By Jennifer Stultz
Tri-County Tribune Editor
jstultz@cherryroad.com
The St. John-Hudson football team took on county rival Macksville High School last Friday and it was a game for the ages. Macksville put on a clinic offensively and defensively in the first half, behind 242 total yards, but St. John pulled together in the second half for a come-from-behind win 30-28.
“We talked to the guys about getting back to .500 for the regular season, securing the 3rd seed out of our district, and being undefeated against our two county rivals all week leading up to the game. At halftime we told them if they wanted to get those goals they had to be willing to do anything on that field in the second half to come back,” said Tiger coach Scott Krehbiel.
“Numerous guys had great games on both sides of the ball, particularly in the second half to spark the comeback,” he said. We tried all night long to hit deep passes to back them off the line on defense so we had more room to run, but we couldn’t connect in the first half until we hit Wyatt Mawhirter for a 45 yard touchdown right before half. We came out with a lot more intensity than the first half and that really took off when Jace Reyes ran the second half kickoff back for a touchdown to cut into the lead 28-16.”
Krehbiel said his team was finally able to connect on some medium and deep passes in the second half that spurred the offense into overdrive.
“We got our run game get going when Braxton Alpers scored on a 5-yard run, and then broke off a 44-yard run and completed a pass to Juan Ibarra for 2 points to get us ahead 30-28 for good,” Krehbiel said. “We had a huge stand to end the game with Braxton Alpers getting an interception in the endzone as our D-Line was pressuring their QB.
Motivated team plays also mentioned by Krehbiel included a fumble forced by Jace Reyes that was recovered by Weston Peterson to keep Tiger momentum going.
“We had a lot of different people play on Friday, and some of them were in positions they had never played before. It was a true team effort in all three phases in the second half to get the win, and every single player on that sideline stepped up their game in the second half,” Krehbiel said.
Going into postseason play, the Tigers are healthy with the exception of one player who is still sidelined with an injury from a few weeks ago.
“We go to Attica for 1st round of playoffs Thursday. I’m looking for us to compete at a high level and play with a lot of intensity. If we do that I like our chances against a very tough football team that knows what it takes to win games especially this time of year,” Krehbiel said.
Long term goals for the team, according to Krehbiel, would be for his players to understand the level of work they’ve put in to get to this point.
“I hope they understand they’ve set the foundation of expectations not only for themselves going forward to next year, but also for the future classes who want to play football for this program,” he said. They have worked very hard this year and deserve to be competing in the playoffs.”
