Pioneers won the toss and chose to receive. They got off to a slow start and had to turn the ball over to the Savage team who managed to move quickly downfield, however, the Pioneer defense stopped them at the door and took over the ball at the 20-yard line. Unfortunatly, offensively the Pioneers couldn't pull it together and were forced to punt. It wasn't until the end of the first quarter that things started to click for the Pioneer offense when Cooper Taylor danced his way past two defenders and ran 36 yards for a touchdown then ran the ball again for the one-point conversion ending the first quarter with a 7-0 lead.
The second quarter the offensive and defensive played at a higher level and scored three touchdowns. Braydon Clinecompleted a 21-yard pass to Kody Strutz for the touchdown and completed a second pass to Lance Rutledge for the one-point conversion bringing the score to 14-0. Later in the quarter, Lane Demontiney made a three-yard run into the end-zone and completed another run for the one-point conversion bringing the score up to 21-0.
Just when it looked like the Savage team would score, they had a holding penalty that forced them to punt. The Pioneers took over but they too were forced to punt, but a tough defense took the ball back over and they were able to end the third quarter with a five-yard run into the end zone by Strutz. Cline's kick failed to make it between the post and the third quarter ended with a 27-0 score.
Savage picked up six points near the beginning of the fourth quarter and Pioneer offense polished off the game with a 27-yard pass from Strutz to Demontiney into the endzone Cline's kick was good for the extra 2 points ending the game with a solid win of 43 to 6.
Always, nice to have that first home game be a win and according to Coach Jappe this is what we should be expecting for the rest of the season. From Jappe's perspective the defense played well compared the last couple of weeks but the "offense is still struggling. They put a lot of points on board, but they struggled all first quarter then finally got a few things going. They just don't seem to be as comfortable on offense yet, not sure why."
Despite that "discomfort" with the offense Jappe expects the team to pull it all together and "blow through everybody" the rest of the season and make it into the semi-finals as he feels they just got their toughest three games behind them.
This week I had the opportunity to get Captain Kody Strutz perspective on the game.
According to Strutz "First quarter we weren't really running our plays like we should and were kind of half-speed but at the end of the quarter, we got it figured out and finally scored a touchdown. Our first few plays were a little "wonky". I loved that term. But Strutz feels "we still need to tune up a few things on the offense but we are getting better every game and that's how it should be and I am excited to see how we are at the end of the season." When asked for his predictions for the season he seems in agreement with his teammate Rusty Gasvoda that they are a mentally tough team and has confidence that they will make it into the semi-finals again this year.
So, it sounds like the captains and coaches are all in agreement that we have a Big Sandy football team that when they are fine-tuned and get more comfortable in the offensive area can be expected to give us some great season games that will take them into the semi-finals again this year.
