The West Fork football will be the home team as they take on Clayton Ridge in a neutral site game at Wartburg College to kickoff the season on Friday night. The Warhawks won last year’s meeting 20-12.
West Fork went 3-6 last season. The Warhawks return sophomore Blaine Schulz with 127 rushing yards and a touchdown. Junior Dax Suntken with 40.5 tackles last season returns to help boost the defense.
Head Coach Dan Westhoff on the impact of last year’s win and what to expect from the Eagles.
“It was a great game down there last year, a competitive game, that snapped 20 game losing streak for the program at that time,” says Westhoff. “That was a big deal in our program, and a great way to start the season. They’re going to be hungry. They know it was a competitive game last year. I’m sure they’re out for revenge. They’re going to expect to come in and flip the tables this year and then steal one from us. We need to be ready to go.”
Clayton Ridge went 1-7 last season. The Eagles return junior starting quarterback Seth Kregel with 282 passing yards and a team leading four touchdowns last season.
Westhoff says they need to contain Kregel and establish the ground game.
“He’s a good athlete and hurt us last year. That’s at the forefront of my mind of making sure that we have a plan again, to make sure that the quarterback doesn’t go crazy on us. The formula that we used to win last year is gonna apply this year. We need to run the ball, we need to control the line of scrimmage, and we need to win the turnover battle.
Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m. at Wartburg College.
