Bees down Tigers
Tigers downed by Bees
BLOOMFIELD—The Osmond Tigers football team found out why the Bloomfield Bees are one of the best teams in 8-man football on Friday, October 13.
The Tigers lost the contest 60-0 thanks to a difficult (44-0) first half despite forcing the Bees to turn the ball over on their opening drive.
Quinten Moles (Sr., B) scored six of the eight Bloomfield touchdowns. His offensive line propelled him and made life tough on Tiger defenders throughout the night.
Justus Maertins (So., B/DB) led the Tigers with twenty total tackles. The problem with that, though, is that he played much of the night as a deep safety.
Tiger defenders had a difficult time getting off the Bloomfield offensive lineman.
“Yes, Bloomfield deserves credit for capitalizing on their strengths,” Tigers Coach Scott Morrison said. “However, we have room to grow and a little time yet to get better.”
Five Tigers were recorded ten tackles or more. Alongside Maertins, Anthony Heiman had sixteen tackles including one on Moles that forced the Bees to turn the ball over on downs early in the first quarter.
Nick Reikofski, a junior linebacker, secured fifteen tackles. Zach Huwaldt (Fr., E/NG) had ten tackles and a fumble recovery.
Alexis Solorzano (So., OL/LB) brought down several ball-carriers as well. He had ten tackles.
Landon Stelling (So., E/DE) did a solid job filling in for Drew Krienert, a senior E/DE. Alex Alderson (Sr., OL/DE) had eight tackles, a tackle for a loss, and a sack.
Colton Beacom (Sr., B/DB) also had eight tackles.
Offensively, the Tigers had trouble consistently gaining yards. They had a handful of longer runs, but could never materialize a drive long enough to score.
Their best opportunity came in the third quarter after a 51-yard run by Alex Palu (Sr., B) that set the Tigers offense inside the Bees’ six yard-line.
The Tigers made it inside the five, but not before having to go for a fourth-down conversion play. The ensuing pass play saw a nice pass from Maertins be ripped away from the grip of Zach Huwaldt (Fr., E).
Palu also had another 51-yard gain, and he ended the contest with 102 yards on just four carries.
Colton Beacom, a senior back, had a 31-yard carry in the contest. Anthony Heiman (Jr., B/DB) was also a source of offense for the Tigers. He ran for twenty-seven yards on thirteen carries.
“We have a pretty good core of backs and nice group of linemen,” Morrison said. “We did a nice job at times of getting our blocks and hitting the hole hard.”
The Bees ultimately were able to force the Tigers short each time they had a big play.
“Overall, we just needed to be a little more consistently sharp,” Morrison said. “We had our chances at times and couldn’t quite breakthrough.”
The Tigers (2-5) head into Thursday’s game versus O’Neill-St. Mary’s looking for an opportunity to earn passage into the 2017 Class D2 State Football Playoffs.
If the Tigers can come out on top against the Cardinals, they’ll be likely be in.
“We still have quite a bit to play for,” Morrison said. “We have some great guys on this team, and we want to keep going.”
“There’s been some times where we’ve played well this year, but we’ve got another level we can achieve.”
The game starts at 7:00 P.M. in Osmond. Come out and support the Tigers!!!