The Patriots Football team earns a home playoff game for the third time in three years finishing the regular season four and four. Great job to Great Plains Lutheran for earning their first playoff birth since 2011 by beating the Patriots last Friday night.
I don't like losing and definitely didn't intend to, but with this loss the Patriots football team has been entered into what I feel is the most favorable side of the playoff bracket for us to make a run at the State Championship. Let's Go Patriots!
On Friday night their were glimpses of greatness and mistakes. The worst part of coaching honestly for me is seeing my mistakes come to life in my student athletes and making them look and feel worse then they really are. Much of our mistakes in the game like bad formations, one fumble, and some bad clock administration comes back to me trying to do too much at one time and not allowing my athletes just to play football. I apologized to my team and I do to you as Patriots supporters. This week we will be trying to simplify some things and get back to what the Patriots know how to do and that is win football games in the right way.
Our Junior High season finished up on Friday as well with a big win against Great Plains Lutheran. Three eighth graders have chosen to stay with the team through playoffs, which means they are now on the varsity roster. They are: Tucker Gilbert, Riley Johnson, and Eastin Otto. This is a big step and we appreciate their willingness to take that step.
On Friday night with a new quarterback, #45 Erik Salmen, the Patriots were able to complete eight passes for 119 yards. #3 Brendan Nowell, #1 Devin Enander, and #4 Patrick Maynard were all able to catch at least one pass and had nice runs after the catch to go with them. #8 Payton Chasing Hawk was just missed on a long ball at the end of the game, which most certainly would have taken him to the endzone. Erik Salmen ended up with a 114 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Our defense struggled in the first half allowing Great Plains to score 20 points by rushing the ball. We held them to 28 yards passing. Rest of the stats are below.
The Patriots are getting ready to go for our 1st Round Playoff game at 6:00PM in Tulare Thursday night against Lemmon-McIntosh. Thank you for your continued support and to Wilbur-Ellis for taking the time to paint our football fields the last three home games. #GoPatriotsBack2BackRun
Hitchcock-Tulare vs Great Plains Lutheran
20 - 28
By quarter 0-6-14-0 at 8-14-0-6
By scores:
- 1st Q – GPL 8 Yard Run by #6/2pt run by #12 good
- 2nd Q – HT 7 Yard Run by #45 Erik Salmen/2pt no good
- 2nd Q – GPL 8 Yard Run by #6/2pt no good
- 2nd Q – GPL 1 Yard Run by #6/2pt run by #12 good
- 3rd Q – HT 4 Yard Run by #45 Erik Salmen/2pt run by #45 good
- 3rd Q – HT 8 Yard Run by #45 Erik Salmen/2pt no good
- 4th Q – GPL 24 Yard Run by #6/2pt no good
HT Defense:
GPL 239 Yards Rushing 4 TDs 28 Yards Passing
#45 Erik Salmen 6 solo tackles/2 assists/1 tackle for loss/1 Sack/1 Recovered Fumble/1 Batted Ball
#88 Jackson Maynard 5 solo tackles/3 assists
#23 Blaze Binger 5 solo tackles/1 assist/1 sack/1 tackles for loss/1 forced fumble/1 Recovered Fumble
#56 Dalton Rathjen 7 solo tackles/2 assists/1 sack/1 tackle for loss/1 batted ball
#11 Mason Tschetter 2 solo tackles/2 assists
#20 Cameron Noethlich 2 solo tackles
#3 Brendan Nowell 3 solo tackles/1 assist
#55 Preston Wipf 2 solo tackles/3 assists/2 sacks/2 tackles for loss
#62 Mikael Nielson 3 solo tackles/3 assists
#65 Nick Tollefson 2 solo tackles/1 assist
HT Offense: Rushing 126 yards 3 TDs Passing 119 yards
Rushing
#45 Erik Salmen rushed 20 times for 114 yards and 3 TDs
#3 Brendan Nowell 4 times for 6 yards
#8 Payton Chasing Hawk 1 time for 3 yards
#23 Blaze Binger 3 times for -3 yards
#1 Devin Enander 1 time for 6 yards
Passing
#45 Erik Salmen was 8/18 for 119 yards
Receiving
#3 Brendan Nowell 5 catches for 69 yards
#4 Patrick Maynard 2 catches for 20 yards
#1 Devin Enander 1 catch for 30 yards
Kicking
#8 Payton Chasing Hawk had 4 kick-offs totaling 135 yards averaging 34 yards per kick
Kick-Off Returns
#20 Cameron Noethlich 1 return for 3 yards
Extra Points
#3 Brendan Nowell 1 2pt run conversion 2 points