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G-R JV Rebel Football-By: Coach Mike Bengen

We traveled to Eldora on Monday October 15th for our 2012 finale. We were expecting a very good South Hardin squad due to the fact that they cancelled their varsity season this year because of a lack of upper classmen numbers. We had also heard they were pretty talented in the freshman and sophomore classes. Sprinkle in a few juniors and you have a pretty good football team. We were not surprised. South Hardin moved the ball on us pretty well but we were able to hold them in check for most of the first half. We were down 6-0 but gave up a kickoff return TD to start the second half to fall back 14-0. We stormed back with a very impressive drive that was capped off by a Cam Kickbush 8 yard run to pull within 14-6 at the end of three. South Hardin broke a long run early in the fourth quarter and we could not get over the hump. We scored on a Cam to Phillip Zimmerman 12 yard touchdown pass on the last play of the game to drop a 22-12 decision. This finishes our year at 6-3. The kids worked hard and improved every week. We still have a lot of work to do in the off season but this group will get it done. We have a good nucleus for a very good football team. The future looks bright. Cam led the way with 79 yards rushing and 139 yards passing and a lot of big plays both with his arm and his feet. Eric Stoakes added 33 yards on the ground and 30 yards receiving. Josh Cooley made 5 catches for 37 yards and he also had 3 tackles and an interception on defense. Logan Flamme, Austin Lott, and Bennett Petersen also all had at least 1 catch apiece on offense. Bennett led the way with 8 tackles followed by Cam and Dalton Schwartz with 6 each. Luke Holman and Cameron Murphy 4, Ty Eiffler and Brady Kuehl 2, Logan, Austin, Bryce Ehlers, and Cameron Clark each added a tackle apiece. Cam Clark and Bryce Clark each were responsible for recovering a fumble. Jeff Tscherter is another sophomore who is injured right now. Logan Phillips, Shye Johnston, and Riley Gilbert are our other sophomores who saw action this year. Brock Bystricky, Jake Schuman, Carter Murphy, Kainen Hendricks, Hunter Wegner, and Jake Mohlis are the freshmen who also help us compose this football team. I know these coaches would say all of these kids have been a joy to work with. They work hard and are very coachable which is always a good thing. You as parents should be very proud of these young men. We need to thank some people also for all of their help and support all year. I am sure I will forget someone so I apologize in advance. My forgetfulness is certainly not on purpose. Thanks to Dick McCreery and Steve Luethje for their help in the press box. Jamie Eiffler, Troy Holman, Dan Mohlis, Tim Kuehl, Chad Kickbush, Bart Petersen, Mark Flamme, Alan Tscherter, Shawn Murphy, Paul Cooley, and Shannon Clark for all of your help on the sidelines with the chains, stats, and anything else that we may have needed on any given night. We appreciate your support and all that you do as fans and as parents. Thank again to all of you and again I am sorry if I have forgotten someone. Lastly I would like to thank our coaches. Skyler Trunck, Kyle Formanek, Aaron Mcnew, and Sean Babinat have been a part of these guys developing all year long. These are four outstanding young coaches who all have a very bright future as football coaches. Not only coaching wise will these guys succeed. They will succeed in life also. They are great people with great work ethics and a great relationship with the kids. All four of these guys have done an outstanding job this year and we are fortunate to have them working with our youth at the JV level. Head Coach John Olson has done a great job of surrounding himself with good people and coaches. Not only are these JV coaches something special, so are the Friday night guys also. Darren Trunck, Chad Bixby, and Brett Bengen work their tails off to have a plan for these kids week in and week out. The plan is in place on Sunday and then it is executed throughout that week to be ready for Friday night. I would question if there is any better football staff around. We all get along well together and are on the same page. This is a great group of guys to be working with and I feel honored to be a part of G-R Rebel football. Thanks again for all of your support and Go Rebels.