The North Butler and West Fork football teams will both be looking to pick themselves up and get rolling again off tough district losses as they face one another in Class A non-district action on Friday.
North Butler (1-1,0-1 district) fell 35-14 in their home opener to South Winneshiek last week. The Bearcats with 423 rushing yards rotate through a trio of 100 yard backs in Pryor Wiederkehr (144), Tucker Pecha(105), Jax Thorne(104). Wiederkehr has also been a key presence defensively with 14.5 tackles.
North Butler Head Coach Jordan Vanderloop on what the Warhawks bring to match up and how to limit their run game.
“We can’t overlook them. They’re a good team. They’ve improved year after year every time we played them,” says Vanderloop. “They will come out and they’ll surprise you, I feel like they’ve done that times before. We really have to stay focused and make sure that we’re playing our kind of football. We need to be ready to go because it could be a really great game and come down to one or two plays. We need to make sure we keep them contained. Everyone filling the gap, filling the hole, not letting them bounce outside, having linebackers step up in their spots. We need to just plug everything up so they have nowhere to run and cause some confusion in the backfield for them.”
West Fork (1-1,0-1 district) lost a tight game 20-15 at Newman Catholic last week. The Warhawks offensive generator has been running the football with 539 rushing yards and seven touchdowns. The Warhawks lead rushers are Blaine Schulz with 214 yards and a touchdown and Dax Suntken with 189 yards and five touchdowns.
Warhawk Head Coach Dan Westhoff on working against the Bearcats defense.
“We’re going to have to go back to the drawing board and really try and find some ways to move the ball, yards and points are going to be at a premium, I know that already,” says Westhoff. “They’re gritty. They’re tough. They’re well-coached defensively. I know that’s going to be a knockdown drag out. It’s a credit to the program they’re running over there right now. I know that’s going to be a really tough physical game.”
North Butler has won three straight in the series, including a 25-0 win last season.
Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m. in Greene.
