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A few surprises, but top teams still tops Prep football commentary, midseason report Sports Writer At first glance it would appear the usual suspects in the area are up to their old tricks on the prep football gridiron.
The 4-0 Verndale Pirates showed they are still a perennial powerhouse with last Friday's 32-8 victory over previously unbeaten and ninth-ranked Bertha-Hewitt.
The Pirates will have their second big test of the season Friday when they host 3-1 Hillcrest Lutheran.
Pierz rebounded from its Sept. 18 loss to third-ranked Eden Valley-Watkins with a 41-0 blowout of Class 3A's Rockford.
In its three wins, the Pioneers' defense has not allowed a point.
Even the Staples-Motley Cardinals are back in the state rankings after a dip last season. The ninth-ranked Cardinals are 4-0 and are outscoring opponents 38.8-5.3. S-M will face rival Wadena-Deer Creek Friday before tackling its biggest competition Oct. 9 when the Cards travel to 4-0 and Class 2A's eighth-ranked Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton, which beat W-DC 48-6 Sept. 25.
D-G-F is the only blemish on the Pequot Lakes Patriots' record. The 3-1 Patriots would like to keep it that way when they face Class 3A's 5th-ranked Perham Yellowjackets Friday.
Perham is leading the Section 8-3A standings, followed by S-M in second and Pequot in third.
"They are a very talented team," said Patriots head coach Chip Lohmiller. "Their quarterback, Ben Bucholz, can throw the ball. He's an athletic, tall kid (6-foot-7, 210 pounds), who can see over the line and make big plays."
Lohmiller said the Perham receivers possess good speed, but he was more impressed by the size of the Perham line.
"Andrew Muer is 6-3, 290, and a very talented lineman," Lohmiller added. "He's a good lineman. Their whole line is good and big. I think they go 280, 260, 230 and 295 while our line is 230, 200, 180, 175.
"We're more of a quick offense, but they don't run much. They do run a sweep once in a while and a shuffle pass, but they run a spread offense and throw the ball 80 percent of the time."
Perham is holding opponents to 5.0 points per game, while scoring 37.8. Lohmiller isn't too concerned about moving the ball against Perham. Pequot has a track record of success in doing that. The Patriots are averaging 30.8 points a game, including last Friday's 45-0 blowout of Crookston.
"We haven't run much of our arsenal that we have in our playbook," Lohmiller said. "We've just run what we needed to to win. I think Perham knows that. This is a big, rivalry game with huge implications toward sections and how things play out the rest of the season. This is the biggest game of our players' careers."
Leading Section 6-2A is not the Pioneers, but the upstart Crosby-Ironton Rangers. At 4-0, C-I owns a 3-point lead over 4-0 Osakis - coached by former Pierz activities director Patrick Kalpin - and a four-point edge over Pierz.
"We've focused on fundamentals," said Ranger head coach Mike Gindorff. "We talk about stopping the run, not turning the ball over and creating turnovers."
The Rangers have turned the ball over 10 times, while creating 10 turnovers.
"It's a work in progress," said Gindorff.
C-I is outscoring opponents 35.5-7.8, but will face a tough stretch of games starting Friday at Rush City (2-2). From there, C-I travels to Braham (2-2) and hosts Pine City (3-1) before its rivalry game with the Aitkin Gobblers.
"We are going to have to play our best football and what I mean by that is we have to stop the run and play fundamentally sound football.
"Defensively, we try to keep it as simple as possible. We stop the run and make teams throw to beat us. Athletically, we match up with just about anyone. Our secondary has a couple of guys 6 feet and taller, who can run and then we have a bunch of quick guys who cover well."
The biggest surprise so far has been the Little Falls Flyers. At 2-2 the Flyers are enjoying their most successful season since 2004 when they went 4-5.
Little Falls' success, however has come on the road where it is 2-0. It will take a major effort to remain unbeaten on the road as the Flyers travel to St. Cloud Tech Friday. After hosting Fergus Falls, Little Falls travels to 3-1 Alexandria and hosts 3-1 Sauk Rapids to close the season.
jeremy millsop, sports writer, may be reached at jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com or at 855-5856.
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