For CWS by David Keech
August 24, 2012
Updated 7:40am
Wisconsin Rapids– The Assumption Royals hosted the Greenwood/Granton Indians in Cloverwood Conference action, and in the season opener, the Indians showed why they are defending Division 7 State Champions, winning 38-0. The Royals struggled to control the line of scrimmage on defense, and it showed as the Indians were able to sustain drives and march down the field with precision.
The Royals’ new offense, the triple option, after only being installed three weeks ago by newly named head coach Jeff Sullivan, struggled, managing only one first down, a 13 yard carry by quarterback Zach Linzmeier on the final carry of the game.
“It felt good to get that last run of the game, our biggest gain of the night. That shows us what can happen when everything clicks for us with the option,” noted Linzmeier.
The Indians scored twice in the first quarter on Kole Hinker runs of 62 and 7 yards. Two more touchdowns in the second quarter, a 4 yard run by Westin Wuetrich and Hinker’s 4 yard plunge as time expired, pushed the lead to 26-0 at the half. The second saw more of the same, as Wuetrich ran it in from 6 yards out and Delten Schmitz tacked on a 5 yard run up the middle.
The Royals managed only 20 yards of total offense and one first down. The Indians showed on defense they know the triple option offense quite well.
“They anticipated very well and their line prevented us from executing our offense,” said Royal lineman Ben Gotz.
“They did a great job of reading what we tried to do on offense,” said fullback Tyler Pawelski.
On the other side of the ball, the Indians offensive line made their option offense run smoothly.
“Their O-line did a good job of getting off the line and blocking our linebackers, ” Pawelski said.
The Indians were led by quarterback Hinker, who engineered the triple option masterfully. The key to the Indians’ offense was their veteran offensive line, noted Royal coach Jeff Sullivan, ”They showed tonight why they’re the defending Division 7 State Champs. Their line was key in their state championship run last year, and they run the triple option offense extremely well.”
“Our kids played hard. We have work to do in practice, getting our offense to practice at game speed. Our kids saw tonight how fast the option offense has to run to be effective. We will grow from this,” commented Sullivan.
The Royals’ next game is at Thorp on Friday.
“We’re going up to watch them today when they(Thorp) play Wausau Newman. Our guys will bounce back and we’ll refine things in practice this week. We have a great bunch of kids.”
