Indians 9th Grade Football Finds Success In Cedar Rapids
by Travis Miller
The Oskaloosa Freshman football team took the bus to Cedar Rapids once again on Friday night to play Cedar Rapids Xavier and came away with a 20-7 victory. This moved the freshman record to 8-1 on the season.
The O-line played a great game as the offense had 25 carries for 210 yards and 3 touchdowns running the ball and another 70 yards through the air on the night. The group of Hayden Palmer, Bryson Ayala, Trey Parks, Maddux Maxwell, and Trevin Griffin improved a lot during the season and did a great job at opening holes for the running backs. Leading the running game for the Freshman Indians was AJ Walker with 187 yards and 3 touchdown runs. Other ball carriers were Kaiden Parker with 14 yards, Kayne Boender with 5 yards and Max Roach with 8 yards. Catching the passes for the Indians were Roach with 28 yards and Omar Garcia with 42 yards. Throwing the ball Friday night was done by Kayne Boender who ended up 70 yards of passing.
The Defense continued to step up their game as they held a good Xavier team to just 167 yards on the ground and 30 yards through the air while taking away the ball on 1 fumble recovery and 2 interceptions. Leading the way for the Indians on the tackle chart was Trey Parks(15), Kaiden Parker(8), Cash Hall(7), Max Roach(6), Kayne Boender(6), Elijah Roy(6), Brock Beerbower(6), Parker Jordan(5), AJ Walker(5), Landon Romas(4), Heavon Knox(3), Holden Braundmeier(3). Seth Bishop(2), Omar Garcia(1), and Trevin Griffin(1). The Indians 3 takeaways came from a fumble recovery by Hall and then an interception by Walker with a 17-yard return and finally another interception by Hall with a 46 yard return.
Special teams also played a big part in the victory Friday night as Garcia successfully completed an onside kick, and the kickoff team did a great job at holding field position all night. The Punt return team blocked a punt and gained field position and Morrison was 2 for 3 on PATs for the night.
The Freshman Indians improved tremendously during the year as they finished on a very high note by beating Pella, Washington, and Xavier in their last 3 games. This group played better every game as a team unit, and I look forward to them joining other classes to see what the future holds for the Indian football program.
