The North Butler football team will host South Winneshiek for the first time ever, as the programs meet in a Class A district opener on Friday.
North Butler at 1-0, held on for a 14-8 road win over Belmond-Klemme last week. The Bearcats scored on a rushing touchdown apiece by juniors Brody Wangsness and Jax Thorne. Senior Pryor Wiederkehr patrolled the Bearcats defense with seven tackles in the win.
North Butler Head Coach Jordan Vanderloop’s scouting report on South Winn.
“They’re a well coached team, well disciplined team,” says Vanderloop. “Offensively, they run the ball very well, they get out and block who they need to block and make sure they got the holes open for them. Defensively, they’ll come at you, they’re not scared of blitz. They have very good defensive linemen and linebackers that are able to find the hole and kind of sneak in there.”
South Winneshiek enters at 0-1 after falling in a nail-biter 15-14 at Starmont last week. The Warriors found the endzone on scores by juniors Braiden Todd and Carson Streeter. Junior Ayden Palafox led the defense with 10 tackles.
“Upfront on the line that we keep our eyes up and we look for blitzers. Brody needs to make sure he’s got that clock in his head when he needs to get rid of the ball, go through his progressions and trust the receivers that they’ll do what they need to do. Receivers just need to come out, make sure they’re running good, crisp routes and be looking right away. They’re a well disciplined team. They’re physical, so we have to come ready and make sure that everyone’s accounted for.”
North Butler won last year’s meeting 22-14 in Calmar.
Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m. in Greene.
