Home Sweet Dome for Knights

    Fremont-Mills football coach Jeremy Christiansen was careful not to use the word “revenge” in describing his team's 69-26 thrashing of the team that eliminated his Knights in last year's state semifinals.

    “We didn't feel like we gave them our best effort last year,” the coach said after the game, referring to his team's 45-34 loss to Armstrong-Ringsted in last year's semifinal. “Which I think is a pretty fair statement. I think we gave them our best effort today.”
    Call it what you want, but Christiansen's Knights played with a definite chip on their collective shoulders as they dominated top-ranked and two-time defending state champion Armstrong-Ringsted in front of a reporter estimated crowd of 3,500 at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.
    The Knights will face Murray (11-1) in next Friday's Eight-Man state championship. Kick off is set for 10:35 a.m.
    The Knights (12-0) wasted little time jumping on the Mustangs in this year's semifinal. Nate Meier scored the game's first touchdown just 51 seconds into the game on the second play from scrimmage. The 46-yard scamper saw the 235-pounder break several tackles and drag two defenders into the end zone for the game's first score.
    The run would serve as a sign of more to come for both teams.
    After a Mustang three-and-out, Meier carried five straight times, scoring from 39 yards out to make it 14-0 before Armstrong-Ringsted had even gained a first down.
    The Mustangs got on the board on the ensuing drive when quarterback Tyler Feddersen found Evan Hagebock on a 52-yard dart to trim the score to 14-7 with 5:12 to go in the opening frame.
    The Mustangs appeared to hold on their ensuing possession, forcing the Knights' punting unit onto the field facing a fourth-and-three from its own 23-yard line but Christiansen went to his bag of tricks and faked the punt. Punter Clayton Wilson took the snap and raced 38 yards down the Knights' sideline before being wrestled down at the Mustang 19. Five plays later quarterback A.J. Scarborough scored on a one-yard plunge.
    The Mustangs went three-and-out on their next two possessions, and the Knights took advantage of both chances with a touchdown each by Meier and another by Scarborough to run their lead to 38-7 with just under seven minutes to go in the half.
    Armstrong-Ringsted kept fighting however, going to the air to combat the Knights' stifling run defense. Feddersen connected with Hagebock for another bomb, this time from 63 yards out. Following a Knight punt, Feddersen then hooked up with Dakota Oderman for a 15-yard TD pass on fourth down to trim the lead to 38-20 with 57 seconds left in the half.
    But that would be as close as the Mustangs would get. Not content to go into halftime nursing an 18-point lead, Scarborough found Josh Larsen deep down the field and connected with the senior on a 51-yard dart to put Fremont-Mills ahead 46-20 going into intermission.
    Meier came up big again for the Knights to open the second half. His tackle for loss of Feddersen on a fourth-and-two run from the Mustangs' own 35, led to his own 33-yard touchdown run on the very next play.
    The Mustangs went for it again on  fourth-and-short from their own side of the field on their next possession, but the Knights held once again. Meier scored from 24 yards out on the very next play to seal the win and complete the senior's big game.
    Meier ran 24 times for 275 yards and scored five touchdowns in a little over two and a half quarters. For the season, the senior has rushed for 2,277 yards and a state-leading 52 TDs.
    “That's what we have to have him do in game,” Christiansen said of Meier. “He builds himself up to be that for us and it worked out well.”
    Scarborough added 80 yards on the ground with two scores and 51 through the air with a TD toss.
    In all, the Knights out-gained the Mustangs, 489 to 327.
    Christiansen said the win was his team's best “all-around game” they've played this season but even he was surprised by the final score.
    “The kids played well, we  had a few lapses in our pass defense but overall we shut their running game down for the most part and we got our running game going early, which allowed us to do a few things. The offensive line played great, everybody did. Nate ran hard. A.J. ran the offense. It was a pretty good night for us.”
    The Knights rushed for 438 yards but more importantly, Christiansen said, his defense held the Mustangs to a season-low 72 yards on 31 attempts. Feddersen, Armstrong-Ringsted's leading rusher with 1,239 yards entering the game, was held to a net of one yard on 16 attempts. Take out the Mustangs' final two carries that gained 45 yards against the Knight reserves and they averaged less than a yard per carry.
    “We came into the game hoping we could make them pass and we did that,” Christiansen said. “We didn't cover very well at times, but it was one of those things where we got tripped up or got picked, things of that nature.”
    With the win the Knights find themselves in new territory: a state championship game and perhaps, the favorites to take  the Eight-Man crown. Christiansen isn't looking too far ahead and hopes his team isn't either.
    “Hopefully we can treat it (the championship) just like this game.”

Scoring Summary
F-M 22 24 16 07 – 69
A-R  07 13 00 06 – 26

Game Summary
    FM - Nate Meier, 46 run (conversion failed).
    FM - Meier, 39 run (two-point conversion good).
    AR - Evan Hagebock, 52 pass from Tyler Feddersen (kick good).
    FM - Scarborough, 1 run (kick good).
    FM - Meier. 23 run (two-point conversion good).
    FM - Scarborough, 11 run (two-points conversion good).
    AR - Hagebock, 64 pass from Feddersen (kick good).
    AR - Dakota Odermann, 15 pass from Feddersen (conversion failed).
    FM - Josh Larsen, 51 pass from Scarborough (two-points conversion good).
    FM - Meier, 33 run (two-points conversion good).
    FM - Meier, 24 run (two-points conversion good).
    FM - Nick Williams, 7 run (kick good).
    AR - Marshall Klingenberg, 21 run (kick failed).