Evergreens win home opener

MINONG — In eight-man football, teams can score and score quickly.

The Northwood-Solon Springs Evergreens and Siren Dragons proved that Friday night when they combined to score 50 points in one quarter.

The Evergreens went on to score a total of 10 touchdowns for the night to claim a 67-30 victory.

“Scoring like that in eight-man really starts with your offensive line,” said Brian Trettin, head coach of the Evergreens. “Our offensive line really played an outstanding game tonight. Everybody could see the holes that they opened, and that just gets our self-esteem and our confidence going for our running backs and our quarterback.”

On the shortened field of play — 80 yards by 40 yards — runs of 30 yards often lead to touchdowns, and one minute is more than enough time for a team to move the length of the field. Evergreen quarterback Brett Missinne and running back Brandon Wilcox both took advantage of the smaller field Friday as they scored four touchdowns each running an option offense.

“Big plays will kill you, and that’s basically what happened to us,” said Siren coach William Hoefler.

“In 11-man you have one or two kids that you can usually hide somewhere, but in eight-man you can’t. You’ve got eight against eight, and if the other team is superior in one way or another they’ve got the advantage.”

In the second quarter, the Evergreens put up 28 points on a fumble returned for a touchdown and three scoring drives that lasted less than a minute each.

Northwood-Solon Springs opened the quarter leading 19-0, but Siren quarterback Jared Emery put the Dragons on the board at 9:39 with a 5-yard touchdown run.

The Evergreens then answered with their first speedy scoring drive of the second quarter. Northwood-Solon Springs started at its own 29 and moved deep down the field on its first play when Wilcox took the ball 26 yards to the Siren 25 and tacked on a facemask penalty at the end of the play to put the ball at the 13-yard line. Wilcox scored on the next play and then took a pitch from Missinne to score the two-point conversion. The Evergreens’ entire drive lasted just 24 seconds.

Siren used about two minutes to move the ball near midfield on its next drive, but at the 38-yard line Jacob Dahlberg knocked the ball loose on a tackle and Wilcox was quick to scoop it up and return it for another touchdown. Gage Harwick’s extra-point kick gave the Evergreens a 34-6 lead with about seven minutes left in the first half.

The Dragons responded with a sustained drive that took them from their own 26-yard line to the Evergreen 2-yard line in about four minutes. Big runs by John D’Jock and Caleb Mulroy highlighted the drive, and Emery again scored for the Dragons when he took the ball in the final 2 yards. Emery also ran in the two-point conversion to cut Northwood-Solon Springs’ lead to 34-14.

In the less than three minutes remaining in the second quarter, the Evergreens managed to score twice more, and Dragons added another touchdown of their own.

Northwood-Solon Springs needed just three plays for Missinne to score on an eight-yard run, and the Dragons answered less than a minute later on a pass from Emery to Triston Alden.

The Evergreens took over possession with 52 seconds left but needed just 15 seconds to score again.

Northwood’s Brady Vig ran the ball back to midfield on the kickoff, and Missinne moved into Dragon territory on the first play. Wilcox then broke away for his third touchdown of the quarter on a 32-yard run that put the Evergreens up 47-22 at halftime.

Northwood-Solon Springs added 20 more points in the third quarter with Wilcox scoring 12 seconds into play and Mason Barth and Austin Meyer each adding rushing touchdowns later in the quarter.

The Dragons scored again in the fourth quarter on Reuben Mixsooke’s 2-yard run and subsequent two-point conversion run.

For the game, the Evergreens had 374 yards of total offense, while Siren had 345.

Missinne led Northwood-Solon Springs with 166 yards rushing, followed by Wilcox with 136 yards.

Evergreens 19 28 20 0 — 67

Dragons 0 22 0 8 — 30

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