On a foggy, misty night for football, the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton Knights hosted the Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg Fighting Saints Wednesday night. It was Senior Night at RTR, and the Seniors were honored before the game. They have led the Knights to a 5-2 record this season, and they were looking to gain a Home Game for the upcoming playoffs. On the other hand, KMS has a fairly young squad this season, and have managed only one win. They hoped to pull off a huge upset against the more experienced Knights. But it wasn’t to be, as the Knights dominated the game on their way to a 42-0 victory.

“We have changed the culture here this year, and the seniors have really provided the leadership that has turned things around for us,” RTR senior Tyler Wichmann said. “Our line really played well tonight, and the defense was there all night.  We knew that their quarterback was quick and we protected the outside well.  It is something we worked on all week, and it paid off tonight.”

RTR took the opening kickoff and after a couple of short runs, Colten Thomsen picked up 10 yards and a first down. Tyson Burns and Thomsen had consecutive eight-yard runs, followed up by a 12-yard reception by Brayden Chandler. Thomsen picked up 10 more yards on two carries, and after an incompletion, Gavin Schreurs found Chandler in the middle of the field, and he took it 15 yards for the touchdown. Schreurs ran in the 2-point conversion, and RTR was up 8-0.

Burns started the next drive with back-to-back six-yard runs, followed by a seven-yard run by Thomsen for a first down. On the next play, Schreurs found Chandler again, and he streaked down the right side for a 41-yard touchdown. After Tucker Schrunk caught the 2-point conversion, RTR led 16-0.

After a couple of short gains, Tyson Burns broke through the line and picked up 40 yards to midfield. Tyler Wichmann gained 12 yards on two carries, and Chandler caught a 15-yard pass to put RTR in the Red Zone. Braden Nibbe hauled in an eight-yard reception, and then Schreurs threw his third touchdown pass to make the score 22-0 after the conversion failed.

KMS returned the second half kickoff to the 25-yard line, but on the first play, Tyler Dagel sacked KMS quarterback Hunter Engelke for a 14-yard loss. KMS was forced to punt, and RTR took over at their own 45-yard line.

Burns ran for seven yards, and Tyler Wichmann gave RTR a first down with a five-yard run. Schreurs then found Nibbe open, and he ran 20 yards, down to the 23-yard line. Chandler then caught another 10-yard pass, and Wichmann finished off the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run. Nibbe completed the 2-point conversion, making it 30-0.

The kickoff went out of bounds, and KMS had good field position at the 35-yard line. But they couldn’t take advantage of that, and they had to punt. Wichmann picked up another first down, and then Micah Johnson found an opening and ran 50 yards, down to the 25-yard line.

Wichmann opened up the final quarter with two runs for ten yards, then Chandler scored again on a 15-yard reception to make the score 36-0 after the missed extra point.

Cole Froehlich had a nice kickoff return to the 34-yard line, and after an incomplete pass, a pass interference call on RTR put the ball on the 43-yard line of RTR. But the defense stiffened and forced a turnover on downs at the 48-yard line. Johnson took the ball for a 12-yard gain, and he followed it up with a 40-yard touchdown run. That made the score 42-0, and after the kickoff, Ace Fronseca sealed the win with an interception.

KMS Head Coach Jason Fernholz was happy with the play of some of younger players, saying, “Out of our 42 players, 18 are freshmen. We played quite a few of them tonight, and we are looking for guys who give us effort. We are trying to get our players to have two feet in the boat, so to speak. We had some really good play from Eero Nelson, a ninth-grader. Another freshman, Kalan VanHeuveln, came in at middle linebacker and played really well. If we can fix the little things, like arm-tackling, we can be better. We are improving, although the scoreboard doesn’t reflect that. But if we can stick together and keep improving, the future looks pretty good.”

RTR Assistant Coach Carter Hansen was quite pleased with the defensive effort. “Our defense does a very nice job of defending the goal line, and the goal line stop tonight was huge. But with the playoffs coming up, we have to get even better. We have to worry about our own things before we can worry about the other team. But putting up a shutout tonight was great, and we will be back at practice to correct some of the mistakes we made. We took care of business tonight, and we look forward to having a home post-season game for the first time in a while.”

RTR will now await the seedings to see who they will play in the first round of the playoffs, starting on Tuesday.