Eagles Getting it Done through Air and Land

Belmond – The Eagles (2-0) were stuck on automatic on Friday, September 1st, in an away game against the Belmond-Klemme Broncos (0-2). West Hancock won the game by a score of 60-0.

The Eagles had nearly 500 yards of total offense. They threw for 141 yards and two touchdowns on 6/6 passing and rushed for 344 yards on 27 attempts for six touchdowns. Meanwhile, the defense held the Broncos to 50 yards passing and 41 yards rushing. The Eagles were 6/9 on PAT kick attempts. 

"I thought our guys did an excellent job in all three phases of the game,” said head coach Mark Sanger. “We were very efficient on offense and adjusted well on defense. We were six-for-six throwing the ball last night, which brings another dimension to our offense.”

The Eagles wasted no time getting down to business, scoring 20 points in the first quarter and another 21 in the second. It wasn’t until 13 more unanswered points in the third quarter that the Eagles really took their foot off the gas, but still scored once more in the fourth.

The backfield work was achieved by a committee of backs with Jaxen Peterson leading the way. He rushed for 93 yards and two touchdowns on six carries. Creighton Kelly made the most of his lone rush attempt, going off for 83 yards and a touchdown. Kale Zuehl had seven carries for 55 yards and a touchdown. Zephyr Jamtgaard had one rush for a six-yard plunging touchdown. 

Mitchell Smith did the passing for Eagles, connecting on 6/6 passes for 141 yards and two touchdowns, plus rushing for 18 yards. Kellen Smith was his top receiver, hauling in five catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns. Peterson had one catch for 17 yards. 

Broady Baltzer was 4/6 on PAT kicks, while David Smith went 2/3 on PAT kicks as well. 

Leading the Eagles defense were linebackers Kelly and Mitchell Smith. Kelly amassed six tackles, four of which were solo, and one for a loss; Mitchell Smith had five tackles, three were solo, and one went for a loss. 

Jake Larson, Kaysen Broshar, and Kellen Smith each had three and a half tackles. Larson recorded two solo tackles and one for a loss, Broshar had one solo tackle, and Kellen Smith had three solo tackles. Nolan Vaske had two solo tackles, one for a sack, and another for a loss. David Smith and Ray Gretillat split a sack, with David Smith picking up two and a half tackles, and Gretillat grabbing one and a half. 

Coach Sanger concluded, “Our team is off to a nice start leading into a big district showdown at St. Ansgar next week. I know both teams will be looking forward to it — it will be a great game of high school football.”