By RYAN WALKER
PONETO – The Southern Wells football team lost to Fremont 32-8 Friday night despite a much improved second half for the Raiders.
The first half was filled with self-inflicted mistakes for the Raiders, drawing seven flags and four fumbles (two lost). Fremont had its fair share of penalties and miscues but capitalized on errors to make it 24-0 at the half. All three scores came on the ground, two long rushes from Collin Green and one from quarterback Zak Pica.
The Raiders had just 71 yards of total offense compared to the Eagles’ 197, indicating a possible repeat of last season’s 55-16 rout. However, changes in the second half brought new life to head coach Mike Roeder’s squad.
“Well, these kids are tired of losing,” Coach Mike Roeder said. “and I think that at halftime, there were some words spoken to the tune of ‘we’re not doing this again,’ and I feel like they came out with a good amount of fire in the second half.”
After the Raiders’ turnover to begin the second half, they kept control of the ball and only had two penalties, allowing for just one touchdown scored by Pica on a 15-yard quarterback keeper.
Case Boxell, who only had five carries in the first half, took the majority of the touches in the backfield after halftime and put up 77 yards, scoring Southern Wells’ only touchdown. The junior fullback took over for Gage Roberts, who finished the game with 32 yards. Coach Roeder said that he likes both of his backs getting touches every game and both are not one and two on the depth chart. They’re 1A and 1B, he said.
On the lone touchdown drive, the Raiders took just under six minutes of time off the clock, running the ball nine times without a throw. Boxell led the way on the ground before a 15-yard keeper from junior Bryar Gearheart set up first and goal at the one. Boxell punched it in on a toss on the right-hand side with ease.
Last season, Southern Wells finished 0-10, its first season since their absence in 2020 due to COVID-19. It was a young team and still is, with eight freshmen and just three seniors, but the Raiders are done making excuses.
“I’ve already told them we’re not going to make excuses like last year where I said every Friday ‘well we’re awful young and we’re awful inexperienced’ because we did, we were starting a lot of freshman and sophomores,” Roeder said. “But those guys are juniors, and I’m not going to say it anymore.”
Roeder and his team look to continue to build off of the second half and take it to next week to play Madison Grant at home. The Argylls finished last season with a 4-6 record. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday, Aug 27.
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FREMONT 32, SOUTHERN WELLS 8
At Southern Wells High School
Score By Quarters
Fremont 8 16 8 0 –– 32
Southern Wells 0 0 0 8 –– 8
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
F-Zak Pica 14 run (2-pt try good). 1:12
Second Quarter
F-Collin Green 19 run (2-pt try good). 8:42
F-Collin Green 22 run (2-pt try good) 1:39
Third Quarter
F- Zak Pica 15 run (2-pt try good) 0:01
Fourth Quarter
SW-Case Boxwell 1 run (2-pt try good) 6:48
Team Statistics
F SW
First Downs 16 9
Rushes-Yards 30-310 39-156
Yards Passing 39 24
Passing (Comp-Att-Int) 5-14-0 2-5-1
Penalties-Yards 7-70 8-55
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 5-2
Punts-Average 1-27 2-32
Time of Possession 20:26 25:48
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Southern Wells, Case Boxwell 17-106, Gage Roberts 13-32, Bryar Gearheart 8-14, Jenson Nusbaumer 1-4; Fremont, Collin Green 11-153, Zak Pica 9-70, Gage Cope 6-55, Wyatt Claxton 1-17, Hayden Anderson 3-15.
Passing: Southern Wells, Bryar Gearheart 1-2-0 22, Jenson Nusbaumer 1-4-1 4; Fremont, Zak Pica 5-13-0 42, Gage Cope 0-1-0 0.
Receiving: Southern Wells, Levi Woodward 1-22; Fremont, Wyatt Claxton 3-23, Steve Burkholder 1-7, Gage Cope 1-2.
