Waterloo Bulldogs pounce on the Freeburg Midgets in home opener

It was a very festive atmosphere with the first game of the season being played on the Bulldogs new Athletic Complex with its artificial turf field. What an awesome complex it is, one that the school and community certainly should be extremely proud of, and I am sure they are. When asked about the complex and especially the artificial turf field, Head coach Dan Rose said “It is a great looking field, and even greater to be playing on it, it’s absolutely wonderful.”

Prior to the game I asked Coach Rose how he feels about the team’s chance of making it to the playoffs for the fourth year in a row. “I can’t make any predictions to exactly how things will shape up, we will have to see through the course of the season how things go,” replied Coach Rose. He continued to say, “Freeburg is a tuff team to play for our first game, we will soon find out what will happen.” Coach Rose was being cautious and modest at the same time with his responses, but I got the feeling that he knows exactly how good his team could be this year, and as the good coach he is, you would expect him to know, he just isn’t saying right now. Probably a clever thing to do, like a good poker player, doesn’t tip your hand to early. When asked how he feels his team will fair against Triad & Highland, each favored to win the conference, he said, “I’m not for sure how we will fair against them until we play them.” Coach Rose looks for returning QB Tim Kassebaum to lead the team to a winning season, but he mentioned that there are several other standouts on the team to keep an eye on.

Before the game started there was a presentation directed by high school principle Timothy Kreinberg who welcomed everyone to the game, then he turned it over to District Superintendent James Helton. Mr. Helton with his typical enthusiasm fired up the crowd, filling the air with great jubilation. He introduced the board, and then introduced a few standout people who were instrumental in making this new complex and school a reality. They were presented with a high school letterman’s jacket and a plaque. As I said in a past article these individuals and others responsible for bringing this new school deserve all the awards and accolades they receive. They have done a wonderful thing for the students of Waterloo and they will see the fruits of their labor flourish for many years to come.

The atmosphere prior to the game was electrifying, but something seemed to be missing, that is until the first quarter came to a close. The air began to get cooler, the breeze picked up slightly, and a drizzle of rain began to fall, awe yes, it’s finally football season.

First half highlights

The defense for both teams seemed to dominate the first half; however, the Bulldogs would break through with some big plays. The first came with Kassebaum completing a pass to #81 Gabe Hopkins going 64 yards before getting tripped up at the 2 yard line. Fullback Zach Laidley then caught a pass 5 yards deep in the end zone for the touchdown.

With the defense still playing tuff the Midgets used a hurried up offense to try and get things started. As soon as Freeburg would show some glimmer of hope, the Bulldogs would shut them down. One such play came with a long pass down field that looked like a sure reception and touchdown for Freeburg, only to be intercepted by #18 Brian Schaab at the five yard line.

With 3:47 left in the second quarter #34 Tyler Fickas breaks way for a 74 yard run, being brought down just 2 yards sigh of the end zone. Fickas had over 180 total yards rushing for the night with #44 Zach Laidley scoring 18 points in the game with three touchdowns.

The halftime score was 14-0 in favor of the Bulldogs. They dominated the second half much like they did the first half with good defense and an explosive offense. The final score was 26-0.

Next week the Bulldogs take on another non-conference team the Columbia Eagles who won their home opener against Sparta 28-15. Even though Waterloo is in a different conference I look for this game to be a little tougher, for Columbia is coming off a 12-1 season just a year ago losing in the semi-finals. So this should be an interesting game and probably give a good barometer of how both teams will fair in their prospective conferences, regardless of the win or loss.