Football: Irish win again

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With the Rosemount football team jumping out to a 3-0 record this season, coach Jeff Erdmann is remaining a bit cautious.

Perhaps it’s to avoid overconfidence, maybe its because he knows there is room for improvement.

Regardless, after the Irish went to Bloomington last week and came home with a 34-20 victory, Erdmann mentioned a few aspects of his football team that still need work.

One of those units is special teams.

“After two very solid performances on special teams, we didn’t perform well this past game,” Erdmann said. “Our kickoff coverage wasn’t effective and hurt us in our battle for field position. Our kick return unit struggled with the squib kicks Kennedy went with.”

Of course, a solid offense helped to mask those deficiencies.

Quarterback Chase Vogler went to the air, going 15-of-19 passing for 244 yards and four touchdowns. Zachary Vraa was the recipient of many of those looks, finishing with eight catches for 155 yards and three touchdowns.

Kennedy opened the game with the first touchdown, but the Irish scored four straight touchdowns to head into halftime leading 27-7.

Andrew Malicki had a one-yard touchdown run, and then Vogler connected with Vraa for three scores.

After Kennedy cut the lead to 27-13, Vogler hit Joseph Broback on 45-yard touchdown.

"Our offensive line did a nice job of giving our quarterback time to throw, which resulted in a big night for Chase,” Erdmann said. “We were able to run the ball effectively at times, but found some mistakes in responsibilities that we will get corrected this week.”

On defense, Rosemount held Kennedy to fewer than 93 yards rushing. Kennedy’s top runner, who entered the game averaging 10 yards per carry, averaged only four against the Irish.

Junior linebacker Max Busher likely played a big part in that. He became the first player in Erdmann’s 19 years to record 20 tackles. He also had a fumble recovery and interception.

One of the goals for the Irish was to hold Kennedy to two touchdowns or fewer, but the Eagles scored with eight seconds left in the game.

“We look forward to improving these units in practice this week, so we can make those units valuable components to future success.”

Rosemount returns home this week for a Lake Conference matchup against Chaska. The Hawks are 1-2 this season.

Tags: sports, football, rosemount, bloomington