Forreston handles Marcos in conference game Sept. 21
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Forreston set the tone early in the conference battle against the Marcos at home on Sept. 21, and Polo was never able to recover.
The Cards jumped ahead with a pair of scores in t he first five minutes of the game on their way to taking a 34 point lead into the half.
The running clock started early in the third quarter after Forreston’s first of three second half scores as the Cardinals went on to take the game by a count of 55-0.
“They manhandled us upfront, so you have to hand it to them,” said Polo coach Andrew Hofer. “They came in here with a plan and they executed it. We knew right where they were coming, we just couldn’t stop it. They out-executed us tonight.”
Forreston coach Denny Diduch said it was important for his team to come out of the gates playing a physical ballgame, and that helped get things moving in the right direction for the Cards.
“We thought from watching film that Polo was a real physical team, so we knew we had to match that or overwhelm it,” said Diduch. “I think we rose to meet Polo’s challenge, we had a couple of things go our way early, and it kind of snowballed from there.”
The victory moved the Cards to 5-0 on the season, but they have a tough schedule ahead as they play a tough road game next week against 4-1 Le-Win and then finish off the season with another tough road match-up against undefeated E-PC.
In order to get where they want to be Diduch said the team needs to continue to work hard to prepare themselves for some quality competition.
“We could have ran though our tackles a bit better in the first half, our linebacker fills could have been a bit more aggressive,” said Diduch. “Those are the things that make a difference in the close games. We definitely have things that we need to improve upon, and you need to just keep getting better each week because that’s what all the other teams are doing.”
The Marcos are on the other end of the spectrum as they dropped to 1-4 with the loss, and they have to regroup after a disappointing late score loss two weeks ago against Dakota and this loss to the Cardinals.
Polo has three winnable games out of their final four as they host Pecatonica and South Beloit, and they finish the season with a trip to Savanna to play West Carroll.
“Last week was a tough one for us, and it took a while for us to get the guys going again,” said Hofer. “You have four games left and you just have to go. You have to focus on one game at a time. We just have to get back in and have a good week of practice and get ready for Pecatonica.”
Forreston’s scoring started on their first offensive play as Williams scampered down the visiting sideline for a 59 yard touchdown, and following a Robert DeVries interception Williams scored from five yards out four minutes later for a quick 14-0 advantage.
DeVries picked off his second pass late in the first period, and three plays later Bryan Kraft rumbled in from 20 yards out to increase the lead to 21-0.
The Cards finished off their first half scoring with a 18 yard run by quarterback Brett Carlson and a 37 yarder from Kraft, and going into the break they led by a score of 34-0.
Tylor Henneman got in on the scoring action for Forreston early in the third, scoring from 36 yards out, and Kraft added his third touchdown of the night on a 32 yard interception return for a touchdown to put the Cards up 48-0 with just over six minutes left in the third.
The final score of the night came from three yards out as Dalton Lewis broke free for the touchdown for the final score of 55-0.
