Fighting Bees Win Fight
Over Saints
By: Ryan Holtmann
DAVENPORT,
Iowa – The saying goes, we came, we
saw, we kicked it. Well the fans of the St. Ambrose Fighting Bees
came and saw, but the Fighting Bees football team literally kicked
"it."
They defeated the visiting St.
Francis Fighting Saints (1-4, 0-2) by a commanding 50-7 score in front of
one of the largest homecoming crowds ever.
"We bounced back after an
upsetting loss lost week," head coach Todd Sturdy said.
"It's a credit to our kids to comeback like they did, they didn't let
that loss affect them."
"Any win that we get is
big and doing it on homecoming makes it that more special."
Fighting Bees quarterback Jeff
Kietaman responded in tremendous fashion after last week's slip up with
214 total yards of offense and four touchdowns. He was 13-of-22
passing for 190 yards, a touchdown and an interception while adding 24
yards on the ground on nine carries. Kietzman rushed for three
touchdowns as well.
"He bounced back after a
rough outing last week and that shows a lot of character on his
part," Sturdy said. "He came out and led our football team
today."
"I just went out and did
what we worked on all week," Kietzman said. "Coach Sturdy
had a great game plan and everyone executed real well.
"The line blocked well
and the receivers caught the balls well."
Kietzman also added a punt for
33 yards which ended up bouncing inside the Saints 5-yard line pushing
them deep into their own territory.
"It was kind of ugly, but
it worked," Kietzman said of his punting debut.
Kietzman's did what he has
done all season, that being completing passes to at least seven different
receivers in each game so far this season.
His favorite target on
Saturday was Joe DuPage. DuPage had five receptions for 95 yards and
a touchdown on the day.
Running back Joe Schimmel
continued his weekly feats yet again. For the fifth time this
season, Schimmel rushed for over 100 yards and a touchdown. Saturday
he added 139 yards and 28 carries to his total and crossed the goal line
once on the day.
"They (the Saints) tried
to take our big players out of the game, but he played great today,"
Schimmel said.
"Getting a lot of carries
was a big part of it, we have guys like Raul (Blanco) and Gabe (Barta) up
front who are unstoppable O-linemen and Jeff (Kietzman) had a great day on
the passing end of it, opening the run," Schimmel said.
The Fighting Bees defense, led
by defensive coordinator Rich Wright, came up with another outstanding
game, limiting the Saints to 79 yards of total offense, forcing one
fumble, intercepting three passes and coming away with six sacks on the
day.
"The defense played
lights out, we didn't have any trouble all day," Sturdy said.
Leading the defense was
defensive end Shawn Giffin who had ten tackles (four assisted), three of
those for a loss of 12 yards, a forced fumble and two sacks for a loss of
eight yards on the day.
Linebacker Mike Aussieker had
five tackles (two assisted), two for a loss of 11 yards, a fumble
recovery, a pass break up and a sack for a loss of ten yards on the day.
Cornerback Adam Panther had an
interception return 24 yards for a touchdown and Ryne Foster added the
other interception on the day.
"They did a great
job," Sturdy said. "The only time we put them in a hole
was when we threw that interception offensively and that was the only
field position that the Saints had all day."
The Fighting Bees dominated
from the word go, scoring in double figures in all but the fourth
quarter. Unfortunately for the Fighting Bees cheerleaders, who do
pushups for every point scored and after each score, they were forced to
do back flips one at a time to make up the large number of points.
Something that the crowd took much pleasure in.
"We have to get some
momentum (as the stretch run for the MSFA Midwest Championship is under
way) and get on board with that and we have to get through these next five
games of the schedule one game at a time," Sturdy said.
The homecoming win boasts the
Bees into next weeks match up with the Trinity International Trojans in
Deerfield, Ill. The game will kickoff at 1 p.m. at Leslie Frazier
Field.
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