Knights and Knights go to battle again

Both Elmwood-Murdock head football coach Leigh Schmale and Fremont Bergan head coach Ron Beacom know each team is playing different football right now – just over two months after their first meeting.

The Battle of the Knights enters round two tonight in a Class C2 football semifinal game at 6:30 p.m. at Memorial Field in Fremont.

The Elmwood-Murdock Knights defeated the Bergan Knights 7-0 earlier this season.

"I think both teams have improved a lot since then," Schmale said.

"Similar to us I think they have found out what the do very well," Beacom said.

Elmwood-Murdock (11-2) defeated a surprising Laurel-Concord team 20-12 Monday night in their quarterfinal game. Bergan (9-2) is coming off a fine 26-12 win over top-ranked Stanton

"Bergan is playing great football right now. Coach Beacom and his staff do an outstanding job preparing their team," said Schmale, a former Bergan assistant football coach. "Bergan causes you to pull your hair out trying to defend them. They are certainly the most difficult opponent to prepare for."

Schmale said Bergan’s offense is impressive and allows for their playmakers to make plays.

"All the different formations, motions, screens, options, plus an elusive quarterback in Riley Gross in the spread set allows him to make a lot of plays with his quickness," he said. "Bergan also has a strong offensive line that comes off the ball very well."

Schmale also likes Bergan’s defense which held his team to just 165 yards in the first meeting.

"Their defense sometimes gets overlooked." he said. "They’re very physical in the line and have outstanding linebackers.

"We will have to play error free football and try to create turnovers like the first time we played."

Schmale’s squad gave Bergan’s offense fits in their 7-0 win.

Bergan committed four turnovers, turned the ball over on downs three times and punted four times in the game. Bergan was also called for 10 penalties totaling 61 yards, a few of them wiping out decent gains and another giving E-M a first down on 4th-and-1 on the lone scoring drive of the game.

"From our standpoint we gained nearly 300 yards and shot ourselves in the foot a few times and didn’t play your best game," Beacom said. "But on the other hand if I’m coach Schmale I’m saying, ‘I’d like to think we had something to do with those turnovers.’"

Elmwood-Murdock averages over 35 points per game behind an average of 340 yards per game.

Leading the charge is quarterback Jon Luetchens. The senior has 829 yards rushing to go along with 1,170 yards passing. He’s rushed for 15 touchdowns and thrown for 14 more.

"I think they are doing a better job of using him now," Beacom said of Luetchens. "It certainly seems during the playoff run that he’s carried the ball a lot more."

In the last two games Luetchens threw two TDs against Ponca and added one on the ground and also ran for all of his team’s TDs against Laurel-Concord – one a 20 yarder.