Week 1 of the high school football season is in the books. Bradford played host to Franklin. Oak Creek was at Indian Trail. St Joe’s played Burlington Catholic Central. And Tremper had a bye to open the season. No one had clue 1 if the season was even going to take place in these Covid times, but everyone was optimistic and more than ready for the diversion. Gateway Sports handled the broadcast for the Bradford game and also had a separate feed though justgamelive.com and IT also had a justgamelive.com feed happening and the game was broadcast live on AM 1050 WLIP as well. I do not believe there was a live feed available for the St Joe’s game. I watched the Bradford game, listened to the Tremper game and got the game stats sent to me from St Joe’s coach Matt Rizzo. Here is my “virtual” recap of the night in high school football.
Franklin 24 Bradford 21. The first thing I noticed about Bradford was “swagger”. Kenosha Bradford looks pretty real to me, and it looks like they expect to win. They, unfortunately, came out on the short end of the scoreboard but man they had a TON of opportunities. The game was played fast and loose and the Red Devils were in it from the beginning. In today’s high school game, much of the offensive attack is centered around spreading out the offense and letting playmakers make plays and Bradford was more successful than not in making that happen. Anytime you hold Franklin to 24 points you like your chances to be competitive and they most certainly were. A few big plays like dropped interceptions and untimely sacks against cost Bradford dearly but they actually may have been the better team out there, they just didn’t get the W. New OC John Lynn has helped make Bradford an exciting team to watch in 2020 and in a world of few moral victories, they looked like a team that is ready to compete for however long this season goes.
Oak Creek 13 Indian Trail 0. The IT football team helped reiterate a concept that football fans in this part of the state have known for a long time…you go toe to toe with Oak Creek, and you are likely in for a long evening. IT never really seemed like they could find a rhythm. Their defense was on the field for most of the game and even though Oak Creek has a new coach, their approach to the game was very similar to teams of the past. They controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, they undoubtedly held of time of possession advantage and they don’t lose if the other team doesn’t score. IT obviously has a very talented QB and Oak Creek never allowed him to get in a grove. They took away the underneath stuff and made him throw the ball more down the field. IT had a number of excellent individual plays and a few good drives but they never really found a rhythm that allowed the offense to shine and defense to get off the field.
St Joe’s 35 BCC 6. By the looks of the stats sheet, the Lancers were in total control of this one. Amassing nearly 300 total yards to BCC’s 123 (86 yards coming on one play), St Joe’s was clearly the stronger team. QB Jacob Ashmus threw a 13-yard TD to Peter Stapleton and a 26 yarder to Luke Schuler. The running game added three TD’s with two coming from Calvion Hunter (3,14) and one from Caden Tolefree (3). Andrew Alia would nail all five extra points. The great thing about St Joe’s is you always know what the last names are going to look like. Tolefree, McCarville (Carbone), Schuler, Alia, Matteucci…all names very familiar to the St Joe’s extended family. Congrats to the Lancers for being the local team to get in the W column. On paper, this was a complete domination by St Joe’s and in a season shortened by Covid concerns, all wins are huge.
Tremper had another week to prepare for the unveiling of the Colin Zolakor era.
So Week 1 is in the books! LOTS of positives to build upon for our local high school football teams. Kudos to everyone that made Week 1 a reality. The moving parts and adjustments and sacrifices by countless people at all schools has been nothing short of spectacular. Bradford is going to be fun to watch. Indian Trail will find their groove, St Joe’s has a legacy-filled veteran group and Tremper is still waiting to actually see what they have. We don’t need the NFL or the NCAA, we got some great football right here in town.
