Northwestern Game Wrap
RF 20, Northwestern College 17

We traveled to St. Paul on Saturday to play against Northwestern College a team that beat us last year. The field was well watered the night before and the grass was long which slowed the surface down throughout most of the game. It was a hot and humid day and was very draining on all involved.

In comparing the scores and some of the statistics from a year ago I am pleased about some things. Their great receiver, Kyle Thomforde, scorched us for 300 all purpose yards a year ago. We really limited his production this year. He had only three catches for a total of 30 yards this year. A year ago we gave up 41 points. This year we gave up only 17. With many of their starters and stars returning on the offensive side, our defensive coaches and players deserve a lot of credit.

Our kicking game continues to be an asset throughout the first two games. We have been relatively mistake free - which is a major goal each week. Chad Blair has been named as our special teams player of the game. He batted 1.000 on Saturday converting two PAT’s and two field goals. Those of you who have followed Falcon football over the years know of our kicking woes the last few years. I am very pleased with this aspect of our game right now.

Drake Klatt continues to BOOM the ball on kickoffs. He will often kick it inside the 5 yard line and hang it up near four seconds. This continues to have a very positive affect on our opponents’ field position.

Our punting game will show improvement but right now we are not punting well. This will improve.

Defensively we played pretty well BUT we cannot continue to miss tackles. We missed 21 on Saturday and that statistic will normally put you in the loss column. Their QB is an extremely elusive guy and many of our missed tackles were caused by him (including three missed sacks). We limited their big plays that hurt us last year. I can see that our secondary has improved and our d line has also. Our linebacker corps needs to step it up. They are not playing very well right now.

Matt Gajewski was named as our defensive player of the week. He plays corner for us and was credited with two tackles and two passes broken up. He played a major role in limiting their great receiver Thomforde.

Offensively we played without our No. 1 tailback Taylor Edwards. He was ready to go but we wanted to rest him. Ahmad Palmer, John Schimenz, and Greg Klingelhutz all played well. Ahmad carried the ball 18 times for 114 yards - that breaks down to 6.3 yards per carry. Ahmad was named our offensive player of the week. WE DID NOT HAVE ANY FUMBLES! We have four tailbacks that we have confidence in.

All in all we are pleased but as always we know we can, and need, to improve in certain areas.

We face Alma College this week. It is our Homecoming game. We are honoring our 1979 and 1984 teams. We’d like to introduce all of the players and coaches from those teams at halftime.

If you would like to attend our Breakfast with the team at 9 a.m., on Saturday please email Dori Holter at: doris.holter@uwrf.edu. This will be held in the banquet room of the Best Western on Main Street.

Make sure to stop by our Touchdown Club tent at Ramer Field and join up! We’ll have free brats for all of our members. We’d really like to have all of our alumni join the TD Club!

Have a great week!

NC-RF Game Statistics

Go Falcons!

John O

John O'Grady

2009 Falcon Schedule