EG Wins Home Opener, 36-34

BEAT TWIN CEDARS IN GAME THAT SPANS TWO DAYS

East Greene slipped past Twin Cedars (Bussey), 36-34, in a game that stretched over two days—Friday and Saturday, Sept. 2 and 3—to pick up its first win of the season.

The game got underway as scheduled Friday night with a bit of sprinkles and light rain. The two teams traded touchdowns with the Hawks holding the upper hand at the halftime break, 26-20. Twin Cedars came back in the third quarter to take the lead on a touchdown and a two-point conversion, 28-26. The Sabers had the momentum as the Hawks looked to be tiring and were whistled for some key penalties.

The rain had stopped by halftime but with 3:45 left in the third quarter, the officials suspended the game due to lighting to the north. What was hoped to be a mandatory 30-minute delay with the expectations that the lighting would stop, turned into a one-hour delay and still no letup from the lightning. At that point—9:45 p.m.—it was determined to suspend play and resume the game the next day at 2 p.m.

The delay worked to the Hawks’ advantage as the Twin Cedars players and fans would need to drive all the way back to southern Marion County Friday night, and then back up to Grand Junction on Saturday.

Some electrical problems had made the sound system inoperative at Karber Field on Friday but the system was working on Saturday, so the resumed game got underway with the playing of the national anthem. But a light rain began just as play started, so conditions were similar to the night before—just brighter and with no lightning.

Twin Cedars got out of the blocks fast as Jared Stephens scored on a 25-yard run on the first play of the resumed game, extending the Sabers’ lead to 34-26. The EG defense came to the fore, however, and stopped the two point conversion.

The defensive momentum carried forward into the fourth quarter as the Hawks punted down to the 1-yard-line and then stopped TC for a loss in the end zone to score a two-point safety, cutting the lead to 34-28.

Neither team mounted much of a threat rest of the fourth quarter, but in the late stages the Sabers were threatening in Hawk territory when EG intercepted the ball with enough time on the clock to mount one last drive.

EG moved downfield on a key Tory Beger-to-Reed Ostrander pass play with Beger running the ball in a few plays later to tie the game at 34-34. Beger connected with Harrison Johnston on a two-point conversion pass play to put EG in the lead, 36-34, with 40 seconds left in the game.

The Hawks kicked off with Twin Cedars running the ball back to midfield. The Sabers put together an all-out passing assault but the Hawks held them in check in four downs and took over with 17 seconds left on the clock. The Hawks downed the ball on the first snap and then just ran out the clock to pick up their first win of the season, evening their non-district record at 1-1. Twin Cedars fell to 1-1 in non-district play.

Beger passed was 22-38 in passing for a total of 253 yards with no interceptions. He connected for three touchdown passes—one a 56-yard strike to Ostrander. On the receiving end, Ostrander caught 10 passes for 179 total yards. T. J. Lint caught seven passes for 50 yards, Gathercoal caught two for 18 yards, and Broc Timm

Beger ran the ball 16 times for 32 yards and Ostrander gained 106 yards on six carries, most of that on a 63-yard touchdown run. Beger scored on an 8-yard jaunt. Lint had 1 carry for a -1 yard, giving the Hawks 390 total yards—137 on the ground and 253 in the air. Twin Cedars had 356 total yards—213 rushing and 143 passing.

Lint lead the defense with 15 total tackles (two solo and 13 assisted) with Beger right behind with 12 total tackles (2 solo and 10 assisted). Ostrander, Beger and Cody Hidelbaugh each had a sack.

Gathercoal has a big night on defense as he added a fumble recovery to his game-changing interception. Beger also recovered a fumble. The Hawks kicking game was in good form with Zach Hiller kicking off five times for 165 yards and Alex Gordon punting four times for 150 yards.

EG travels to Dunlap on Friday to face 2-1 Boyer Valley in the District 7 opener. This kicks off another season of the 8-Man Football “Lincoln League” as 5 of 7 teams in District 7 are located on the historic Lincoln Highway. The “Lincoln League” (8-Man District 7) is down to seven teams this season as Walnut has dropped its football program and is sharing football with Atlantic, a 3A school. Teams on the Lincoln are: East Greene, Glidden-Ralston, Ar-We-Va, Boyer Valley and Woodbine. The only non-Lincoln teams are within a dozen miles of the highway—Coon Rapids-Bayard and Charter Oak-Ute.

Towns that are on the Lincoln in the five school districts, heading westward, are Grand Junction, Ralston, Glidden, Arcadia, Westside, Vale, Arion, Dow City, Dunlap and Woodbine—a “Big 10” roster of Lincoln Highway/U.S. 30 towns.

Boyer Valley has had easy wins over Whiting and River Valley (Correctionville) and lost by one point on Friday in overtime to No. 6-ranked Kingsley-Pierson, 21-20. EG beat Boyer Valley last year in Grand Junction, 26-20. Both teams qualified for the playoffs last year with EG finishing third in District 7 and BV finishing fourth. Twin Cedars hosts Tri-County (Thornburgh) in a District 5 opener for both teams.

Season (Non-Districts) Records of Lincoln League Teams
Boyer Valley (Dunlap) 2-1
Coon Rapids-Bayard 1-1
East Greene 1-1
Glidden-Ralston 1-1
Woodbine 1-1
Charter Oak-Ute 0-2
Ar-We-Va (Westside) 0-3

District 7 Scores, Week 2 (Sept. 1):
EG 36, Twin Cedars (Bussey) 34
Woodbine 48, Whiting 8
Kingsley-Pierson 21, Boyer Valley 20 (OT), *KP ranked No. 6
CRB 42, Grandview Park Baptist 9
Newell-Fonda 45, GR 8
River Valley 64, Ar-We- 61
Remsen-Union 58, Charter Oak-Ute 8, *RU ranked No. 5

District 7 Scores, Week 1 (Aug. 26):
Melcher Dallas 44, EG 30
GR 62, Grandview Park Baptist 21
Boyer Valley (Dunlap) 61, Whiting 0
Kingsley-Pierson 47, Ar-We-Va 6
Northeast Hamilton (Blairsburg) 56, CRB 20
River Valley (Correctionville) 70, COU 28

District 7 Scores, Week 0 (Aug. 19):
Boyer Valley 66, River Valley (Correctionville) 22
CAM (Anita) 39, Woodbine 0
Armstrong-Ringsted 51, Ar-We-Va 12, *AR ranked No. 1

EYE ON GJ SAYS: The Hawks will have their hands full with the Boyer Valley Bulldogs, who look to be one of the top teams in the “Lincoln League” at this stage of the season. BV took sixth-ranked Kingsley-Pierson, a District 1 team, to overtime before falling by one point while unranked Newell-Fonda, also in District 1, rolled over Glidden-Ralston 45-8. Glidden-Ralston, Kingsley-Pierson and Newell-Fonda all advanced to the playoffs last year. KP lost to state champion Armstrong-Ringsted in the first round while NF was eliminated by Armstrong-Ringsted in the second round. GR made it to the quarterfinal round, losing to Fremont-Mills (Tabor) which was, in turn, eliminated by AR in the semifinals in the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

EG will need to stop the running game of Michael Hanigan, BV’s standout junior quarterback/defensive back. Hanigan ran the ball 41 times for 131 yards and two touchdowns against Kingsley-Pierson. He was 4-9 with one interception and 51 yards passing. He has ran the ball 91 times for 601 yards in three games—an impressive 200 yards per game average.

BV will need to shut down the EG aerial assault. Beger is now finding success with a range of receivers, while he and Ostrander are also a threat running the ball. Ostrander is still the go-to guy on the EG passing attack, so how the Hawks hold up against the Bulldogs’ pass defense will go a long way in determining who gets the upper hand in Dunlap.

In the 44-30 loss to Melcher-Dallas, Beger put up 195 total yards on 16-24 passing with one interception, giving him a total of 448 yards for both games combined—an impressive 224 yards per game average.

In other D7/Lincoln League games this week, Ar-We-Va (0-3) is at Coon Rapids-Bayard (1-1) and Woodbine (1-1) is at Glidden-Ralston.

Hawks Win Big Over Woodbine 52-12!

CLINCH FIRST WINNING SEASON SINCE 2001

East Greene beat the Woodbine Tigers, 52-12, in Woodbine tonight to move to 3-1 in District 7 and 5-1 overall. The Hawks are in sole place of third place in District 7—the “Lincoln League”—and the win guarantees a winning season with just three games left on the 2010 schedule.

East Greene hosts Walnut (1-3, 1-5) next Friday, Oct. 8, at Karber Field for Parent’s Night.

Tonight’s District 7 Games and Updated League Standings:

East Greene 54, Woodbine 12

Glidden-Ralston 24, Ar-We-Va 13

Coon Rapids-Bayard 76, Walnut 0

Boyer Valley 62, Charter Oak-Ute 8

Coon Rapids-Bayard 4-0, 5-1

Glidden-Ralston 4-0, 5-1

East Greene 3-1, 5-1

Boyer Valley 2-2, 4-2

Ar-We-Va 1-3, 2-4

Woodbine 1-3, 2-4

Walnut 1-3, 1-5

Charter Oak-Ute 0-4, 0-6

GR Spoils EG Homecoming

HAWKS LOSE FIRST GAME, NOW THIRD IN D7

Glidden-Ralston put the clamps on East Greene, 40-8, in a District 7 showdown last Friday night in Grand Junction.

The loss put a bit of a damper on East Greene’s Homecoming activities. GR remained in first place in D7, the “Lincoln League,” with a 3-0 mark, tied with Coon Rapids-Bayard, which beat Boyer Valley, 67-44. EG dropped into third place in the district with a 2-1 mark.

EG, GR and CRB are each 4-1 overall for the season. The win helped push GR to the No.10 spot in the Des Moines Register’s 8-Man state football rankings this week.

The Hawks put forth a solid effort. It tied the lowest point total the Wildcats have been held to all season (40 in a 3 OT loss to Newell-Fonda, 46-40) but the GR defense was unyielding and the offense got off to a fast start. GR rolled to a 34-0 halftime lead and upped that to 40-zip early in the third quarter.

The Hawks did get on the board with a touchdown run by Scyhler Bardole and run for the 2-point conversion by Reed Ostrander in the third quarter. Despite a poor first-half showing, the Hawks did play the Wildcats even for the second half, and actually outscored them 8-6.

East Greene was able to move the ball—racking up 237 yards and 11 first downs—but just could not punch the ball across the goal line. GR had only 25 more total yards (262) and just two more first downs (13) but the Hawks hurt themselves with three turnovers—an interception and two fumbles.

Bardole racked up 128 yards on 21 carries while Nic Nicolaisen ran 5 times for 23 yards. Bardole also led the receiving corps with 3 catches for 18 yards. QBs Tyler Cooklin and Tory Beger passed for 85 yards against the GR defense, but it took them 20 attempts and only 8 of those passes were completions. Cooklin completed 1 of 6 passes for seven yards, while Beger connected on 7 of 14 for 78 yards and one interception.

GR unleashed a running back “triple threat” with Taylor Hackett, Mitchell Lensch and QB Wade Hoyle each scoring two running touchdowns. Hackett had 13 carries for 114 yards and Lensch added 99 yard on 17 carries.

Despite his scoring two TDs, the Hawks did hold QB Hoyle pretty much in check, limiting him to just two completions in six passing attempts for 12 yards, and just 33 yards on the ground in 9 carries.

East Greene travels to Woodbine tonight while the Wildcats host Ar-We-Va.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: Well, there are baseball towns and there are football towns. Clearly, Glidden is a football town, and with EG having made the substate in baseball the last two years, Grand Junction and Rippey are baseball towns.

But, that being said, it really was disappointing to see GR win by a such a large margin when it seemed both teams were pretty evenly matched, and especially since last year, when EG came so close to beating GR, losing a hard-fought battle, 14-6. That game showcased how much improvement the Hawks have made over the last several years, considering GR drubbed EG 48-8 in 2007 and the Hawks pulled closer in 2008, 34-14, and then the loss by just a touchdown last year.

The Hawks will need to re-group as they have a long road trip this week to Harrison County to take on Woodbine, now 1-2 in D7 after rolling over Walnut last week, 52-12. The Tigers are 3-2 on the season, but their losses are to very strong teams—D7 co-leaders GR and Coon-Rapids Bayard (combined records of 8-2) and East Mills (3-1) which is in third place at 2-1 in District 8, just behind co-leaders Stanton and Fremont-Mills (3-0). East Mills’ only losses this season have been to top ranked Lenox (5-0) and No. 5 Stanton (4-1) whose only was to Lenox in the season opener.



Woodbine's Kyle Kuhlmann heads down the sideline

in last week's game at Walnut. Photo by Dawn Powers

of the Logan Herald Observer/Woodbine Twiner.



The Hawks will need to get their offense back in gear while the defense will need to stop the Tigers’ Kyle Kuhlman (see photo) and QB Zach Archer. Archer has thrown for 393 yards and 8 TDs and passed for 313 yards and 5 TDs through the air so far this season, while Kuhlman has rushed for 647 yards and scored 9 running TDs along with 118 yards receiving and 2 passing TDs.

EG has its own offensive weapons with Bardole now having racked up 823 yards for the season, a hefty 164 yards per game average, and a 1-2 punch at quarterback with Beger and Cooklin.

Tonight’s matchup with Woodbine begins a key stretch of four key games for the Hawks that mark the back half the season. After the road trip, EG returns to face Walnut (1-4) in Grand Junction on Parents’ Night on Oct. 8, and then the Hawks go on the road to finish the season with tough games at Coon Rapids against CRB and in Westside against Ar-We-Va the final two weeks of the season, Oct. 15 and 22.

The Hawks will need to make sure there is no letdown after losing in a big game that was even bigger because it was against a longtime rival like GR and that it came at homecoming.

It should be noted that when the Hawks scored that impressive victory over Boyer Valley on Sept. 10—even more important when tallying up the District 7 standings as BV went on to beat Ar-We-Va, a solid team year-in and year-out—it also matched all of last year’s EG win tally (3). And the thrashing of Charter Oak-Ute the following week moved the EG season win total to 4, which surpassed last year’s mark and equaled the four wins of the 4-5 record of the team two years ago. That 2008 season was the best EG grid showing since its first year of 8-man football in 2001, when EG went 6-2 with its only losses to the same team—state champion Adair-Casey.

One more East Greene win will clinch a winning season, the first since that 2001 campaign.

It’s a bit premature to begin talking about a berth in the substate in the postseason, as there are still 4 of the 7 total district games to be played, but it’s not at all out of the realm.

First things first, and that’s the road game at Woodbine. This will be a night where the lights are really shining bright on the Lincoln. Not only do “Lincoln League” schools EG and Woodbine faceoff in a key game in Woodbine, but Ar-We-Va travels east “on the Lincoln” to the other side of Carroll to Glidden to take on GR in another key battle of LL teams—these two being the smalls school rivals who are the east and west neighbors of county seat Carroll and its 2A schools Kuemper and Carroll public.

Ar-We-Va rolled over Charter Oak-Ute by 54 points last week and will no doubt be psyched to knock GR off its first-place D7 perch and out of the state-wide rankings. Last year GR squeaked by with a 20-19 win while Ar-We-Va had the upper hand in 2008, winning 32-12.

District 7 Standings
Coon Rapids-Bayard 3-0, 4-1
Glidden-Ralston 3-0, 4-1
East Greene 2-1, 4-1
Boyer Valley 1-2, 3-2
Ar-We-Va 1-2, 2-3
Woodbine 1-2, 2-3

Walnut 1-2, 1-4

Charter Oak-Ute 0-3, 0-5

Sept. 24 Results:

Glidden-Ralston 40, East Greene 8

Coon Rapids-Bayard 67, Boyer Valley 44

Ar-We-Va 56, Charter Oak-Ute 2

Woodbine 52, Walnut 12

Tonight’s Games:

East Greene @ Woodbine

Ar-We-Va @ Glidden-Ralston

Boyer Valley @ Charter Oak-Ute

Walnut @ Coon Rapids-Bayard