The Garden Plain Owls entered district play this last week. Entering district the Owls were 2 – 1, after the home opener loss against Cheney. Even though the Owls took a rough loss they still look to learn from this game and get better.
They took on Belle Plaine in round one of district play. The Owls won this game 46 – 7. This was a great win for the Owls as they started off 1 – 0 in district. The importance of district to the Owls is huge. It sets up playoff seeding. Garden Plain has had great success in district the last few years. They have won district and earned a #1 seed in the playoffs the last two seasons. Garden Plain takes district very seriously, as Coach Rice states “District games mean everything to the team, we always set goals for the team and winning district is always one.”
Garden Plains’ game against Haven was a huge game for the team. Haven led the game going into halftime 7 – 0, but Garden Plain got the ball to start the second half and scored quickly. Haven would end up scoring early in the 4th quarter to retake the lead 14 – 7. The Owls would soon score again and they went for the two point conversion to take the lead. The Owls led 15 – 14 late in the 4th quarter. The game would stay that way as the Owls would finish on top for the district win. Sophomore Braylen Dold and Senior Emrick Hays shined offensively for the Owls, both totaling well over 100 yards and both running in for a touchdown.
The Owls have found their strengths and plan on utilizing them, but they have also pointed out their weaknesses and plan on working on those. I spoke with sophomore squad leader Brock Randolph about how they could improve, he said, “Offensively we need to take care of the ball and execute our assignments and defensively we hope to win the turnover battle every game.” When asked about what the team has been doing well that will help them compete in district, Coach Rice said “I think that our team has shown great physicality and also practiced well.”
Garden Plain looks to their team leaders often. As coaches often emphasize the importance of being a player led team. Coming into this important stretch of district games the team needs to have good leadership. When asked about what leaders need to do to help prepare the football team, Coach Rice responded, “They need to help keep the team focused on the weekly task. Each week presents a brand new challenge and we need our athletes to block out outside noise and focus on that challenge.”
The Owls took on Kingman this past week. Kingman was coming off of a good win against Douglass, but the Owls shut out the Eagles 37-0. This week the Owls will take on Douglass in a Fall Homecoming battle. When asked about how the team needs to practice, Brock Randolph said, “Every practice is super important, we want to be at our best when playoffs start, and the only way to do that is to take every practice seriously and get better every day.” The Owls hope to finish district 4 – 0.
