LPI Game Recap: Bremen vs Lemont
Here is my game recap of Bremen vs Lemont including who stood out in this game.
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Bremen
Going into this game I said the Braves, offensively, had to limit their mistakes and give QB Bobby Lexow time to throw. While Bremen limited their mistakes in the turnover category not coughing the ball up once this game, they did have 7 penalties for 65 yards. More importantly, the Braves did not give Lexow any time to throw this game whatsoever as he was constantly flushed out of the pocket and forced to make throws on the run. He ended the day 8/16 for 35 yards with no interceptions. Yes, he completed half of his passes, but they were mostly short passes for minimal gains with a lot of negative receptions mixed in between. With all the pressure he dealt with this game Lexow and the Bremen passing game never really had a chance. I was really impressed with Lexow’s leadership and toughness this game. He was constantly pressured and took a lot of hard hits this game, but got up every time he was put on his back. That toughness shows a great leader that will not quit on his team no matter what. The ground game was not much better as the Lemont defense was constantly in the Bremen backfield blowing up run plays before they could gain traction. Lexow ran the ball 10 times and came away with -15 rush yards. Junior Roc Smith handled the ground game with 14 carriers for 22 yards against this tough Lemont front. Smith didn’t have much of a chance either as the Bremen O-line simply could not contain Lemont’s front 7 this game. Smith’s longest run of the game was only 8 yards. Smith also added 2 catches for -2 yards. Also catching passes in this game for the Braves were Tommy Mckean, Jovari Brown and Chris Ramos. Nobody jumped out at me performance wise on the Bremen defense as Lemont seemingly had its way with the Braves D. Frank Studnicka seemingly never came off the field playing WR, DB, KR, PR; he was the do it all guy for this team. Kanye Cheffin also scooped up a fumble near the Lemont goal line and ran it in for the Braves only score. This team is 2-2 and are already better than last year’s 1 win team. I’d love to see them forget about his game, get back at it next week and grind out those 5 wins to get into the playoffs this year.
Lemont
The good: This Lemont team cruised to an easy victory over Bremen and are now 4-0. The bad: They had 12 penalties against them for 120 yards and had four fumbles, two of which were lost. If those mistakes continue this team will not make it very far in the playoffs. (NOTE: The refs were a little bit flag happy calling some questionable penalties against the Indians. Questionable calls or not, I’m sure coach Kooi will talk to his team about it and make sure that is shored up before next week’s tilt with conference rival Oak Forest.)
Senior QB Spencer Nagel looked pretty good this game, but was helped out a lot by senior Nick Ostrander and the rest of his O-line giving him time to set his feet and throw. Nagel threw for two touchdowns this game while adding a rushing touchdown as well. The one knock on him was that he barely overthrew his receivers on a few would be touchdown passes. They were catchable balls, but not the easiest passes to come down with. Overall, a solid game from him. Senior Jake Kirkman and junior Anthony Martin split carriers with 9 and 10 carries respectively, but with much different results. Kirkman rattled off 9 carriers for 101 yards and a touchdown while Martin pounded the rock for 36 yards on 10 carries. Martin was featured early in the game with moderate success while the Indians fed Kirkman more in the second half with 6 of his 9 carries coming after halftime. I was really impressed with Kirkman’s speed, strength and patience as a ballcarrier this game. Junior Brian Collins also mixed in on the ground for the Indians. In my preview article I talked about Nagel having to look to his big 6’6″ TE and Mizzou commit Logan Christopherson through the air. Christopherson was held to 1 catch on a 2 point conversion this game before leaving the game with injury. The injury came with Nagel threw a risky pass to Christopherson and Christopherson did a great job breaking up the pass and preventing an interception. Thankfully Lemont already had the game in hand and didn’t need to risk putting him back in. Austin Nagel, younger brother of Spencer Nagel, stood out the most to me this game and looked very good at receiver. It seemed like he was beating Bremen CB’s off the line with a very quick first step with regularity. He reeled in two touchdown passes from older brother Spencer this game and nearly came down with a spectacular catch for a third touchdown. Junior WR Matt Slee also looked locked in this game, especially early on, contributing 68 yards of total offense while also returning punts for the Indians. This offense looked solid, but I was more impressed with the defense. It seemed like senior and Air Force commit Jordan Brown, senior Austin Schaffert, senior Frankie Letizia and junior Caleb Young were in or around almost every tackle. Junior Gabe Berta also laid a few big hits on Bremen defenders with one causing the Bremen receiver to drop the pass on 3rd and long. Senior CB Brendan Cunningham had himself a quietly good game locking up receivers all day with only a few throws his way. He contributed a pass breakup that he almost came down with for an interception. Cade Campos, Jack Faron, Brady Janas, and Joe Kelley also made plays for this stingy defense. If this team can clean up the penalties and continue to play very fast and physical on defense, I can see them making a deep run into the playoffs.