After playing their first two games on the new Field Turf at Adamson Field in Brainerd, the Warriors receive an opportunity to play on the new turf at Alexandria High School Friday night.
Alexandria moved into a new high school this fall. The approximate $70 million school project included artificial turf on the football/soccer field, new baseball and softball diamonds and a 9-lane track. Cardinals coach Mike Empting said there's excitement in Alexandria about the opening of a new building and a new stadium.
"In our opening game, we had a tremendous crowd and Moorhead traveled well," he said. "And a lot of Alexandria fans turned out to see the opening game. And there's excitement around the start of another football season.
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Warriors vs. Alexandria
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- When: 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12
- Where: At Alexandria
- The series: Brainerd leads 34-20
- Last meeting: Brainerd won 42-10 in 2013
- Twitter: @bertsballpark
- Radio: KLIZ-AM (1380)
- Web stream: www.brainerdradio.net .
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"I would expect there will be a good crowd for the Brainerd game, too. Brainerd/Alexandria is always a good rivalry game for our community and it's usually a good football game. Brainerd travels well, they always have a good club. I expect a pretty exciting atmosphere around here Friday night."
The Cardinals seek their first win after losing the opener 18-13 to Moorhead. They trailed 12-6 at the half .
"We took the lead in the third quarter, and led for most of the second half," Empting said. "We lost on a hook and ladder play with about one minute to go."
Last week Alexandria fell behind 27-7 at the half at Sartell and lost 40-13.
"I was impressed," Empting said of Sartell. "I knew it would be a big challenge for our team going in. I thought we would be able to compete better than 40-13, but that's not taking anything away from Sartell. They're a very good team."
Warriors coach Ron Stolski has been impressed with the play of Cardinals' sophomore quarterback Jaran Roste and receiver/free safety Joe Gorghuber among others. In the first two games, Roste has completed 24 passes for 308 yards and a TD and Gorghuber has six catches for 105 yards and a score.
"We generally have good games with Alexandria," Stolski said. "They're very aggressive defensively. They have a nice front and good linebackers. One of their best athletes is Gorghuber who plays both ways."
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Empting believes the Cardinals' defense is their strength initially with six full-time and two part-time starters returning. Offense has been a concern.
"We're quite a bit younger on the offensive side," Empting said. "We've really only got three offensive starters back - our left guard, center and tight end. They're the only ones that saw much playing time a year ago.
"We graduated our whole offensive backfield. We're playing a lot of juniors and a sophomore at quarterback. We knew it would take our offense a little bit longer to roll a little bit."
Brainerd looks to rebound from a 39-20 defeat administered by Willmar last week in which the Warriors surrendered 500 total yards. Willmar scored the game's first 19 points, Brainerd scored the next 20 and Willmar scored the final 20. The Warriors forced three Willmar turnovers, but those were negated by three interceptions.
"We have to overcome some of the mistakes that we made in the Willmar game," Stolski said. "We have to continue to grow. For both of our quarterbacks, it's their first varsity season. We anticipate and expect good growth.
"We're a relatively young football team that's getting older by the quarter. I have every confidence that we will play very hard again and spirited."
The Warriors will be minus one leader Friday. Starting safety Hayden Bukowski, a senior captain who played in all 13 games last year, is out indefinitely with a knee injury.
Brainerd Warriors
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OFFENSE
QB: 16-Evan Brecht, 10-Hanson Devine, 2-Chris Pederson
RB: 40-Mitch Rahn, 21-Allen Jevning, 15-Paul Augustinack, 33-Zach Winger, 22-Cooper Tollefson, 20-Chris Veith, 25-Tim O'Reilly, 18-Colton Borg
TE: 90-Ted Nelson, 95-Josh Howieson
WR: 81-Quinn McElfresh, 8-Cole Spieker, 5-Steven Severson, 2-Chris Pederson, 85-Brady Kline, 84-Jordan Whitehead, 88-Devan Fiedler, 82-Riley Fabian
T: 73-Eric Uphoff, 63-Kyler Kennedy, 60-Michael Horton, 71-Ryan Powers
G: 60-Michael Horton, 61-Clayton Caird, 76-Zach Rude, 51-Seth Desrocher
C: 62-Jon Bostrom, 52-Sean Laughton
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DEFENSE
DL: 90-Ted Nelson, 56-Matt Thompson, 95-Josh Howieson, 96-Nick Stettler, 58-Jared Winter, 57-Zach Stangl, 54-Dylan Crandall
OLB: 12-Cole Sellnow, 35-Cole DeRosier, 34-Arron Martin, 88-Devan Fiedler, 36-C.J. Wohl
ILB: 41-Taylor Streiff, 42-Anthony Cory, 55-Tristan Brecht, 53-Jordan Jarmuzak
CB: 7-Jaquon Cogshell, 14-Isaiah Stewart, 18-Colton Borg, 21-Allen Jevning, 24-Nick Peterson, 23-Cole Harmer
S: 32-Will Stolski, 2-Chris Pederson, 11-Adam Fischer, 27-Matt Hill
SPECIAL TEAMS
Punter: 2-Chris Pederson, 93-Devan Liebeg
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PK-KO: 89-David Saxum, 4-Isaiah Stewart
Holder: 16-Evan Brecht
KO/punt return: 2-Chris Pederson, 21-Allan Jevning, 7-Jaquon Cogshell, 81-Quinn McElfresh, 8-Cole Spieker, 20-Chris Veith
Long snapper: 36-C.J. Wohl
Willmar Cardinals
OFFENSE
X: 15-Brayden Amundson
T: 52-Jordan Jantzen
G: 73-Mitch Maday
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C: 70-Dyain Larson
G: 72-Mitch Roers
T: 68-Paul Boettner
Z: 41-Mitch Meier
H: 3-Kris Setterstrom
QB: 1-Jaran Roste
R: 44-Jake Vukelich
Y: Travis Kruger
DEFENSE
LE: 60-Chris Leary
LT: 65-Jerimiah Burnham
RT: 17-Andrew Johnson
RE: 69-Chase Childers
SLB: 47-Nick Partington
MLB: 43-Justin Cumberbatch
WLB: 40-Grant Hockert
CB: 27-Sam Helgeson
FS: 5-Joe Gorghuber
SS: 45-Parker Revering
CB: 25-Michael Helgeson
SPECIAL TEAMS
Kicker: 18-Jake Neinaber
Punter: 1-Jaran Roste
LS: 45-Parker Revering
H: 3-Kris Setterstrom
KR: 43-Justin Cumberbatch, 22-Micah Christiansen, 3-Kris Setterstrom, 5-Joe Gorghuber
PR: 3-Kris Setterstrom, 22-Micah Christiansen
Warriors regular season
Aug 29, Fergus Falls - WON 30-6
Sept. 5, Willmar - Lost 39-20
Sept. 12, at Alexandria 7 p.m.
Sept. 19, at St. Cloud Apollo 7 p.m.
Sept. 27, St. Cloud Tech 2 p.m. (homecoming)
Oct. 3, at Bemidji 7 p.m.
Oct. 10, Moorhead 7 p.m.
Oct. 15, at Grand Rapids 7 p.m.
Central Lakes Conference
North Division
Div All
Bemidji 1-0 2-0
Moorhead 1-0 2-0
Brainerd 1-0 1-1
Alexandria 0-1 0-2
Fergus Falls 0-1 0-2
Grand Rapids 0-1 0-2
South Division
Sartell 1-0 2-0
Willmar 1-0 2-0
St. Cloud Apollo 1-0 1-1
Rocori 0-1 1-1
St. Cloud Tech 0-1 1-1
Sauk Rapids 0-1 0-2
Sept. 5 Results
Willmar 39, Brainerd 20
Rocori 28, Fergus Falls 6
Moorhead 42, Apollo 20
Bemidji 52, Sauk Rapids 19
Sartell 40, Alexandria 13
Tech 56, Grand Rapids 13
Friday, Sept. 12 Games
Brainerd at Alexandria
Sauk Rapids at Apollo
Fergus Falls at Bemidji
Sartell at Willmar
Tech at Rocori
Section 7, Class 5A
Sect All
Cambridge-Isanti 1-0 2-0
Bemidji 0-0 2-0
Chisago Lakes 0-0 2-0
St. Francis 1-0 1-1
Brainerd 0-0 1-1
Duluth East 0-2 0-2
Sept. 5 Results
Willmar 39, Brainerd 20
St. Michael-Albertville 35, St. Francis 27
Bemidji 52, Sauk Rapids 19
Cambridge 44, Duluth East 0
Chisago Lakes 35, Duluth Denfeld 8
Friday, Sept. 12 Games
Brainerd at Alexandria
Fergus Falls at Bemidji
North Branch at Cambridge
Chisago Lakes at Duluth East
St. Francis at Rogers
Warriors statistics
TWO GAMES
PASSING Com Att Yds TD
Hanson Devine 5 10 76 0
Evan Brecht 5 7 48 0
Chris Pederson 2 2 32 1
RUSHING Att Yds Avg TD
Mitch Rahn 29 135 4.7 5
Evan Brecht 17 89 6.4 0
Allen Jevning 9 63 7.0 0
Zach Winger 6 24 4.0 0
Chris Veith 3 18 6.0 0
P. Augustinack 7 16 2.3 0
Colton Borg 1 10 10.0 0
Chris Pederson 8 -1 -0.1 0
Hanson Devine 4 0 0.0 0
C. Tollefson 2 -1 -0.5 0
Team 1 -4 x x
RECEIVING No Yds Avg TD
Q. McElfresh 8 119 14.9 0
Cole Spieker 10 118 11.8 1
Steven Severson 3 30 10.0 1
Chris Pederson 4 22 5.5 0
Paul Augustinack 1 5 5.0 0
SCORING TD 2PT EPK TP
Mitch Rahn 5 0 0 30
Cole Spieker 1 0 0 6
Steve Severson 1 0 0 6
David Saxum 0 0 4 4
Allen Jevning 0 1 0 2
Defense-Safety 0 0 0 2
Quinn McElfresh 0 0 0 0
Paul Augustinack 0 0 0 0
Evan Brecht 0 0 0 0
DEFENSE
Season fumble recoveries: Howieson
Season sacks: Nelson 2, Sellnow 2, Cory 1.5, C. DeRosier .5
Pass breakups vs. Willmar: C. DeRosier, Cogshell, Stolski, Sellnow, Hill
Season interceptions: Howieson, Cogshell
Tackles vs. Willmar: Sellnow 21, Stolski 20, Cory 19, Streiff 13, C. DeRosier 13
Season tackle leaders: Stolski 34, Sellnow 33, Cory 31, Streiff 22, DeRosier 21
Points per-game average: Brainerd 25.0, opposition 22.5
Yards per game average: Brainerd 321.5, opposition 307.0
