Brainerd Dispatch: Sports | Brainerd, Minnesota | Brainerd Lakes Area Sports on brainerddispatch.com

Home > SPORTS >

Friday, September 25, 2009

E-mail

Forums

Warriors back home to play Moorhead

High school football

By MIKE BIALKA

Sports Editor

The Brainerd Warriors are happy to be back in the friendly confines of Adamson Field.

Brainerd, which took a step forward with a 35-13 pasting of Willmar last week, is back following road trips to Bemidji and Willmar to host the Moorhead Spuds in a Section 8-5A game.

Moorhead, meanwhile, hopes to bounce back after a 34-33 double-overtime loss to Little Falls.

Moorhead vs. Warriors

When: 7 p.m. Friday

Where: Adamson Field, Brainerd

The series: Moorhead leads 12-8. The Warriors won 33-14 in the 2008 regular season.

After not having run effectively in the first two games, Brainerd erupted for 365 yards rushing last week. While the Warriors certainly possess the ability to throw they will likely continue to establish the running game in an attempt to play more physical football.

"Brainerd Warrior football, typically, has been a physical brand of football and our approach continues to be to continue to raise the level of intensity and focus," Warriors coach Ron Stolski said. "You can play your spread and all those things and still be very physical. Certainly, last week, we raised that level of focus.

"(Willmar) was a test for our kids. It wasn't just offense where we got physical. Our defense did too."

Moorhead coach Rick Eidsness expects Brainerd will test his team on the ground.

"They're going to run until we can stop their run," he said. "Willmar couldn't stop it so they kept running, Bemidji and St. Cloud Tech did a good job stopping their run so they went to the spread."

Brainerd's defense responded by recovering three fumbles and limiting Willmar to 29 yards rushing.

"That's the most encouraging thing, they all followed contact," Stolski said of the fumble recoveries. "We're still waiting for our first interception."

Moorhead hopes to recover following what is believed to be its first loss to Little Falls since 1985. The Spuds led 20-7 with 10 minutes left in regulation but Little Falls wouldn't go away.

The Flyers scored twice in a span of 3:11 to force overtime. The Spuds went for two points and the victory in the second overtime, but their pass failed.

"We had our chances, guys were open and we didn't make the plays," Eidsness said. "Give Little Falls credit. They fought back, they played hard.

"By the end of the game we had five running backs out. A lot of our running backs also play defensive back. We were playing guys fifth and sixth on our depth chart, and (the Flyers) were able to catch up."

Moorhead opened with a 13-6 win against Fergus Falls before losing to Alexandria 32-21 and Little Falls.

"We started off decent and had a good defensive game," Eidsness said. "Since then we've given up 30 points every game. Obviously, our defense needs to improve. Our quarterback has been sporadic, he's had one good game, a couple average games. Last Friday we had eight dropped passes, which obviously hurts the quarterback.

"Our best offensive player (two-way back Sam Stetz) was not able to play. His dad died last year. He was a fireman and was enshrined in the firemen's hall of fame in Colorado last weekend. That hurt us, not having our best offensive player."

Stolski believes Moorhead's 1-2 record is deceiving.

"They are a senior-dominated team, offensively especially, with very good speed," he said. "They have good experience at the quarterback spot with Luke Gotta. The games they've been in have been close, so you pretty much don't pay attention to (records), you pay attention to what you see on tape.

"They've had some unfortunate things happen. They're capable, particularly in their offense and return game, to score now. Defensively, the feature of their game is their overall team speed."

MIKE BIALKA may be reached at mike.bialka@brainerddispatch.com or at 855-5861.

Note: Comments are not edited and don't represent the views of The Brainerd Dispatch. Please read our posting rules in the terms of service policy. To report a post that may be inappropriate, click the triangle alert icon.