LG football solidly defeats Colby Hornets
The Loyal-Greenwood (LG) football team faced off against Colby at home in Greenwood on Friday night, and continued its winning ways to go 4-0 on the season so far.
The game was delayed an hour due to lightning being spotted, but when they were finally able to start, the LG boys came out firing on all cylinders. Quarterback Jake Lindner made a 38-yard touchdown run with 5:32 left in the first quarter to start things off strong. The two-point conversion was also successful. The LG defense held off the Hornets for the rest of the quarter and no additional points were scored.
“Our defense played very well. They only gave up one big play. They were all over the field swarming them, especially their quarterback Luke Hannula. He’s a very slippery quarterback and they knew they had to slow him down,” said LG co-head coach Chris Lindner.
In the second, Hannula slipped through and scored on a 77-yard run to give the Hornets six points. LG answered back, however, with a 3-yard run from Colten Sandelier with eight minutes left in the half.
In the final two quarters, LG continued to push forward offensively, focusing on their running game. Jake Lindner completed a 38-yard run to hit pay dirt with 11:09 left in the third quarter, and ran for 11 yards to score again in the fourth. All of LG’s 2-point conversions were good, leaving the final score at 32-6 for a decisive LG win.
“Running-wise, we were better than last week. Passing-wise, no,” said Chris Lindner. “We need to take a step or two forward with that.”
“The offense played a little inconsistently, but when they needed things to happen, they got them to happen,” he added. “I thought our O line did a nice job of keeping with it and not getting frustrated. That led to two 38-yard touchdown runs, which were huge for us.”
The teams had about the same number of plays — LG had 49 while Colby had 41 — but LG was able to capitalize on more of those plays, turning them into successful drives. LG had 273 total yards compared to Colby’s 117. Each team had one turnover and lost one fumble. LG got 12 first downs while Colby had four.
Jake Lindner was the the leading rusher for LG, with 139 yards on 12 carries. Sandelier was second, with 57 yards on 13 carries.
“Jake Lindner and Jake Luchterhand had outstanding performances. For Jake Lindner, getting three touchdowns was a big thing. Jake Luchterhand had a really good game on defense. He was all over the field,” said Chris Lindner. “The guys that surrounded them did a good job too.”
Chris Lindner recognizes that LG’s schedule will get more challenging from here on out, with the team playing undefeated Amherst this Friday at Loyal, along with 3-1 Weyauwega-Fremont away on Oct. 10.
“Now that we’re halfway through the season almost, we have some tough opponents coming up, as in Amherst this week. We need to be playing our best ball, and we’re getting there,” he said.
This Friday’s game will be game five of nine games in the regular season for LG, with the last regular season game on Oct. 17.
The Spencer-Columbus Catholic (SC) football team took on Weyauwega-Fremont (W-F) at home Friday night for homecoming. The SC Rockets were trailing following the first half, 14-0. They put up points in the second half, but not enough to overcome their deficit, losing 29-15. Above left, SC’s Mac Konieczny carries the ball all the way to the W-F 30-yard line after making an interception with nine seconds left in the half. Unfortunately, the play did not result in a score. Above right, Jack Hoeper makes his way through enemy territory. He was a frequent rusher for SC. Hoeper, also pictured above middle, was recognized at the homecoming pep assembly earlier that day for rushing for 441 yards and seven touchdowns in a single game, which broke the school record. He achieved this feat during SC’s game versus Pittsville on Aug. 29. His numbers also put him as the 10th best rusher in the state.
