Rangers win first game of the season

By Leslie Silverman

 

The Hill City Rangers High School Football team  is 1-1 on the season after crushing the Goldiggers of Lead-Deadwood by a score of 46-20. The Rangers offense included a 29-yard pass, a 17-yard touchdown pass and several long runs.

“The boys were pretty excited about the win,”said coach Brett Eckert, adding a host of things contributed to the win. “The commitment of our athletes to their offseason workouts, their coachability in implementing our defensive philosophy, their mentality on defense and putting together a full four quarter performance” were all factors in the success of the team.

“We had guys who made plays when called upon.  Our offense was able to get ourselves in positions that were advantageous for us and capitalize,” Eckert said.

Eckert said both the team and coaching staff are “very pleased” with the efforts of the team’s defense as well. 

“Lead Deadwood has size and a very skilled ball carrier in Sam Koomia.  The kid ran hard but we made him work for every yard he got,” Eckert said.

Eckert notes football is not just a physical game.

“I am also super pleased with our dedication to our defense and the team mentality we are playing with on defense. It is becoming less about individuals and more orientated on a  team,” he said. “Guys doing their job knowing they may not get the tackle but by doing their job they make it so their buddy can make the play.”

Eckert acknowledges the team still has need of improvement.

“We need to clean up some little things on defense and need a little better execution on offense at times. We need to keep grinding and getting better,” he said.

The Rangers next travel to  play Sioux Valley, which Eckert said is “a very good football team.”

Eckert looks at the game as a test to see how the Rangers can do against a formidable opponent.

“The kids are feeling good, really starting to understand and like our defense, and playing it fairly well so we want to take that next step and play well defensively against a good football team,” he said.

The Rangers kickoff against Sioux Valley is on Sept. 8 at 6 p.m. in Volga.