Platteview Trojan Ezra Stewart returned Friday's opening kickoff from one end of his home field to the other.
“We were right there and missed the tackle,” Fort Calhoun football coach Adolph Shepardson said. “You kick it down to the 5 (yard line) and you've got to go down and cover, and we've been pretty good on that with our No. 1s all year.”
In the Pioneers' situation, though, things don't always work out the way they're supposed to.
“We're real young this year and we're taking some lumps,” he said.
Friday was one of those lumps. The Trojans scored the first time they touched the ball and won 48-13. They improved to 4-1 with the victory, while Shepardson's squad fell to 2-3.
FCHS did lead once at Platteview, though, thanks to a Mason Bliss extra-point kick. After the home squad took a 6-0 lead, the Pioneers put together a 3-minute drive covering 74 yards to go ahead by one.
Calhoun freshman Blake Welchert first ripped off a 15-yard run, AJ Duros hauled in a 33-yard pass and Welchert carried the ball again down to the Trojans' 12-yard-line.
Finally, on a fourth-and-3 from the 5, wideout Grayson Bouwman found himself throwing to quarterback Austin Welchert on a trick play. The wide-open Pioneers QB caught the ball and crossed the goal line untouched from 5 yards out.
Austin Welchert later returned the favor on a 27-yard scoring pass to Bouwman, but Platteview had scored 21 points in-between. Two passes and 73-yard run by the Trojan quarterback, Jared Kuhl, produced a 28-13 halftime advantage.
“Eighty-percent of the first half, we played really good football,” Shepardson said. “We just gave up the big plays.”
Still, Fort Calhoun opened the third with the ball and a chance to cut Platteview's lead to single score.
“In the second half, if we can come out and score, it's 28-20 and it's a different game,” the Pioneers' coach said. “But we threw the pick there.”
The home team turned the turnover into a 35-13 lead before Dezmond Straatmann's 47-yard run made it 42-13 with 5:25 left in the third quarter.
“Against the good teams this year, we've really struggled to be consistent on defense,” Shepardson said, noting the Pioneeers' three losses. Each time, the opposition scored more than 40 points.
Platteview got to 48 with 10:36 left in the game.
In FCHS' situation, though, the young roster needs to keep building.
“We've just got to keep working,” Shepardson said. “Our time's coming.”
Fort Calhoun next hosts Ashland-Greenwood on Friday at 7 p.m.
