Cardinal FB lost tough matchup with Liberty Christian

Waitsburg suffered a defeat against Liberty Christian on Friday, September 18; 52-0.

"This was a very tough match against a team that finished 2nd in the state last year. Liberty Christian is a big school playing 8-man football. If the count were done right now, they would be a 2B school. They have 17 seniors and 50 players on the team. It is hard to compete with that. Nonetheless, our boys showed up and didn't quit. They fought for every inch and every down," said coach Gabe Kiefel.

Offensively, the Cardinals struggled to keep LC out of their backfield. In the second half, Liam Kiefel stepped in as quarterback, and JJ Gleason moved to slotback, a hybrid position for a player who lines up in the "slot"-the area between the offensive tackle and the wide receiver -behind the line of scrimmage. Jake Lynch moved from halfback to right tackle. Although this change did not put any points on the board, the Cardinals moved the ball a little better.

Kiefel completed seven of thirteen passes for 82 yards, including a big pass late in the game to Gleason that looked like a touchdown until he was caught on the goal line. Gleason led the team in receiving yards, catching the ball three times for 55 yards. Uriah York was close behind with four catches totaling 42 yards. 

Defensively, Waitsburg fought the whole game. The team missed Alex Zuniga due to injury, and it showed. Landen Henry made three solo tackles and six assisted tackles, two of which were sacks in the backfield.

"We're still working on getting low on the tackles. We're on the lighter and quicker side, and players have been able to find success tackling unconventionally. Now, we really need to get the pad level," said Kiefel.

Kiefel said missing a game last week, when Yakama Tribal forfeited, hurt his team's urgency to execute.

Waitsburg is traveling to Touchet to play a daytime game on Friday, September 25, at 3 p.m. This will be Touchet's return to varsity after playing a JV schedule last year. Like Waitsburg, the Touchet team is young, and the game should be a good match-up.

Middle School football against Dayton

Karen Huwe

Roman Pellerin, #2, and Hudson Lynch (black helmet) team up to make the tackle against Dayton.

In Waitsburg Middle School’s football home game against Dayton on Thursday, September 17, the Cardinals lost 50-44 in a heartbreaking defeat.

The young Cardinals trailed 30-16 at halftime against a much bigger Dayton team but rallied to tie it 36–36 at the end of the third quarter.

“I was really proud of how the boys stepped up and battled through adversity. We had some important players dealing with injuries, but everyone continued to compete, stayed together, and fought hard until the end,” said coach Chris Andrews.

The middle school team hosts DeSales on the Waitsburg field on Thursday, September 24. Kickoff will be at 4:30 p.m.