The field flipped early and Fort Calhoun took advantage with sustained possession and drives on its way to a 42-6 victory over Omaha Roncalli in the first home football game of the season.
An interception and the subsequent 31-yard return by Max Halford set the tone for the rest of the first half early. Although the Pioneers turned over on downs at the Crimson Pride's goal line, Roncalli was forced to punt from it's own 1-yard line and the Pioneers followed with a 33-yard passing touchdown.
The rest of the half saw more of where that came from with Fort Calhoun cruising to a 21-6 lead before heading to the locker room.
“When we're not having to start backed up and we're starting drives at midfield, we can open up our playbook a little bit,” said Zach Byrd, Pioneers head coach. “It gives our guys a lot more confidence to go out and be aggressive, and our defense helped us getting an early turnover and keeping them from flipping it back.”
Matching the first half output offensively and pitching a shutout defensively in the second half, several contributors paced the team to the 36-point win. Halford had the interception, Blake Welchert racked up 10 tackles, and Dylan Keyser and Andrew Namuth combined for seven tackles for a loss of yardage.
Kaiden Rodriguez was Calhoun's star on the ground, chugging along to the tune of 122 yards and three touchdowns, while averaging more than 6 yards-per-carry. Welchert and TJ Demilt added on 68 and 37 rushing yards, respectively.
Junior quarterback Adam Elofson aired it out for two touchdowns with Kade Foy on the receiving end of one and Welchert hauling in the other.
As far as the running back committee goes, Byrd sees two things coming together on the field: the continual improvement of the offensive line and the willingness of the backs to help each other out.
“Some guys might see it as a competition, but they see it as, 'We can make each other better,'” he said. “They're constantly talking to each other about, 'Hey, we saw this,' or ' I saw that,' and giving each other feedback. They all want each other to be successful.”
Defensively, Byrd said conversations throughout the week revolved around being the more physical team and getting as many people to the ball as possible, and doing it quickly.
“They played tremendous team football,” he said of his defense.
Improvement from week one to week two is quite often more palpable than other weeks in the season. Coming off a 13-0 win over Arlington, Byrd saw a team that understands attention to detail Monday through Thursday with it paying off on Friday.
With a matchup against 3-0 Boys Town on the horizon, those week-to-week gains will need to continue. Byrd is optimistic that will be the case.
“I saw our guys growing in the game,” he said. “As (Roncalli) made adjustments, our guys worked together to make adjustments and pick up what we were trying to tell them. I was really glad to see that growth that they had in the game and also in the week in practice.”
FORT CALHOUN 42, OMAHA RONCALLI 6
FCHS (2-0) 7 14 14 7 — 42
RCHS (1-1) 0 6 0 0 — 6
Scoring Summary
First quarter
FC: Kade Foy 33-yard pass from Adam Elofson, Kaiden Rodriguez PAT
Second Quarter
FC: Blake Welchert 16-yard pass from Elfofson, Rodriguez PAT
FC: Rodriguez 19-yard run, Rodriguez PAT
RC: Maxwell Thompson 5-yard pass from Brady McGill, failed PAT
Third Quarter
FC: TJ Demilt 1-yard run, Rodriguez PAT
FC: Rodriguez 1-yard run, Rodriguez PAT
Fourth Quarter
FC: Rodriguez 2-yard run, Rodriguez PAT
