The Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn/Remsen-Union 11-man football team had never beaten Gehlen Catholic and had only once before won their district opener. They did both things on Friday night defeating Gehlen Catholic 34-27 and starting district play 1-0.
After last week’s disappointing season-opening loss to Cherokee, the Royals were eager to get back on the field to right the wrong. The Royals and Jays got going in a shootout in the first half and went into the locker room tied at 21. MMCRU head coach Kyle Oswald says his team just needed to make some minor tweaks to get things working again in the second half.
The majority of the tweaking had to come from stepping things up at a few positions and getting the most out of their athletes. Coach Oswald says that happened in the second half which is a true testament to the kids he has on the team.
The offense for MMCRU produced over 300 yards on the night led by Jonah Petersen who threw for 173 yards and two scores while running for another two scores. He was not the only one succeeding though as Brayson Mulder rushed for nearly 100 yards, and a pair of receivers (Jace Colling and Kyler Bork) eclipsed 60 yards receiving each. Coach Oswald made sure to highlight that it was a team win on both sides of the ball.
Coach Oswald is a history teacher which means he knows history has a tendency to repeat itself. The Royals head to Peterson Field in Hartley this week to take on a Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn team that they have never beaten in eight tries since 2016. To make sure history does not repeat itself, Coach Oswald says he needs his senior leaders to step up, and he knows they will.
MMCRU now sits at 1-1 overall and 1-0 in district play heading into week three. Gehlen Catholic fell to 0-2 and 0-1 in the district with the loss.
