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Saturday, September 5, 2009

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Crosby-Ironton rolls in opener 47-6

By JEREMY MILLSOP

Sports Writer

CROSBY - Phil Kuhlmann was like a teenager driving his parents' sports car for the first time Friday night.

Excitement, nervousness and a healthy fear of crashing helped the first-year varsity quarterback in his debut behind center for the Crosby-Ironton Rangers.

The 5-foot-8 junior finished 11-for-20 passing for 269 yards and four touchdowns in leading the Rangers to a 47-6 victory over the Duluth Marshall Hilltoppers.

"I had a good amount of nerves before the game," said Kuhlmann. "But I have quite a few weapons to use. That's awesome. It's a gift, I guess.

"I was just hoping to not turn the ball over."

Kuhlmann did throw two interceptions, but for the most part did what he was asked. Usually that meant handing off to Matthew Hudrlik.

The third-year tailback accounted for 262 yards of offense and four touchdowns. He scored four straight times, three on the exact same play. The senior rushed 11 times for 175 yards and caught four passes for 87 yards, including his last reception that traveled 69 yards for a touchdown and a 34-0 Ranger lead.

Crosby-Ironton 47, Duluth Marshall 6

Key: Matthew Hudrlik accounted for 262 yards of offense and four touchdowns

Overall: C-I 1-0, DM 0-1

Next: Crosby-Ironton at Deer River 7 p.m. Friday.

The Rangers amassed 531 offensive yards. Kuhlmann hit Alex Bundy for a 4-yard strike on C-I's first possession. The eight-play, 80-yard drive was ignited by Hudrlik's 32-yard burst off right tackle.

That same play resulted in Hurdlik's 37-yard score, 28-yard score and 15-yard TD run to give the Rangers a 28-0 halftime edge.

"The line was opening up huge holes," said Hudrlik. "Really, there was only one person to beat. I thank the line for doing that. I just had to put one move on and I had the touchdown."

Kuhlmann helped the Rangers to a 40-0 edge when he found Tyler Heinlin in the middle of the field for a 35-yard TD pass.

"Phil managed the game well," said Rangers head coach Mike Gindorff. "With Mark (Hoge) and Matthew in there and Nathan (Hudrlik) and all those guys, it's pretty easy. He just has to manage the game and hit the open receivers and I thought he did an excellent job of that."

Hoge, who caught 16 touchdown passes last season, caught a 56-yarder from Kuhlmann to end the Ranger scoring.

Along with Kuhlmann, another concern entering the season was the line protecting him. Both Hudrlik and Gindorff were happy with what they saw.

"I knew the line was going to be decent, but I didn't think they would do as well as they did tonight," said Hudrlik. "And Phil, he's young, but he showed me that he's ready to play. He's going to be pretty good."

Equally as impressive as the offense was the Ranger defense, which held the Hilltoppers to 26 first-half yards. Marshall managed just 141 yards for the game.

C-I's Jasper Schmidt recovered a fumble and Nathan Hudrlik and Mitch Gutzman both had sacks.

"This win will definitely help our confidence a bit," said Gindorff. "Our kids have a goal to finish every week 1-0. They accomplished the goal for this week and we start all over again on Monday."

Duluth Marshall 0 0 6 0 - 6

Crosby-Ironton 14 14 12 7 - 47

First quarter

CI-Alex Bundy 4 pass from Phil Kuhlmann (Tyler Heinlin kick) 4:55

CI-Matthew Hudrlik 37 run (Heinlin kick) 1:54

Second quarter

CI-M. Hudrlik 28 run (Heinlin kick) 6:21

CI-M. Hudrlik 15 run (Heinlin kick) 24.1

Third quarter

CI-M. Hudrlik 69 pass from Kuhlmann (kick failed) 10:24

CI-Heinlin 35 pass from Kuhlmann (kick failed) 2:43

DM-England McDaniels 16 run (pass failed) 18.7

Fourth quarter

CI-Mark Hoge 56 pass from Kuhlmann (Heinlin kick) 5:57

Team statistics

First downs: CI 21, DM 10

Rushes-yards: CI 32-262, DM 40-141

Pass comp-att-int-yards: CI 11-20-2-269, DM 4-12-0-19

Total offense: CI 52-531, DM 52-160

Penalties-yards: CI 6-56, DM 7-73

Individual statistics

Rushing: CI-Matthew Hudrlik 11-175, Tyler Heinlin 8-41, Nathan Hudrlik 6-19, Logan Patrick 4-15, Phil Kuhlmann 3-12; DM-Ike Seere 12-66, England McDaniels 13-65

Passing: CI-Kuhlmann 11-20-269; DM-Dave Grannis 4-12-19

Receiving: CI-M. Hudrlik 4-87, Mark Hoge 3-109, Alex Bundy 2-20, Heinlin 1-35, Mitch Gutzman 1-18; DM-McDaniels 2-13

JEREMY MILLSOP may be reached at jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5856.

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