LESTER PRAIRIE – After a disappointing loss in Week 3, the Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity football team bounced back with a tough win on the road against Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton. The Bulldogs, who are 3-1 at the halfway point of the regular season, will be looking to pick up their fourth win of the season Friday night as they host the winless Medford Tigers. Although the Tigers have yet to win a game this season, the Bulldogs know this isn’t going to be an easy game.
“They’re 0-4, but gosh darn it, they’re good,” LP/HT coach Joe Scoblic said. “They really concern me in a lot of areas. They’re fast. They throw the ball really well. I just don’t know how they are 0-4, other than they’ve played the tougher teams. They’re going to win some games. It just can’t be against us. We cannot have that letdown and think this is going to be an easy game. We got to improve every practice every week.”
The Bulldogs took a big step forward in the right direction with a 27-6 win last week. A big reason for that win was the stellar play of the offensive line. With the offensive line playing well, especially Matthew Fasching, the Bulldogs were able to rush for 183 yards last week.
“They got to keep getting better,” Scoblic said. “We’re a long ways from a state team yet. That doesn’t mean that we will not get there. I think we saw a huge leap last week. It was, by far, Matthew’s best game of the season. He just played really well. Everybody is starting to come together. By the end of the season, they could be pretty salty.”
With the offensive line clicking, that’s made things easier for the two-headed monster in the backfield in Tyler Scheevel and Dylan Ruzicka.
Scheevel, a junior who’s been playing at an impressive level on both sides of the ball this season, features a talent that has the Bulldogs where they are now at this point in the season.
“Scheevel has just been lights out on both sides of the ball,” Scoblic said. “He catches that screen, and he’s unbelievable. He catches it in stride so well.”
Ruzicka, the other half of the monster in the backfield, is coming off his best game of the season last week in which he ran for 85 yards and three touchdowns. He’s a change-of-pace back for the Bulldogs with Scheevel in, and can wear out a team as the game goes on.
“Dylan had a great last drive,” Scoblic said. “He must have got 50 yards on that last drive. He came out of there like a shot. He looked like he was fresh.”
If the Bulldogs can continue solid play for the offensive line, Scheevel and Ruzicka provide a punch that will be tough for opposing defenses to stop.
“They’re thunder and lighting,” Scoblic said. “No doubt about that. Tyler hits them hard on both sides, and Dylan burns by them.”
Along with the excitement of a home game, it will also be homecoming for the Bulldogs Friday night. Although homecoming provides some extra excitement around the game, it also can add some distractions that need to be avoided if the Bulldogs want to come out on top.
“As a kid, I loved homecoming,” Scoblic said. “As a coach, I hate homecoming. And we got two. We’ve moved things we used to do on Friday to Wednesday. We used to do that fun thing with all the kids. It’s a lot of energy used up in a lot of that stuff. We cannot allow that to come into the game. You can have all the fun in the world, but if you lose that football game, it’s not fun.”
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in Lester Prairie between the Bulldogs and the Tigers.