Fremont-Mills advances to state quarterfinals
TABOR - With its running game stalled, Fremont-Mills turned to its passing game to punch holes in a fired up Melcher-Dallas defense and got a dominating performance from its own defense in a 51-14 Eight-Man playoffs second round victory Monday.
Fremont-Mills will host Lamoni (10-1) in Tabor Friday in the state quarterfinals.
The Knights (11-0), who passed just 82 times all season entering Monday’s game, threw 12 times in the first half to blow open what looked to be a defensive battle between two top 10 teams. Knight quarterback Jason Rusten completed five of his 12 passes for 149 yards and three touchdowns in the opening half.
Fremont-Mills coach Jeremy Christiansen readily admits he’s a run first play- caller. But with the Saints keeping all eight defenders within three yards of the line of scrimmage, he called an audible.
“That’s what playoff football is about,” Christiansen said after the game. “You have to take away what the other team does well. We did a very good job of adapting to the change. We had hoped to run the football but when they’re sending eight guys, you have to make that change.”
Neither team could muster much offense on each of their first two possessions before the Knights finally got going. Sam Phillips hit Parker Powers on a short pass the speedy sophomore turned into a 63 yard touchdown for the game’s first score. The Knights missed the extra point but led 6-0 with 6:24 to go in the opening frame.
After forcing a Saint punt on the ensuing possession, Rusten connected with Mackenzy Lang for a 23 yard scoring dart and a 14-0 lead.
Two plays later, the Knights defensive line collapsed the pocket and sacked Saint quarterback Alex Mitchell for a safety. Lang then took the ensuing kickoff and returned into the Saint 11 yard line. The Knights Spencer Phillips darted in for a five yard touchdown two plays later.
The Knights forced a third Saint punt of the opening quarter on the following possession and needed just four plays, capped by Spencer Phillips’ four yard touchdown scamper, to make it 32-0 with 11:59 to go in the half.
Rusten connected with Sam Phillips midway through the second quarter for a 43 yard scoring dart to make the score 39-0. The clock would run continuously the rest of the game according to the 35-point mercy rule.
In the first half, the Knight defense held Melcher-Dallas, who entered averaging 50 points and over 400 yards per game to just six net yards. For the game, Mitchell, the Saint’s quarterback, was harassed into 10-of-29 throwing for 64 yards and was sacked six times and intercepted once.
“Our defense played stellar,” Christiansen said. “We held their 1,000 yard receiver to no catches and their 1,000 rusher to I don’t know how many yards until we started putting subs in,” said Christiansen of his starting defense, which hasn’t allowed a point since an Oct. 10 24-22 win over Lenox.
The Knights finished with just 254 total yards on offense but took advantage of great field position all night with Lang’s seven touchbacks, two forced turnovers and 12 tackles for loss on defense.
Fremont-Mills 53,
East Union 20
TABOR - If Fremont-Mills’ opening round Eight-Man playoff opener with East Union was a prize fight, it would have been over in the first.
The first quarter.
The Knights came out swinging early, dominating with a physical offense and a smothering defense to take a 25-0 lead in the first 12 minutes en route to a 53-20 victory before a reporter-estimated crowd of 400 in Tabor last Wednesday.
“We kind of knew what to expect,” said Fremont-Mills coach Jeremy Christiansen after the game. “Mostly it was our defense doing its job. They threw some curve balls at us that we didn’t see on film – in the playoffs you get three game films so you see pretty much everything. But I thought we were physical and got to the football quickly.”
Just how good was the Knights’ defense?
After Eagles quarterback Cole Campbell hit Brandon Hulsey for a 41 yard pass on their first play from scrimmage, the Knights locked down the East Union offense to the tune of a net 38 yards on their next 34 plays of the half. Following the opening drive, the Eagles turned the ball over once, punted four times and were stuffed three times on fourth down.
“Defensively we made some adjustments to go against their size and obviously I think it worked well,” Christiansen said. “When they came out early in that swinging gate look we knew it was going to be man-on-man and other than two big plays against the varsity defense we pretty much shut them down.”
The Knight offense took no time at all to match the defense’s intensity. Back-to-back completions of 11 yards and 44 yards by quarterback Jason Rusten set up a three-yard touchdown run by Spencer Phillips. The drive took less than a minute.
On the very next play from scrimmage, the Eagles fumbled and the Knights’ Parker Powers recovered. Fremont-Mills’ ensuing drive appeared to be stopped at the Eagle 37 and facing a fourth-and-16 but Christiansen pulled a trick out of his hat and watched punter/receiver Mackenzy Lang’s scamper for 17 yards on the fake punt to extend the drive. Sam Phillips raced in from 20 yards out on the next play to make the score 13-0 with 7:33 to go in the first quarter.
The Knights weren’t done yet. After forcing a punt that shanked badly giving Fremont-Mills the ball at the Eagles’ 17 yard line, Spencer Phillips scored his second touchdown of the quarter from five yards out.
Another poor East Union punt would set the Knights up at the Eagles’ 33 following another three-and-out. F-M responded with a nine play, 47 yard drive capped by Mackenzy Lang’s one-yard TD run.
The Knights led 25-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Rusten, Sam Phillips and Spencer Phillips would all add touchdown runs in the second frame to give the Knights a 46-0 halftime lead.
Spencer Phillips put the final exclamation point on the victory on the first play from scrimmage in the second half when he darted around the left side for a 65 yard touchdown.
Leading 53-0, Christiansen pulled his starters.
Fremont-Mills finished with 363 yards in total offense, including 304 rushing. Spencer Phillips needed just eight carries to rush for his 128 yards and four touchdowns. Lang added 79 yards rushing and a TD on nine carries.
“I think we did a good job getting in and out of our packages. It’s kind of difficult for our center because we have quarterbacks running all over and different hand offs and different running backs but I think that was the difference tonight.”
East Union tallied 289 total yards with the bulk of those yards (202) coming against the Knights’ reserves.