KCC football team ends year with back-to-back losses to BGMR
By Assistant Coach Mark Bernstrom
Usually with this article, I break down the games and give a recap on how the game went. Instead I am going to recap this year as the season has come to a close, and to show the growth this team has shown.
This year has been one for the memory books. It originally started with football being moved to the spring and have nothing this fall due to COVID-19. Then in late September the state changed their mind and put together a shortened season to fill in for the rest of the fall season.
It was set up to be six-game season with playoffs only going through each district’s section. The season started off smoothly with having our first two games against NCE and G/G. We were unfortunately unable to pull off a win in these two games, but it showed us coaches the fight that we had within this team.
Then another new thing for us as our co-op postponed football and volleyball for two weeks as we had a spike in our communities of positive COVID cases. We lost two games during this time.
There was a feeling for a while that our season might be lost all together. The word came through that we will continue with our season the first week of November. This left some work to be done since we went two weeks of no practice. We came back to play a Friday night home game against the Stephen-Argyle Storm. We fought hard in that game, but again were not able to come out with a win.
Now we come to the last regular season game against the BGMR Gators. The Bearcats started off with fireworks with an 80-yard kick-off return for a touchdown by Adam Gustafson. BGMR responded with two touchdowns in the first quarter.
In the first quarter, the Bearcats took a major loss with Adam Gustafson getting hurt on a tackle and removed for the game. He is the only starting senior on the roster and it showed in the game. Each team was able to score in the second quarter to go into half time 12-20.
In the third quarter, things went sideways for the Bearcats. Chisum Schmiedeberg left the game with an injury and BGMR scored three times in the third quarter to pull away and seal the game.
The only score for the Bearcats came in form of a 30-yard touchdown run by Ozzie Meyer.
Fourth quarter saw no scoring as both teams gave their younger players chance to get some reps. It was a very frustrating game for the Bearcats as we know that we could have played better.
The word came out the following day that a rematch with the Gators was set for the first round of playoffs. Nerves and excitement were in play as we knew we could play better than what we showed the first time.
In this game, the Bearcats started all juniors and sophomores as Adam was still out from the game before. The Bearcats were able to move the ball up and down the field on BGMR. The problem was that KCC was not able to find the end zone, and because of that BGMR was able to go up 20-0 going into the middle of the second quarter.
On an efficient drive, the Bearcats were able to score off a 5-yard touchdown run by Chisum Schmiedeberg, and successful 2-point conversion pass by Isaac Folland to Evan Austad. The halftime score was 8-20 BGMR.
The third quarter saw BGMR score two more times with a Braden Faken touchdown run between their scores.
As the fourth quarter started, KCC was able to still move the ball, and was finally starting to find the end zone. This was due to some determined and hard running by Chisum Schmiedeberg. He scored on a 4-yard run and a 42-yard run. Ozzie Meyer had a successful 2-point conversion run to make it a one score game.
The defense played well this game and became very hard to have success against late in the second half. The game came down to a fourth down and short.
With a delayed hand-off we missed the tackle and BGMR successfully got the first down and closed out the game. Even though the season came to an end there was a sense of accomplishment amongst the players and coaches. This last game showed the growth and fight within this team.
With so many unknowns being thrown at these kids they stayed with it and kept fighting. Coaches worked hard to keep that fire going and they players fed off that. I want to say thank you to all freshmen, sophomores, juniors, our two seniors, and all parents. This whole program doesn’t continue without all of your support. A special thank you to Adam Gustafson for coming out and leading this young team through the most unusual season. Your leadership will be missed.
Regular Season Game
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total
KCC 6 6 6 0 18
BGMR 12 8 22 0 42
KCC leaders
Offense
Total Offense
KCC 207 Yards
BGMR 384 Yards
Passing:
Braden Faken 2/5 43 yds
Rushing:
Chisum Schmiedeberg
18 att, 84 yds
Ozzie Meyer
10 att, 69 yds, 1 TD
Braden Faken
5 att, 13 yds, 1 TD
Receiving:
Kaden Vig 2 rec, 43 yds
Kickoff Return:
Adam Gustafson
2 att, 110 yds,
80 yd TD return
Defense
Ozzie Meyer 16.5 tackles
Isaac Folland 11.5 tackles
Chisum
Schmiedeberg 9.5 tackles
Post Season Game
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total
KCC 0 8 6 14 28
BGMR 6 14 16 0 36
KCC leaders
Offense
Total Offense
KCC 393 Yards
BGMR 352 Yards
Passing:
Braden
Faken 11/17, 149 yds
Rushing:
Chisum Schmiedeberg
28 att, 175 yds, 3 TDs
Ozzie Meyer
12 att, 78 yds
Receiving:
Evan Austad 6 rec, 104 yds
Jacob Rice 2 rec, 32 yds
Defense
Ozzie Meyer 8.5 tackles
Chisum
Schmiedeberg 7.5 tackles
Isaac Folland 6.5 tackles
