Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Ethan Ratzlaff takes off with the ball against the Dundy County/Stratton Tigers in Benkleman on Friday, Sept. 14. The Horns lost the game 66-24.
Ethan Ratzlaff is tackled by a Dundy Co. defender in Friday night's game at Benkleman.
Following a long road trip to Benkleman, the Kimball High football team took an early lead over Dundy County/Stratton with senior Zane Anthony going in from 14 yards out with 8:49 showing on the clock in the opening quarter. The host school came right back to score about 2 and a half minutes later to tie the score as neither team converted their conversion tries. The Horns took the lead once again on a 2 yard run by Ethan Ratzlaff with 3:52 left in the opening period, but again the hosts tied the game and ran in the 2 point conversion to take a 14-12 lead with 1:57 in first quarter play. Dundy County would score one more time in the 1st quarter with no time showing on the clock, to lead 22-12.
Kimball would score two more touchdowns before half time with Brayden Tyan going in from 6 yards out, and Ethan Ratzlaff getting his second TD on the night on a 13 yard run, but that would be the extent of the scoring for the Horns as they were shut out in the second half play as Dundy County-Stratton rolled to the easy 66-24 victory.
Despite the difference in the final score, Kimball coach Ben Aarestad saw some good things from his Longhorns. "We moved the ball really well Friday night. I don't want to make excuses for our kids but we had to practice in the morning all last week when it was 60 degrees and we were not used to the heat like we had Friday night. We started out pretty good but just got worn down by the end of the game."
Dundy County had a pair of outstanding young men including freshman quarterback and a sophomore running back whom coach Aarestad had high praise for.
"They had two really good skill kids, probably the best we will see all season. Give credit to them for playing so well. A positive for us is that we took good care of the football and I believe it was the first game since I have been here that we didn't have a turnover." Aarestad said. "We need to make more big plays on both sides of the ball, and we need to be more aggressive on defense. We need to finish our drives on offense. We were inside their 5 yard line 3 times in the second half and filed to score."
In his final comments on the loss, coach said "We were on our heels Friday night and not flying around like we have been. I think a lot of it had to do with the heat. I expect our kids to come out and have a good week of practice and get ready for Hemingford this Friday. We need to be ready because Hemingford has a good football team and they do some good things on both offense and defense".
In comparing the final stats, Kimball ran 58 plays to 46 for the winners but trailed 291 to 388 in total offense. The winners stayed with the ground game for the most part but were 3 of 4 passing for 58 yards while Kimball was 1 of 8 for 30 yards with Beau Hanks making the big catch from Izaac Reuter. Neither team charted a turnover. Dundy County had 6 penalties for 50 yards and Kimball 7 for 45. Kimball punted twice with Christian Allen-VanPelt averaging 27 yards while the winners never punted.
Zane Anthony was the Horns top rusher with 109 yards on 18 carries with 1 touchdown. Brayden Tyan had 70 yards on 9 attempts with 1 TD, Ethan Ratzlaff had 48 yards on 8 rushes with 2 TDs, Izaac Reuter 25 yards on 7 carries, Jake Jenkins 12 yards on 7 carries, and VanPelt lost 3 yards on his only carry.
Quade Myers is a name you will hear often in the games, and years ahead as the freshman QB had 178 yards rushing on 19 attempts for a 9.4 yard average and 3 touchdowns along with his 3 for 4 passing fo4 58 yards. Serbando Diaz is the sophomore running back who carried 16 times for 135 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Brayden Tyan led the tackle charts once again for Kimball with 4 solo tackles and 5 assists. Corey Travis had 1 tackle and 10 assists, Christian Allen-VanPelt 4 solo tops and 4 assists, Zane Anthony 2 and 5, Ethan Ratzlaff 2 and 2 with 1.5 tackles for loss, Jake Jenkins 1-3, Izaac Reuter 2-1, Jacob Withrow 2-0 and Austin Lulf 1-1.
Also worthy of mention is the return yards of Zane Anthony who returned 6 kickoffs for 100 yards with Austin Lulf running back 2 kicks for 23 yards.
The Longhorns will be hosting Hemingford tomorrow (Friday) night with a 7 p.m. kickoff. The Kimball high Music Parents will be holding a feed so come hungry and help their cause.
Kimball 12 12 0 0---24
Dundy Co. 22 24 14 6---66