Blair started its season strong with a 56-12 victory over Lincoln Standing Bear on Aug. 30, a school in its second year playing its first varsity football game on the road at Krantz Field.
The Grizzlies fielded no seniors and scored both of their touchdowns late in the contest.
“Hats off to Standing Bear,” Bryan Soukup, Blair head coach, said after the game. “That's a young team in their first varsity game and those kids continued to fight. We give them a lot of credit for everything they did tonight.”
The Bears scored all 56 of their points before the halftime buzzer with star senior Brock Templar pacing the team in the run game and senior Cooper Sorensen connecting on several big throws in his first career start at quarterback.
Templar scored the first touchdown of the season for the home side with a short scamper into the end zone, and he followed that up with a 49-yard score later in the first quarter and a home run hike of 95 yards early in the second frame.
The senior, who entered the season with more than 2,000 career yards to his name, utilized every inch of the field, going north, south, east and west as he found lanes and gaps to burst through for the Bears. Compiling 215 yards on just 12 carries while only playing in the first half, Templar's head coach gave high praise following the contest.
“He's a special back,” Soukup said. “There's a reason he was Class B all-state last year. I feel like he's the best back in Class B this year and just one of the best overall football players in Class B.”
Soukup iterated that those stats don't come without help from those around him. Mentioning that he likes the development he's seen from the offensive line in opening holes, the Blair coach also said that junior bruiser Blaise Baughman serves as a good counter to the shiftiness of Templar, providing the team with two solid options in the backfield.
Another pleasant sight for the Bears was the comfort Sorensen showed in distributing the ball to his receivers, as he had the opportunity to air it out a few times in the first half. Hitting sophomore Andrew Smutny for a 62-yard touchdown and Bo Meier, a six-foot-five junior, on a short out route for a red-zone score, Soukup liked what he saw from the new Blair field general.
In fact, Sorensen didn't have a single pass hit the turf, as he put together a perfect completion percentage to the tune of 119 yards to go along with his two touchdowns.
“He was composed and made the right throws,” Soukup said. “He's always been very composed and does a good job handling the huddle. He's a pretty good leader for us out there.”
Other than one turnover in the first half, Soukup said he liked what he saw and that the game served as a great confidence boost to start the season. Learning a lot about his team in week one, he hopes those lessons foster improvement before this week's matchup against Lincoln Pius X.
With starters sitting out in the second half, several depth pieces were also able to gain valuable experience in the first game of a long high school football season.
“You can only do so much in practice, and our numbers are a little low this year, so it's nice to see those guys get some reps,” Soukup said. “It was a good taste for those guys to see what Friday night lights is all about. It's only going to help us get better moving forward.”
BLAIR 56, LINCOLN STANDING BEAR 12
LSB (0-1) 0 0 6 6 — 12
BHS (1-0) 21 35 0 0 — 56
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
B: Brock Templar 6-yard run, Blaise Baughman PAT
B: Templar 49-yard run, Baughman PAT
B: Andrew Smutny 62-yard pass from Cooper Sorensen, Baughman PAT
Second Quarter
B: Bo Meier 12-yard pass from Sorensen, Baughman PAT
B: Templar 96-yard run, Baughman PAT
B: Baughman 3-yard run, Baughman PAT
B: Smutny 2-yard run, Baughman PAT
B: Carson Faue 21-yard run, Baughman PAT
Third Quarter
SB: Cooper Schultz 35-yard pass from Hayden Holdren, failed two-point conversion
Fourth Quarter
SB: Crew Henry 18-yard pass from Holdren, failed two-point conversion
