Perham beats EGF
Greg DeVillers
Three plays into the game, Perham starting center Ben Brill was sidelined with an injury and the Yellowjackets were forced to shuffle players on the line. As a result, their offensive options were limited the rest of the way.
That didn't stop the Yellowjackets' offense, however. Nathan Schmitz's running powered visiting Perham to an 18-7 high school football victory against East Grand Forks Senior High on Friday.
Because of the line problems, "We ended up running an offense that we've practiced maybe 5 percent of the time,'' Perham coach Howard Kangas said. "It was pretty simple, a combination of five or six plays. But we have a stud in Nathan Schmitz.''
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All Schmitz did was run for 204 yards on 19 carries. The 5-foot-10, 180-pound senior runs with power. But he also runs with speed, as indicated by two big scoring plays.
Schmitz gave Perham a 6-0 lead on the opening drive when he broke into the clear and went 33 yards for a touchdown.
That drive was kept alive when, on fourth-and-9 from Perham's own 46-yard line, Ben Bucholz completed a 21-yard pass to Charlie Schmitz on the right sideline. Again, the line shuffling factored into the fourth-down attempt in the middle of the field.
"We normally would have punted,'' Kangas said, "but we couldn't trust ourselves snapping the ball to the punter. So we went for it. And getting that early lead is important.''
The Yellowjackets made it 12-0 with 8:42 left in the second quarter. Bucholz, who passed for 153 yards on 12-of-26 accuracy, hit Alex Phelps for a 7-yard score. Then, on the final play of the third quarter, Nathan Schmitz ran up the middle, broke to the left sideline and outran the Green Wave defense into the end zone for a 55-yard score.
"He's a combination of speed and power,'' Kangas said. "And we were running a lot behind Andrew Muer. He's the real deal on the line.''
Senior High got its only score with nine minutes left. Backup quarterback Darrin Hager, who was pressed into duty when starter Alex Rude suffered a knee injury in the second quarter, hit Eric Hagen for a 7-yard scoring pass.
Perham's defense, anchored by Muer and D.J. Alstadt on the line and Nathan Schmitz at linebacker, limited Senior High to 170 yards in total offense. But Green Wave coach Todd Schumacher said the team's offense had one of its better performances of the season.
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"We found a couple of things we could do to run the ball,'' Schumacher said. "At times, our backs did a better job than they've been, and we were getting 4- and 5-yard gains when that was happening.
"They (Perham) had big guys. Our defense did a good job. That last big play (Schmitz's 55-yard scoring run) really hurt us. That's been our nemesis, giving up big plays. But the kids didn't give up.''
Perham evened its record at 2-2. Senior High dropped to 0-4.
PERHAM 18,
EGF SENIOR HIGH 7
Perham 6 6 6 0--18
EGF Senior High 0 0 0 7-- 7
P -- Nathan Schmitz 33 run; kick failedxxx
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P -- Alex Phelps 6 pass from Ben Bucholz; kick failed
P -- Schmitz 55 run; pass failed
EGF -- Eric Hagen 7 pass from Darrin Hager; Ethan Torgerson kick
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING -- P: Nathan Schmitz 19-204, Gavin Biegler 6-23, Ben Bucholz 12-22; EGF: Eric Barrerra 15-37, Eric Hagen 3-16, Frankie Vargas 3-11
PASSING -- P: Bucholz 12-26-0, 153 yards; EGF: Alex Rude 6-8-0, 66 yards; Darrin Hager 6-17-2, 49 yards
RECEIVING -- P: Phelps 4-39, Ben Karsnia 3-35, Charlie Schmitz 2-48, Ben Waldon 2-25; EGF: Justin Larson 3-32, Brendan Mochoruk 3-23, Casey Ristau 3-15, Mike Campos 2-28
