A team riding a 3-game win streak is probably one of the least desirable homecoming opponents.
That will be the situation for the winless St. Cloud Apollo Eagles when they host their homecoming game Friday night against the red-hot 3-1 Brainerd Warriors.
“Homecoming week is an exciting week in school,” Apollo coach Justin Skaalerud said. “I hope the kids enjoy it. Brainerd brings a well-coached and talented team ... It will be a challenge for us. If our defense can continue to play well, and we can find a way to score some points, we hope to be in the ballgame when it comes down to the fourth quarter.”
The Eagles have been outscored 86-37 but have played respectable defense. Their losses were 6-0 to Sartell, 24-12 to Rogers, 35-18 to Rocori and 21-7 to Alexandria last week.
“I think in weeks 1-3 we played pretty well,” Skaalerud said. “I think everyone from the coaching staff to the kids were disappointed with our performance in Alex. That was a game we thought we probably should have won. We made way too many mistakes. We turned the ball over six times. You’re not going to win football games when you do that.
“I know the tone for this week is mistake-free football.
“The defense is playing well. I’m pleased with what they’re doing. Against Alex, we put (the defense) in awful position. We fumbled on their 17 so they got their second touchdown from a short field.”
Warriors coach Ron Stolski knows Brainerd can’t overlook the Eagles.
“This is a very challenging game because we’ve had a rough 4-week stretch,” he said. “It will be our homecoming next week, and some events are already beginning. It’s their homecoming Friday. Apollo is a very good defensive football team. They look like a team ready to break out offensively.
“We can’t afford to think, for whatever reason, that this won’t be as challenging a game as the previous four. We’ve got a lot to learn and a long way to go. We need to continue to improve. Otherwise, the outcome won’t be what we would like it to be.”
The Warriors have developed two important characteristics — the ability to come back and the ability to never surrender — in the season’s first half. They have trailed in all three of their wins, including 17-12 in the fourth quarter last week against Bemidji. Brainerd outscored the Lumberjacks 28-6 in the fourth.
“We’ve seen putting the pedal to the throttle. It was complete, pretty overwhelming, we just kept playing,” Stolski said of last week’s comeback. “We try to keep a really good practice tempo. I think conditioning has shown up in our games. We haven’t yet seemed to have fallen off and lost our fundamentals. It seems like we improve as the game goes on.”
Brainerd starts the second half of the regular season receiving votes in the Associated Press Class 6A poll and ranked fifth in the Quality Results Formula among the state’s 32 largest schools. Eden Prairie leads the QRF at 87.0, followed by Mounds View 81.8, Osseo 76.5, Edina 74.4 and Brainerd 69.0. Brainerd trails only Osseo in Section 5-6A.
“Speaking on behalf of the coaching staff, our kids are making real good progress,” Stolski said. “We practice hard. We’re proud of how the kids have accepted the challenge of being a relatively inexperienced team, although I always say at this stage of the season we’re not inexperienced any longer. When you get to this point, this is your team.
“Our team has goals. Among them are to care about one another, become a family, be good role models, and my sense is they’re doing those things. That’s among many things we’re proud of that really stands out. The kids are really together. We haven’t seen any give up.”
Mike Bialka, sports editor, may be reached at 855-5861. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bertsballpark.
Lineups
Brainerd Warriors
OFFENSE
QB: 11-Luke Boran, 12-Thomas Stoxen, 15-Logan McElfresh, 37-Luke Patron
RB: 23-Logan Davis, 22-Conor Gessell, 10-Mason Severson, 24-Matt Ramerth, 26-Matt Sucik
WR: 2-Isaiah Smith, 7-Grant Reuer, 18-Geoff Sheflo, 81-Quinn McElfresh
SR: 8-Logan Jones, 31-Cole Smith
TE: 15-Logan McElfresh, 54-Alex Mimmack
C: 64-Billy Desrocher, 57-Zach Shepersky, 50-Wyll Erickson
G: 63-Jon Asprey, 57-Zach Shepersky, 54-Alex Mimmack, 65-Andrew Seglem, 77-Zach Thomas
T: 67-Alex DeRosier, 68/87-Alex Evanson, 62-Andy Meierhofer, 75-James Weiss
DEFENSE
Line: 55-Jace Engelmann, 88-Chris Bowman, 73-Eric Uphoff, 54-Alex Mimmack, 96-Chris Laber, 94-Austin Mau, 78-Sam Adams, 66-Zach Hatcher
OLB: 36-T.J. Graumann, 33-Jake Donnay, 27-Troy Lenz, 33-Cole DeRosier
ILB: 34/52-Slade Simpson, 53-Sam Kelash, 30-Taylor Scheidenberger, 15-Logan McElfresh, 47-Winston Fenske
CB: 31-Cole Smith, 7-Grant Reuer, 12-Thomas Stoxen, 17-Beau Janousek, 20-Cody Mihok
S: 16-Trevor Maier, 31-Cole Smith
SPECIAL TEAMS
Punter: 15-Logan McElfresh
Kicker: 15-Logan McElfresh
Punt return: 23-Logan Davis, 2-Isaiah Smith
Kickoff return: 23-Logan Davis, 22-Conor Gessell
Long snap: 33-Jake Donnay, 17-Beau Janousek
Holder: 11-Luke Boran, 12-Thomas Stoxen
St. Cloud Apollo Eagles
OFFENSE
QB: 14-Ben Alvord
WR: 25-Noel Teigen
WR: 33-Kyle Rosenthal
WR: 11-Cooper Lynch
RB: 35-Derek Alexander
FB: 44-Jacob Thurlow
G: 54-Brandon Bloch
C: 69-Dusty Cassens
T: 72-De’Mico Elyea
T: Matt Danielson
DEFENSE
E: 69-Dusty Cassens
NG: 70-Swin Sinthavong
E: 63-Cory Franzwa
OLB: 7-Luke Stangler
OLB: 35-Derek Alexander
OLB: 36-Zack Overboe
ILB: 42-Dylan Erickson-Thoemke
ILB: 54-Brandon Bloch
CB: 25-Noel Teigen
CB: Kyle Rosenthal
FS: 32-Jeremy Koffi
SPECIAL TEAMS
P: 75-Nate Bergherr
K: 75-Nate Bergherr
Warriors schedule
Aug 31, Rocori, LOST 48-28
Sept 7, St. Cloud Tech, WON 42-28
Sept 14, at Willmar, WON 21-14
Sept 21, Bemidji, WON 40-23
Sept 28, at St. Cloud Apollo 7 p.m.
Oct 6, St. Michael-Albertville 2 p.m.
Oct 12, at Grand Rapids 7 p.m.
Oct 17, at Alexandria 7 p.m.
Central Lakes Conference
Conf All
Rocori 4-0 4-0
Fergus Falls 3-0 3-1
Sartell 2-0 4-0
Brainerd 2-1 3-1
St. Cloud Tech 2-1 3-1
Alexandria 1-3 1-3
Willmar 0-3 1-3
St. Cloud Apollo 0-3 0-4
Sauk Rapids 0-3 0-4
Sept. 21 Results
Rocori 22, Willmar 21
Tech 28, Sauk Rapids 6
Non-conference
Moorhead 40, Fergus Falls 20
Sartell 27, Grand Rapids 8
Brainerd 40, Bemidji 23
Sept. 22 Result
Alexandria 21, Apollo 7
Friday, Sept. 28
Brainerd at Apollo
Alexandria at Willmar
Fergus Falls at Sartell
Non-conference
Moorhead at Tech
Saturday, Sept. 29
Sauk Rapids at Rocori
Section 5-6A
Section All
Osseo 3-0 4-0
Brainerd 0-0 3-1
Maple Grove 1-1 3-1
Anoka 0-1 2-2
Champlin Park 1-0 2-2
Blaine 0-2 2-2
Centennial 1-1 1-3
Coon Rapids 0-1 0-4
Friday, Sept. 21
Bemidji at Brainerd
Osseo 42, Robbinsdale Armstrong 14
Anoka at Centennial
Blaine at Maple Grove
Champlin Park at Coon Rapids
Friday, Sept. 28
Osseo at Andover
Brainerd at Apollo
Maple Grove at Anoka
Coon Rapids at Blaine
Champlin Park at Centennial
Warriors statistics
FOUR GAMES
RUSHING Att Yds Avg TD
Conor Gessell 57 372 6.5 5
Luke Boran 55 258 4.7 4
Logan Davis 64 226 3.5 2
Matt Ramerth 3 15 5.0 0
Thomas Stoxen 3 14 4.7 0
Ma. Severson 2 10 5.0 0
Matt Sucik 1 6 6.0 0
Team 3 -22 -7.3 0
PASSING Com Att Yds TD
Luke Boran 32 58 450 5
Thomas Stoxen 2 4 25 0
RECEIVING No Yds Avg TD
Cole Smith 12 155 12.9 1
Isaiah Smith 7 140 20.0 2
Conor Gessell 2 69 34.5 1
Grant Reuer 6 64 10.7 1
Logan Davis 5 47 9.4 0
Logan Jones 3 32 10.7 0
SCORING TD 2PT EPK TP
Conor Gessell 7 1 0 44
Luke Boran 4 0 0 24
Logan Davis 3 0 0 18
Lo. McElfresh 0 0 15 15
Isaiah Smith 2 0 0 12
Grant Reuer 2 0 0 12
Cole Smith 1 0 0 6
Fumble recoveries: Sam Kelash 1, Jake Donnay 1, Cole Smith 1, Slade Simpson 1
Interceptions: Reuer 4, Thomas Stoxen 1
Season tackle leaders: Cole Smith 60, Winston Fenske 50, T.J. Graumann 47, Simpson 47
Points per-game average: Brainerd 32.8, opposition 28.3
Yards per game average: Brainerd 352.0, opposition 329.5.
