GILMAN 43, FREDERIC 0 - Pirates make plays in the first half to establish control over Vikings

GILMAN 43, FREDERIC 0

Both teams had first-half opportunities Friday and the Gilman Pirates made plays with their chances, the Frederic Vikings did not and the result was a 37-0 halftime lead that led to a 43-0 final in favor of the Pirates.

The Pirates scored touchdowns on their first five possessions to put their second notch into the win column while the Vikings fell to 0-2. While the game got away from Frederic quickly in the second quarter, it was just a handful of plays that were responsible for doing so.

The first big play came on Gilman’s opening possession. On third and eight from Gilman’s 39, quarterback Dawson Krizan, just before he got hit, wound up and launched a long ball down the right side that got over a Viking defender and fell into the hands of Trevor Vick for a 43-yard gain that put the ball at Frederic’s 18. On the next play, Tony Syryczuk got through a hole on the left side on a quick-hitting handoff. Krizan’s two-point run made it 8-0 just 3:05 into the game.

The Vikings put together a solid first drive, using the run game to grind their way inside Gilman’s 30. They got 7 yards on first down, but managed just a couple of yards on the next three plays. Max Ustianowski got a key tackle on fourth down, stopping quarterback Brett Bartlett a yard short of the stick at 26.

The Pirates overcame a holding penalty on their next possession with help from a 16yard run by Krizan. A 30-yard pass from Krizan to Sawyer Winger put Gilman in Frederic territory and, three plays later, Krizan avoided heavy pressure up the middle. He escaped to his left, cut back to the right and raced 32 yards for a touchdown that was followed by Chad Konsella’s two-point run for a 16-0 lead with 1:28 left in the opening quarter.

“I thought we made some good conversions,” Gilman head coach Robin Rosemeyer said. “We had a third and eight. The pass play to Trevor Vick was a big play for 43 yards. It was a little bit of a grind in that first series. That play helped us out and I think we scored on the next play with Tony. On the next drive we had to convert a third down in order to keep the drive alive and then we got the big pass to Sawyer. Defensively too. They were kind of driving it on us on that first drive. I think we had them in a second and three and we were able to stop them on three straight plays to not get a first down. That whole combination was nice where we were just kind of able to make plays when we needed to.”

Things snowballed on Frederic after that. An intentional grounding penalty and a short punt set Gilman up on the Vikings’ 24 and Alex Copenhaver rumbled to a touchdown on the first play of the possession to push the lead to 22-0 with 27 seconds still left in the quarter.

Winger alertly grabbed a low line-drive punt just beyond the line of scrimmage to give the Pirates another short field, starting at Frederic’s 27. The Pirates overcame another penalty with Krizan’s 19-yard scramble after fumbling the snap being the key play. He took the ball to the one and scored on the next snap for a 30-0 lead.

Krizan led Gilman with 83 rushing yards on just six carries.

“The scramble touchdown was big to get to the edge, and on the other run he had, he fumbled the snap and was able to stick with the play for as long as he could even though it broke down,” Rosemeyer said. “He was elusive enough to make a good play.”

Frederic then got its last somewhat successful drive going, picking up two first downs before Joey Syryczuk blew up a fourthand-one run by Bartlett, dropping him for a 1-yard loss at the Vikings’ 43. A 9-yard thirddown pass to Konsella, a 16-yard run by Syryczuk and then Konsella’s 14-yard touchdown run put the Pirates up by 37.

Rosemeyer said the Pirates had to adjust their defensive game plan on the fly in practice Thursday after middle linebacker Kolby Keepers, who was on track to return to the lineup after missing week one, was reinjured right at the end of Wedneday’s practice.

“We had to switch our defense one more time because it’s just a little bit different without (Keepers),” Rosemeyer said. “We had to go back to a three-man front without a lot of practice. We put Joey Syryczuk back at a defensive end, which he’s never really played before and had Taydyn Angell at the other end. They had the Thursday practice to get ready for it. It was a little bit of a struggle at first but we got better as the game went on. Same with the linebackers going from a twolinebacker set to a one-linebacker set. Tony Syryczuk did a great job and Alex Copenhaver did a good job when he was in there. Our secondary covered well against their passing game. Sawyer Winger got his first start on defense and did a good job.”

Frederic lost their opener in heartbreaking fashion, giving up a touchdown in the final seconds in a 26-20 loss to Northwood-Solon Springs. The Vikings threw for 148 yards and three passing touchdowns in that game, but Gilman held them to 49 passing yards on just five completions.

“They scored with three touchdown passes in the first game and in the scrimmage against us (Aug. 23) they scored on two long pass plays,” Rosemeyer said. “They really didn’t get much there (Friday). We were played a little more cover-two press where in the scrimmage we were a little bit more manto- man as was the other team in week one. It gave us a good inside/outside combination to defend them.”

Gilman got one more big play in the second half when Konsella fielded a punt at his 46, broke the wrong way to his left at first before cutting back to his right and scoring a 54-yard touchdown behind a wall of blockers.

“Just an opportunity to get him in space,” Rosemeyer said. “Any time he’s running, with his speed, he’s so tough to tackle one-on-one. Those opportunities are definitely to our advantage.”

Gilman finished with 348 yards of total offense, 266 on the ground and 82 through the air. Tony Syryczuk had 52 yards on six carries, Copenhaver had 44 yards on seven carries, Logan Halida had 35 yards on six carries while quarterbacking the last two and a half quarters and Brady McAlpine had 26 yards on six attempts.

“It was kind of a struggle at times to get a good running game going,” Rosemeyer said. “We ended up having some decent yards, but it was a grind.”

Defensively, Winger was involved in eight tackles and Lee Zagorski had six tackles.

This crossover game against a North Central West team will count in the North Central East standings. The Pirates will officially start league play this Friday, hosting winless Cornell for Parents’ Night at 7 p.m.

Sawyer Winger