In 2007, the Rockets made it to the state semifinal round. Since joining 8-player football earlier in the decade, Ar-We-Va has never finished a season lower than third place in district play.

The Rockets returned the backfield tandem of seniors Ryan Schurke, running back, and Jeremy Ehlers, quarterback, both first-team All-District 1 picks in 2008. The EG defense held them in check though, limiting the explosive Schurke to just 80 yards on 21 carries. The Hawks’ pass defense was especially stingy, shutting down Ehlers to just 3 completions in 8 attempts for 12 yards. Overall, AWV was held to just 125 yards total offense.

Schurke was responsible for all the Rockets’ scoring: a touchdown on a running play; an interception; and a 16-yard field goal. He also attempted both 2-point conversions for the Rockets, but the EG defense stopped him both times. EG’s defense was so stellar, it generated the team’s only offensive points: a safety for 2 points.

EG looks to get its offense in gear tonight in the home opener against Charter Oak-Ute in a non-district contest. Charter Oak-Ute (0-1) is also a District 1 team, finishing seventh last year at 1-6 with an overall season mark of 1-8. The Hawks downed CO-U last year in Charter Oak, 52-30. Last week, the Bobcats were drubbed by Coon Rapids-Bayard, a District 7 team, 68-0. Kickoff for the tonight’s game at Karber Field is 7 p.m.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: EG was the lone blemish on the opening night for “the Magnificent 7” District 7 teams, as Adair-Casey, CAM (Anita), Coon Rapids-Bayard, Glidden-Ralston, Walnut and the newly formed Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira shared team all posted victories. Besides CRB’s 68-point shutout drubbing of CO-U, GR pummeled Whiting 80-16, and CAM and Walnut beat their opponents by 54 and 50 points respectively. Granted, the combined record of these six opponents last year was just 11-43, but still those are pretty lofty numbers and any time 7 teams from the same district go 6-1, hey, that’s impressive.

Look for EG to get its offense untracked and for the defense to put in another solid performance against CO-U, helping the Hawks get all the kinks out before they open District 7 play with a road game next week against Glidden-Ralston.