The Fresh-Soph made the trip to Parkersburg on Thursday October 3rd to take on the Falcons from Aplington-Parkersburg. Coach Pollock, his staff, and his players have a rich tradition on the gridiron so we knew we would get their best effort. Our mission was to match their effort and execute better than they did and that would make for a successful evening. The game did not start out all that well for us. We were struggling getting stops and were having trouble moving the ball on offense. These two things combined make for a long first half. A-P ran in for an early score to take what looked like a commanding lead of 6-0. That score held until the half as our bend but don’t break defense held the Falcons out of the end zone numerous times. At one point A-P had run four times more offensive plays than we had in the first half. After a somewhat intense halftime break and some minor adjustments, we came out and played Rebel football. We controlled the second half and after a Parker Bown touchdown and his PAT kick, we led 7-6 going into the fourth quarter. We got a couple of great stops and then played ball control to finish the game and hold on for the win. Our effort and execution was heads and shoulder above the first half in the second half. As coaches we were very pleased with this outcome and how well we adjusted and turned up our game after the half. I am sure we all learned something. Parker Bown was our workhorse as he totted the rock 23 times for 185 yards and a score. Erik Knaack added 25 rushing yards and 12 passing yards on a catch made by Jake Mohlis. Dmitriy Strohbehn chipped in another 10 yadrs rushing for our total of 232 yards. Our offensive line of John Edler, Joseph Pepe, Jed Peterson, Slade Wager, Thomas Mussig, and Jacob Walters really had a good second half opening up some big holes. Defensively, Jacob led the way with 9 tackles followed closely by Tyler Pierce with 8. Thomas, Erik, and Jed added 5 apiece and a fumble recovery was also credited to Erik. Parker 4, Matt Roeding, Joe Baugus, and Carter Murphy 3, Spencer Goos 2, Dmitriy and Bryce Clark 1 each to add to our tackle totals. It was a good second half for us to build on and continue to get better each time we take the field. Great job guys and keep working hard.