HJ Sports Blog

Its Friday again, and the DC football team will be charging the field at Dassel-Cokato High School for the second game of their 2008 campaign.

Last week, the Chargers overcame a sloppy first quarter and were able to put together a confident 43-21 win over Mound-Westonka, the newest addition to the Wright County Conference in football. Tonight, DC will have a much bigger job on its hands as WCC foe, and reigning 3A state champion, Glencoe-Silver Lake comes to town to defend its title and undefeated record from 2007.

The Panthers have been a consistent football powerhouse for the last decade, winning state titles in 2000, 2003, 2006, and 2007. According to DC coach Ryan Weinandt, it is good having this tough competitor on the schedule every year, but that doesn’t change the way the Chargers prepared for them this week.
“We look at it the same way we do every week. We try to figure out some of the things they do and really focus on what we do well and putting our game together,” Weinandt said. “You see where you are at against one of the best teams in the state. We like playing against difficult competition.”

The Chargers know that GSL will try to run the ball.

Last week, in the Panthers’ 20-7 win over Hutchinson, five different players shared 46 carries for 196 yards. Leading GSL’s rushing game was junior Aaron Lueders who had 98 yards on 17 touches. GSL’s quarterback threw just nine pass attempts. So the question for the Chargers isn’t if GSL will run the ball, it’s how do they stop it.
“We look at their offensive lineman, they have a lot back, and they are opening up holes,” Weinandt said. “Whoever you have running through there, if you have a big hole, you are going to do a good job.
“All 11 guys have to do their job on every play. We have to make sure it starts up front with our defensive lineman playing well, our linebackers have to get to the right gaps, and our defensive backs have to stop long plays.”

One of biggest differences in the Panthers’ roster this year is starting sophomore quarterback Kyler Anderson. He is replacing Matt Muenchow under center for GSL. Just because he is a new starting quarterback, though, doesn’t mean he isn’t a skillful QB. Anderson had 20 yards on 7 carries against Hutchinson and he was 5-for-9 passing for 83 yards.
“He is a very good runner, and he completed some nice passes,” Weinandt said.

While DC defense will have its hands full, GSL’s defense is almost a bigger threat than its offense. The Panthers allowed 205 yards rushing to Hutchinson, and 41 yards passing.

Last week against Mound-Westonka the Chargers piled on 296 rushing yards and 136 passing yards. Kurt Aho handled a majority of the running with 183 yards on 27 carries, but Jaibyne Braatz also punched out 95 yards on 14 touches and had one reception that went for a 56-yard touchdown. Seth Elmquist was the leading receiver with 62 yards on 4 receptions.

DC’s offense showed it could produce touchdown drives, it also fought against itself at times, battling fumbles, interceptions, and costly penalties. While the Chargers were able to recover from those mistakes, that wouldn’t be so easy against the defending state champs.
“That is huge. Last week, we had a couple mistakes where we just didn’t take care of the ball,” Weinandt said. “We have to hold on to the ball, sure up all of our handoffs. Then we have to sure on our blocking assignments, make sure we have a hat on everybody and that guys don’t get confused by different defensive looks.”