Young Chiefs get schooled
By Jim den Hollander
The Wisconsin Dells High School varsity football team is always looking for tough teams to play in non-conference contests. They sure found one on Friday night. The Kingsford Flivvers, a powerful squad out of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula made the four and half hour trek to Vacationland and brushed the Chiefs aside 32-0 in the season opener for both teams. The Chiefs entered the game with just a handful of returning players from last season’s playoff outfit and received a baptism of fire from a team that has played seven playoff contests in the past two seasons. If you believe the army of fans the team brought with it, this could be the strongest team yet for the small community. The Chiefs appeared to hold all of the advantages heading into the contest in terms of momentum and actually started out strongly. But it didn’t take long for the Flivvers to take over against a young, but game Chiefs’ squad. "I was a little surprised at how physical they are," said head coach Bob Johnson after his team’s tough opening game lessons. The game started well for the Chiefs who recovered a turnover on its first defensive play of the season. However, the Flivvers, who made the 4.5 hour trip, then waited along with the Chiefs through a weather delay of more than 90 minutes immediately after player introductions, got their legs under them late in the first quarter. The first period ended scoreless, but the Michigan squad seemed to be running the ball at will, often hit at the line of scrimmage but continuing for several yards with defenders in tow. Then, on offense, Chiefs’s junior quarterback Skyler Liebzeit seemed to have two choices...hand the ball off, to a runner – mainly Bobby Blaschke, who ran into a Michigan wall at the line of scrimmage, or get a pass away in a split second before being thrown to the turf. The Chiefs may well have set its sights a little too high in its first contest and this could technically count as mulligan. A team that counts Milwaukee Homestead, the defending Division 1 state champions as recent opponents (last season), the Flivvers are no doubt a powerful team. "I think they are a really good team...a good program," said Johnson afterward." The Chiefs meanwhile have a game, but not overly experienced group. While the Michigan team was next to unstoppable on this night, Johnson said there were lessons learned as well. "There were a lot of players not playing technically the way they should," said the coach adding "There are a lot of kids who hadn’t played on Friday nights (varsity) much at all). I think this experience will be good for them. We got past that one, it was our first pre-season game and we will learn from it."
Varsity football
news and notes Final look back n n KINGSFORD 32, WISCONSIN DELLS 0 Kingsford 0 19 7 6 — 32 Wisconsin Dells 0 0 0 0 — 0 K - K - W - W - W - Next up - Poynette n The Poynette squad was in the South Central Conference for five seasons, from 2001-2005, winning or sharing the conference football crown each of those five seasons. The Chiefs never defeated the Indians during that stretch but snapped that funk with an 18-0 win at home against the Indians last season. n n "They have a well balanced team," said Johnson. "They can run in either the Power I or spread. They have a good quarterback too. He can throw the ball well. They are going to be a good team, but we fell we’ll be well prepped for the game." n n n