The Britton-Hecla football squad used a pass interception, a long pass, a punt return, and a short run to grab a 27-0 lead over winless Redfield in the first quarter on Friday on the way to a 61-22 rout.
The win boosted the Braves to 2-1 on the season heading into a contest against Florence-Henry in Florence this Friday. F-H is 0-2 after a 42-0 opening loss to Great Plains Lutheran and a 22-18 defeat at the hands of Waverly-South Shore last week.
“I thought we really came out and played the way we want to play on Friday,” said B-H boss Jacob Skogstad. “Complimentary football, scoring in all three phases, it was a lot of fun. Still have to clean up the turnovers with fumbles (2), but overall I was happy. Great to see the young guys step up in the second half by putting a few scores on the board.
“Florence-Henry is going to try to use misdirection and pulling guards to run the football on us,” Skogstad noted. “We need to make sure to really read our keys on defense and fill those gaps hard. Offensively I expect a higher blitz percentage than Redfield, so we will need to catch them in that and execute making plays.”
Friday’s game was decided very early. The Braves blocked a punt on the Pheasants first possession and on first down Jaxon Zuehlke rambled nine yards to paydirt. On Redfield’s next possession Ben Suther returned a pass interception 31 yards for a score, and after a three-and-out B-H needed just four plays to find the end zone as Jace Rein hit Suther with a 49-yard scoring toss.
The Braves found another way to score on Redfield’s next possession when Bryce Hawkinson returned a punt 37 yards. Britton-Hecla had run just five offensive plays and led 27-0 with 1:51 still remaining in the opening quarter.
The scoring barrage continued in the second stanza. Hawkinson broke loose for a 74-yard touchdown run and after a Redfield fumble Rein scrambled 50 yards on first down to paydirt. Following another Pheasants punt, B-H had its longest drive of the half and capped the six-play drive with a six-yard run by Bryce Heitkamp with 3:19 left in the first half. The Braves scored on each of its five possessions in the first two quarters and limited Redfield to a single first down to grab a 47-0 halftime lead.
Reserves played nearly all of the second half and did allow 22 points. But the young Braves also added a couple more scores on a 26-yard pass from Lofton Heer to Chaz Vietor and a 31-yard Heer run.
The Braves piled up 303 yards on the ground and 92 via the airways for a 395-228 total yards advantage. Heer had 96 yards rushing on four tries and Hawkinson had 3-81. Rein hit 2-3 passes for 55 yards and Heer was 3-3 for 37 yards. Heer was also 7-8 on extra point kicks.
Colt Hansen led the defensive effort with 7.5 tackles. Nate Schuller had 5.5 stops, and Peyton Pearson and Heitkamp three each.
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