Olpe blows out Northern Heights
Josh Slaughter, Special to The Gazette
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Photo by Jordan Haiduk
Senior Cole Krueger of the Olpe Eagles evades a Northern Heights defender during the teams' game on Friday night. Krueger had 14 carries for 167 yards and four touchdowns on the way to Olpe's 55-14 win.
ALLEN — When Olpe and Northern Heights took the field on Friday, Olpe was thinking about last year’s score when Northern Heights outlasted Olpe on the road. With the venue reversed, the Eagles came out and took control on their way to a 55-14 victory over the Wildcats.
“We remembered last year’s score and we just wanted to get out on top of them, because they got out on top of us last year,” Olpe senior running back Cole Krueger said.
As the game began it looked as if both teams would be playing to work out the cobwebs. Northern Heights tailback Roman Murray fumbled on the opening possession before Josh Lambert gave the ball right back on the following play. After a Northern Heights four-and-out, Matt Redeker threw a pass that was picked off by the Wildcats’ Erik Pracht. Northern Heights would then commit the fourth turnover of the opening quarter with a fumble by quarterback Kenneth Bronson.
After the turnovers, the Eagles settled down on their third possession. For Olpe, the running game proved to be the answer as Krueger rattled off 32 yards on five carries on the Eagles’ first scoring drive, capping it off with a two-yard touchdown run.
“Well, we started off good running the ball,” Olpe junior quarterback Matt Redeker said. “I made some mistakes early, passing wise. We were able to recover and make up for it in the run game.”
Olpe’s next scoring drive would feature more of the same as Krueger needed only two plays to scamper 31 yards for the score and a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Northern Heights would make its first trip across the fifty yard line with 11:20 remaining in the second quarter, but saw another drive stall out after a promising start.
“We knew coming in we were very young in a lot of places,” Northern Heights co-head coach Greg French said. “It’s pretty easy to tell against Olpe. That’s basically the same team we played last year. We’ve got a lot of things to work on.”
Olpe compiled three more scores before the half ran out to take a 34-0 advantage into halftime. Krueger ended the first quarter with 13 carries for 119 yards and three touchdowns.
“I thought our backs ran awful hard tonight,” Olpe coach Chris Schmidt said. “This was Cole’s first start at tailback. I thought he ran hard, kept his legs moving. I thought he saw the field real well. He made some good cuts off the block. He did a good job, but we had some good blocking on the edges to get him some big runs.”
In the second half Krueger snagged his fourth touchdown of the night on a 13-yard touchdown run on Olpe’s second possession. Wade Schmidt came through with the next Eagle score on the following possession as the Eagles chewed up 53 yards before his two-yard run.
The Wildcats got on the board after an Olpe fumble on its one-yard line was recovered by Derrek Swanson in the endzone. Alex Dreier provided the final Olpe score of the evening on a 12-yard touchdown run.
Photo by Jordan Haiduk
Northern Heights freshman Cody Murray (33) runs the ball up the middle during the Northern Heights and Olpe game Friday.
The Wildcats put up the final score of the evening as Bronson hit Murray with a 26-yard touchdown pass with 3:31 remaining. The young Wildcats were not without glimpses of things to come however. Sophomore Cody Britton had eight catches for 88 yards while freshman Cody Murray twice broke off long kick returns to give the Wildcats some of their best field position of the night.
“We’ve got a long list of things we need to improve on,” French said. “We played a varsity game out there with a lot of guys from JV playing in their first varsity game. I think if they keep their attitudes right, I really do think we could be a really good football team towards the end of the season if we really work at it.”
For the Eagles, the road will get a little tougher as Osage City, who earned a win over Lyndon, comes to town next Friday.
“I think we definitely need to work on our passing game,” Redeker said. “It was all right at times, but it wasn’t good, there’s room for improvement everywhere and we’re going to improve and come back out and be ready for next week.”
Olpe 55, Northern Heights 14
Olpe 14 20 14 7 — 55
Northern Heights 0 0 7 7 — 14
First quarter
Olpe — Cole Krueger 2 run (Krueger kick)
Olpe — Krueger 28 run (Krueger kick)
Second quarter
Olpe — Krueger 18 run (Krueger good)
Olpe — Josh Klumpe 22 pass from Matt Redeker (Krueger good)
Olpe — Josh Lambert 1 run (kick failed)
Third quarter
Olpe — Krueger 13 run (Krueger good)
Olpe — Wade Schmidt 2 run (Derek Vaughn kick)
NH — Derrek Swanson fumble recovery (Stephen Nuessen good)
Fourth quarter
Olpe — Alex Dreier 12 run (Krueger good)
NH — Roman Murray 26 pass from Kenneth Bronson (Nuessen good)
GAME STATISTICS
N. Heights Olpe
Rushes-Yards 18-42 48-335
Comp-Att-Int 19-42-3 2-10-3
Passing Yards 207 49
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing— NH: Bronson 10-22; R. Murray 7-19; Joel Young 1-1. Olpe: Krueger 14-167, 4 TDs; Josh Lambert 8-56, TD; Redeker 9-50; Jacob Kehres 6-17; Tyson Pettijohn 4-16; Dreier 1-12, TD; Linden Stueve 2-10; Schmidt 2-4, TD; Michael Dieker 1-3; Jacob Brinkman 1-0.
Passing — NH: Bronson 19-41, 207, TD, 3 Ints; R. Murray 0-1. Olpe: Redeker 2-10, 49, TD, 3 Ints.
Receiving — NH: Britton 8-88; James Crabtree 4-57; R. Murray 3-50; Ethan Grother 3-12; C. Murray 1-10; Nick Mendez 1-4. Olpe: Josh Klumpe 1-22, TD; Lambert 1-27.
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Posted by neighbor (anonymous) on September 7, 2008 at 1:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Best of luck to you in your season Wildcats. Work on your running game, offensive line blocking, and passing. The defense needs to work on those tackles, Olpe wouldn't have gained so many yards had you drilled them head on, wrapped them up and drove em backwards. You guys were trying to take their ball carriers down with your arms, everytime.
Nice job Coach Schmidt, you are going to have a successful season.
Posted by cjbulldog (anonymous) on September 8, 2008 at 3:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Nice Job Eagles, looking forward to going to your Baxter Springs game the 19th down here in my back yard....
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