Broncos start strong in the gridiron season

The LRS Broncos began their regular football season last Friday on the road against a tough Davenport opponent.

In the first league game of the season the Broncos took the lead early but mistakes kept the game close until the end.

“That was probably one of the toughest teams to start off the year with our newer players,” head coach Greg Whitmore said.

Whitmore said Davenport was difficult to prepare for because of their unorthodox offense. They run an offense based on a lot of pulling, reversing and trapping, making it difficult to simulate in practice.

Despite the difficulties in preparation the Broncos had a strong performance in Davenport.

Hugh Hennings scored in the first quarter running one-yard to make the game 6-0 for the Broncos. The two-point conversion attempt from Tyler O’Brien to Damien Rouleau was no good.

The Gorillas were able to capitalize on a Bronco fumble and scored in the second quarter, the point after kick by Austin Zeller missed, leaving the score tied at 6-6.

The Broncos would strike again in the second quarter with Hennings running one-yard to finish a Bronco drive and bringing the score to 12-6. Jacob Saetre attempted a two-point conversion run and was successful, extending the Bronco lead by two.

Hennings would again finish off a Bronco drive in the third quarter and, after scoring the conversion, would increase the Bronco lead to 22-6.

The Gorillas were not beaten yet, and would score on a 14-yard run by Cruz Plasencla. The Bronco defense was able to prevent the Gorillas from scoring on the conversion, keeping the game at 22-12.

The Broncos continued to drive the ball down the field, this time with Dane Wahl scoring on a 14-yard run bringing the game to 28-12. The conversion attempt by Saetre to Cort Ruzicka failed, and the Broncos would not score again during this game.

Davenport was able to come up with another touchdown scoring drive before the end of the game to make the score 28-18 in favor of the Broncos. The Bronco defense did not allow the Davenport offense to score on any conversion attempts during the game.

Saetre had an excellent passing game on Friday, completing 10 out of 12 passes for the Broncos for 152 yards. The Broncos would earn 143 yards from their rushing attempts.

Hennings led the Broncos with 78 yards in 21 attempts as well as leading the Broncos in scoring. Ruzicka would come up big receiving for the Broncos as well, with 78 yards from five completions.

The Bronco defense allowed 376 yards to the Davenport offense, but was able to come up with two interceptions as well as recovering two of Davenports three fumbles.

Colin Sheffels led the Bronco defense with a total of nine tackles, two of them in the Davenport backfield.

With a tough game out of the way Whitmore plans to work the Broncos, improving their conditioning and mental focus to help mitigate mistakes like the ones made in Davenport.

The Broncos had three fumbles, losing two of them to the Gorillas. One of the fumbles resulted in the Gorillas scoring two plays later.

The Broncos also received 10 penalties for 60-yards. In addition they were only able to convert on three out of 10 third downs.

“We’ve got to not let one bad play turn into three bad plays,” Whitmore said.

The Broncos will face off against the Mary Walker Chargers this Friday, Sept. 12, at 7 p.m. in Ritzville.