Football: Grand Meadow will aim to stop Dutchmen rushing attack
Published 8:15 pm Wednesday, November 9, 2016
GRAND MEADOW — The Grand Meadow football team will have to step up on defense to hold off a high powered rushing attack when it opens the Class nine-man state football quarterfinals against Edgerton-Ellsworth in RCTC Stadium in Rochester 7 p.m. Friday.
The Superlarks (11-0 overall) knocked off the Dutchmen (10-1 overall) in the state title game in 2014 and the teams have seen each other in a summer scrimmage in South Dakota over the past few years. GM head coach Gary Sloan said if GM wants to advance, it will have stop the Dutchmen’s rushing attack, which features an inside and outside running game.
Edgerton-Ellsworth averages 50.9 points per game and it advanced to state with a 30-12 win over Hills-Beaver Creek.
Grand Meadow’s Connor King pushes his way through a block on the way to Spring Grove quarterback Alex Folz during the first quarter of the Section 1 Nine Man championship last Friday night at Rochester Community and Technical College. Herald File Photo
“They run the ball about 90 percent of the time,” Sloan said. “They’re big and they’re physical and we’ve got to be able to stand up to them. We want to try and force these guys to pass.”
The Superlarks have proven to be able to put up big points this year as well as they average 57.5 points per game. GM, which has won the last three state titles, advanced to state on a 47-21 win over Spring Grove.
Offensively, the Larks will look to makes some big plays against an aggressive Dutchmen defense.
“Edgerton likes to crowd the line of scrimmage and we’ve seen that this year,” Sloan said. “We’ve got to make our blocks and if they play that tight, hopefully we can get some long runs and mix in the play action.”
GM senior Christophor Bain was recently named as a Top-10 finalist for Mr. Football in Minnesota and he’s the first player in GM history to earn that nomination. Bain was pleased with the recognition, but he’s more concerned about beating Edgerton-Ellsowrth.
“That’s a great honor. Coach told me he nominated me, but I thought I was a long shot to make the top ten. It’s nice at the time, but you’ve got to focus on the next game because that’s the most important thing,” Bain said. “We know they’re going to be physical and they like to run the ball a lot. We’ve just got to get our defense ready.”
Sloan said the Superlarks take every honor as a team accomplishment.
“We’re all about team here in Grand Meadow,” Sloan said. “It’s nice when one of your individuals gets nominated, but he’s having his success because of the guys around him too. We look at it as a team honor also.”
