If you're the kind of fan who likes the passing game, Benson showed a flair to your liking. Will Enderson of the Braves was sharp as he threw for 248 yards, a total that included a big play 84-yard pass for a touchdown. That pass had Matthew Tolifson on the receiving end. Enderson passed to Cole Hedman for two on the conversion, and this gave Benson a short-lived 8-7 lead when the first quarter ended. Prior to this score, our Tigers put six on the board when Zach Bruns ran the football in from the one. Eli Grove kicked the point-after.
On to the second quarter. The orange and black owned this quarter. The home fans had cause to cheer lustily as we struck for three touchdowns. Arndt scored on a run from the eleven. Grove kicked for the PAT. Arndt was off to the races again, reaching the end zone on a run from the 28. Grove's toe was again true. Colten Scheldorf added to the MACA lead with a scoring run from the ten, and Grove again kicked successfully. Hunter Gonnerman scored a Benson touchdown in the second quarter: a one-yard run.
On to the third quarter: MACA momentum kept rolling along. Bruns rolled for a 23-yard scoring run. Then it was Scheldorf carrying for six, a run from the eight. Grove kicked successfully after the Scheldorf score. Our final score had Bailey Danzeisen clutching the football on a run from the one. And Grove kicked for our night's final point. Fans went home savoring our fourth win of the season against no losses. Benson is still in search of win No. 1. The Braves had their moments Friday under coach Scott Gonnerman, a product of UMM, but were unable to sustain them.
The Tigers accumulated 28 first downs. Arndt with his awesome total of 293 rushing yards was complemented by Bruns who rolled up 145 on 12 carries. Other rushing contributors were Jack Riley (36 yards), Matt McNeill (27), Scheldorf (21), Kenny Soderberg (15), Josh Rohloff (9), Jaret Johnson (7), Bailey Danzeisen (4) and Cameron Koebernick (1). It's nice to see the Koebernick name stay involved in Tiger football.
Riley Reimers completed his only pass attempt for 22 yards. Bruns completed one aerial in three tries for ten yards. The pass catchers were Koebernick and Arndt.
Benson had 14 first downs. Hunter Gonnerman had ten carries of the football for 42 yards. Will Enderson added 16 rushing yards. Enderson had a crowd-pleasing touch with passing the football but he was intercepted twice. He may have passed for 248 yards but his completion percentage was not good. Ben Peterson completed two passes in three attempts for Benson. Tolifson was Enderson's favorite target in the passing game. Tolifson had seven catches for 120 yards. Matthew Goosen and Jared Knutson each had four catches, Goosen picking up 75 yards and Knutson 52. Hunter Gonnerman and Cole Hedman each had one reception. Devon Liles had an interception. The Willmar paper did not report who had the two interceptions for MACA.
Football is losing ground
I am sad to see Benson coach Scott Gonnerman's name in connection with trying to keep football viable in the face of all the evidence suggesting it's a questionable activity. We are in fact seeing progress. Minnesota prep football numbers have dropped ten percent in ten years. It is still the most important sport in the state. There is erosion. Schools are weighing the option of simply dropping out. There are 13 fewer schools in Minnesota with football teams. Over 70 Minnesota schools are not offering football this fall. Consider that other boys sports are showing increases: track and field, cross country and la crosse.
The health issues seem paramount with football. But other factors are at work like specialization by athletes, and an enrollment drop in rural areas. Benson's Gonnerman is vice president of the coaches association. He is quoted saying the dangers of concussions are often exaggerated. Spoken like an old-time football loyalist.
I remember taking a feature photo of Mr. Gonnerman when he was a student at UMM. It was a photo that included the new coach being announced at the time, Mick Caba. The photo showed Gonnerman and Caba in an informal chat at the P.E. Center. Caba took over when the football program was about to start its slide, for reasons presumably having little to do with the quality of head coach. I found Caba to be a gentleman but he could not right the UMM ship, as I recall. At the time he started, there were cynical boosters of UMM football in town who felt the writing was on the wall. It was depressing to hear this talk.
One of the most prominent UMM boosters said of the apparent bleakness lying ahead: "They may have brought (Caba) here to kill it off."
Not to pass judgment, really, but UMM was not going to allocate the type of resources needed to keep up with the other schools in their then-conference. I now couldn't care less about the standing of football anywhere, because I wish the sport would just vanish for the sake of the young men's health.
Gonnerman seems to be in denial. He's quoted saying "the information on some of those surveys (of injured players) was misleading." Really? Or, are the good old boys of the sport just asserting themselves because so much of themselves has been defined by the sport, by all the cheers, adulation and other public attention (like from me at the newspaper)? It's a rhetorical question, Kemosabe.
Gonnerman said he has to work to recruit players. A co-author of a notable football/health study says it's not recommended for high school boys to be "recruited" to football at all. It's unconscionable for boys to feel peer pressure to play. But Gonnerman recruits.
What if you're a strapping young man in the school hallway and simply feel as a matter of principle that you don't want to play football? Will you experience some scorn? Years from now, nobody is going to care whether you played football or not.
Flag football is starting to make inroads vs. the Neanderthal version of the sport. Don't let the cheers lure you into getting your head bashed in.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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