L-C corrals Denmark in opener
It was a beautiful night for football.
That’s what Austin Tlachac indicated on Friday as the Luxemburg-Casco senior was getting a cramp worked out of his leg following a 15-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.
It accounted for the final score in the Spartans’ 34-14 victory over Denmark in a season-opening game.
L-C totaled 277 yards on the ground and saw juniors Garrit Aissen and Ian Doell connect for a pair of touchdown passes.
But unlike Tlachac’s comment about the unusually cool weather for an August night, L-C’s performance wasn’t all pretty against its North Eastern Conference rival.
The Spartans showed they have a lot of kinks to work out themselves if they want to be a team that’s playing deep into fall when the temperatures really drop.
“We obviously didn’t play a great game of football,” L-C football coach Dillon Maney said. “We played well enough to win. We need better improvement than that, so we’re going to be working on that, both on the offense and the defense. I think the biggest frustration is probably the penalties.”
The Spartans committed 11 penalties for 66 yards, including seven in the first half when they struggled to maintain any momentum in allowing a much-improved Denmark squad make it a one score game at the half.
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L-C ultimately ended up pulling away in the contest because it converted three turnovers by the Vikings into 20 points. All of the takeaways resulted in the Spartans getting the football in Denmark territory, including twice inside the red zone.
“I told them I’m extremely proud of them because the effort was there,” Denmark coach Chris Haese said. “The heart was there. The execution wasn’t. Three turnovers are not going to win you any games, so that’s something that we have to fix. That’s something that we can fix, so I’m encouraged. I’m excited to watch our film and get an understanding of why we couldn’t run the ball like we wanted to run the ball.”
The Vikings were limited to 54 rushing yards on 29 carries and were unable score on a couple of occasions when they moved deep into L-C territory.
Denmark’s touchdowns came on passes of 31 and 57 yards by junior Jack Satori to junior Brady Jens, who finished with five receptions for 110 yards.
“It was a bend-but-don’t-break philosophy,” Maney said. “I thought the kids did well. We tried doing some goal-line stuff with our ‘D’ and it worked. But again, it wasn’t good enough. These kids are going to keep working. We’re not looking for good, we’re looking for great, and we’re going to continue to pursue that until we get there.”
Aissen put together a strong showing in his first varsity start, completing 10-of-19 passes for 132 yards with pair of scores to Doell and, most importantly, no interceptions.
The 6-foot-1 quarterback benefited from having an experienced offensive line in front of him and a diverse rushing attack, which saw junior Nathan Coisman (91 rushing yards), junior Dakota Robinson (89) and Tlachac (90) all rush for nearly 100 yards.
“He’s only going to get better,” Maney said of Aissen.
“I think the biggest thing is his ability to be a leader and control the offensive huddle. He’s got very good demeanor and very good mannerisms. He’s able to keep control and keep his emotions in check. It’s a tough position to play. He got socked a couple times and hit pretty hard, but he was able to hold it all together. That’s the key that sticks out.”
Doell finished with six receptions for 100 yards and made a second-half interception.
Senior Dawson Gmeinder tallied a team-high eight tackles to go only with a forced fumble and L-C’s only sack. Senior Austin Leroy made six tackles, including two for losses.
Senior Grant Vakselis (11) and senior Kendall Vanden Langenberg (10) combined to make 11 tackles to lead Denmark.
“I’m really proud of our kids,” Haese said.
“It’s hard in your first game to be able to gauge where you’re going to be able to handle the ups and downs of a game, the ebb and the flow. We impress that upon our kids. We knew they’re going to try to come out and impress their will upon us being a much bigger team than us.”
L-C’s season-opening win came in front of several alumni on a night the program honored former coach John Werner, who in addition to football, was responsible for helping many of the school’s athletic programs achieve success during the early years following the consolidation of the school districts.
“The toughest part about this game was knowing that there was so many alumni and people here to watch,” said L-C senior lineman Alex Lau, who made five tackles. “I came in with the mindset that we have to win this, not just for them or anybody else, but because we’re brothers.”
Scoring summary
Denmark 0 7 0 7 – 14
Luxemburg-Casco 14 0 13 7 – 34
First quarter
L-C – Nathan Coisman 6 run (Will Derenne kick)
L-C – Ian Doell 31 pass from Garrit Aissen (Derenne kick)
Second quarter
D – Brady Jens 31 pass from Jack Satori (Cruze Holzberger kick)
Third quarter
L-C – Doell 30 pass from Aissen (Derenne kick)
L-C – Nathan Coisman 12 run (Derenne kick)
Fourth quarter
L-C – Austin Tlachac 15 run (Derenne kick)
D – Jens 57 pass from Satori (Brody Sipiorski kick)
Individual statistics
Rushing – D: Kendall Vanden Langenberg 5-10; Brady Krueger 5-4; Jack Satori 5-2; Jerick Czarneski 4-23; Vincent Wertel 4-5; Brandon Wavrunek 3-11; Brady Jens 2- -4; Gabriel Wertel 1-3; L-C: Nathan Coisman 18-91; Austin Tlachac 14-90; Dakota Robinson 8-89; Hunter Larkin 5-9; Garrit Aissen 3- -3; Bryce Scholze 1-1.
Passing – D: Jack Satori 8-15-1-165; Vincent Wertel 1-1-0-36; L-C: Garrit Aissen 10-19-0-132.
Receiving – D: Brady Jens 5-110; Jerick Czarneski 1-2; Benjamin Bosetski 1-26; Samuel Sipiorski 1-27; Wyatt Gezella 1-36; L-C: Ian Doell 6-100; Austin Tlachac 3-22; Nathan Coisman 1-10.