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Friday, October 30, 2009

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Warriors to see another ball-control ground game

High school football

By MIKE BIALKA

Sports Editor

Ball control will be the name of the game for the second straight week when the Cambridge-Isanti Bluejackets play the Brainerd Warriors in the semifinals of the Section 8-5A playoffs Saturday afternoon.

In the final regular-season game against Sartell, the Warriors had the ball for only 38 plays from scrimmage compared to the Sabres' 74 and lost 28-0.

Cambridge-Isanti vs. Warriors

When: 2 p.m. Saturday

Where: Adamson Field, Brainerd

The series: C-I leads 10-5. The teams last met in 2004 when Brainerd beat the Bluejackets 34-0 in the Section 8-5A championship game.

Third-seeded C-I will attempt to do the same thing against the No. 2 Warriors, running behind a line that ranges from 220 to 275 pounds. The Bluejackets have averaged a little more than 10 passes a game, while averaging almost 45 running plays.

Running back Eric Johnson leads the Bluejackets with 772 yards rushing and three TDs. Fullback Scott Gifford has added 693 yards and nine scores.

"We're going to run the ball until we can't, I guess," C-I coach Todd Larkin said. "We want to control the ball on the ground. We have a kid (quarterback Wade Smethers) who can throw when we have to, but we don't like to rely on the pass.

"We've got a couple good receivers, but we still like to run the ball between the tackles."

That's pretty much the way the Bluejackets have always played, back to the days when George Larson won a then-Minnesota State High School League record 307 games as C-I's head coach. Brainerd coach Ron Stolski, who has 316 career wins, coached against Larson frequently while at Princeton and when C-I was in the Central Lakes Conference.

"It's kind of a typical Cambridge team, big up front, the offensive line," Stolski said. "When you look at them you don't see too much difference than you did 20 years ago. They're just sound. They play good football at every position."

Defense, Larkin said, has been the Bluejackets' forte. They have allowed just 126 rushing yards a game, 122 yards passing and 14.7 points. Larkin said linebackers Kyle Asmus and Marcus Dahlquist are usually around the football.

"Our defense probably has been the strength of our football team," he said. "They've kept us in quite a few games. We play pretty good defense."

The Warriors will have to sharpen and tighten up their game. They turned the ball over three times against Sartell and had just 116 yards of total offense.

"We can't afford some of the lapses we've had," Stolski said. "Certainly, the last game was decided by third down situations. Sartell was in third or fourth down situations (12) times, and made (nine) of them. We were in third or fourth downs (nine times) and failed on (seven) of them.

"Whether it's in playoff ball, or your first game, you must make your third down plays and you must stop the other guy on third down.

"In games like this the plays that are made stand out, the plays that aren't made stand out. It isn't like you can correct that next week. You've got to make the plays, and we're capable of making the plays."

This will be the first time the teams have met in six years. They last faced each other in the 2004 section finals.

"I know coach Stolski and coach Larson had some great battles," Larkin said. "They're great football coaches, no question about that. It will be fun for us to come up there and play. We know Stolski's teams play hard and with class. I'm sure it will be a good, hard-hitting, clean football game."

Shutout streak ends

The last time Brainerd was shut out, before last week by Sartell, was 21-0 by C-I in the final game of the 1995 season. There were 146 games between shutouts.

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

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