Tigers suffer home loss to Flyers
Tigers downed by Flyers
The Osmond Tigers football team faced off against the Humphrey-St. Francis Flyers on Friday, September 22. They fell to the visiting Flyers 56-6, suffering their first home loss.
The Tigers played hard throughout the contest, but they had a difficult time penetrating the aggressive Flyers’ attack.
“I though our guys came out and played with excellent effort,” Tigers Coach Scott Morrison said. “We were flying to the ball aggressively and made life difficult of the Flyers all night. Unfortunately, they executed at a higher level than we did.”
Receiving the ball first, the Flyers marched the ball down the field and scored the game’s first points on their opening possession.
The Tigers did a nice job forcing the Flyers to drive the football, but the Flyers found holes in the Tiger defense and took advantage.
This included the Flyers converting on two fourth downs on the drive, including the opening touchdown on a fourth-and-goal rollout pass. This gave the Flyers an 8-0 advantage.
Looking to answer the early touchdown, the Tigers had trouble executing from the onset of their first possession.
Tiger quarterback Anthony Heiman’s (Sr.) pass was intercepted on just the Tigers second play from scrimmage. The interception was converted into a HSF touchdown three plays later, giving them a 14-0 lead.
The Tigers picked up a few yards on their next drive on runs by Heiman and Connor Gutz (So., RB/LB), but they were forced to punt after an incompletion on a pass intended for junior back Josh Gansebom.
This time the Tigers’ defense stiffened as Justus Maertins (Jr., E/DB) made a nice play in coverage to force the Flyers to turn the ball over on downs.
Unfortunately, the Tigers turned the ball right back to the Flyers, who picked off a pass headed for Zach Huwaldt (So., E/DE).
Defensively, the Tigers rebounded pretty well, but the Flyers managed to drive thirty-six yards in nine plays.
“We put ourselves in a couple tough situations, but I was pretty pretty impressed with how our defense responded to the short field,” Morrison said. “St. Francis was forced to earn everything.”
The Tiger defense was led by senior linebacker Nick Reikofski and junior nose guard Alexis Solorzano. They were accompanied by Heiman, Gansebom, and Mason Bykerk (Jr.) as outside linebackers.
Connor Gutz (So.) and Patrick Vinson (Fr.) manned an inside lineback position. Landon Stelling (Jr.) and Huwaldt both played well on the line. Maertins had a good game at safety.
The Flyers did eventually score their third touchdown and found themselves up 20-0 at the end early in the second quarter. They were threatening to take control of the game rapidly.
The Tigers then went on their best drive headed once they got the ball back. They took it 65 yards for their only score of the game. Heiman ran for a 21-yard first down (The Tigers’ first) early in the drive.
Heiman connected with Maertins on a 35-yard pass. The conversion was no good.
The Flyers tacked on two more scored before the end of the half to be up 36-6 going into the break.
In the second half, the Tigers built their two most efficient drives of the game (both in the third quarter). Unfortunately, both came up short.
The Flyers continued to build on their lead in the fourth quarter. The Flyers built a 56-6 lead and both teams substituted their junior varsity players.
This was especially encouraging for the Tigers who saw a number of guys play well. This started with Logan Stelling (Jr., OL/DL), Mason Bykerk (Jr., E/LB), Patrick Vinson (Fr., QB/LB), Parker Johnson (So., E/LB), Bryan Solorzano (Fr., B/LB) who emerged and play well.
The Tigers made some nice plays defensive and earned a first down offensively.
Blake Bahr (So., OL/DL), Brenden Gillespie (So., TE/DE), and Hunter Beacom (Fr., B/LB) also did well.
The Tigers will move on to play at Plainview on Friday, September 28.