By Rich Wnter
You get the feeling the Gregory Gorillas were expecting better than a 36-26 win over visiting No. 2 Bon Homme.
Following the game, coach Brian Allmendinger told the Mitchell Daily Republic that Bon Homme is a good football team.
"They made plays, too," Gregory coach Brian Allmendinger said. "We do the same thing. We run slants all day and we just have to get better."
This was one of those contests that lived up to the hype. Bon Homme, on the road came out and moved the ball right down the field and scored when Colin Adams hauled in an 11-yard pass from Bryce Scieszinski.
Gregory answered with a 67-yard bomb to Jayd VanDerWerff.
But Bon Homme was not intimidated and scored another TD on a pass to Adams from Scieszinski and led it 14-6.
And that's where Gregory floored the accellerator.
In a span of a few minutes late in the second half, McCance found Jon Bakke for a score. Moments later McCance found JJ Beck (1:10 remaining until half), and then, McCance found Caleb Stukel with a 33-yard strike.
Just a few minutes earlier, Bon Homme was leading and by half they trailed 30-14.
Gregory upped that lead to 36-14 on a VanDerWerff 47-yard run as the only score in the third.
And so, trailing 36-14, Bon Homme scored twice in the fourth quarter to close the margin to the 36-26 final score.
While the mood of the Gorillas seemed not satisfied after the win, you have to love the attitude of VanDerWerff who told the Mitchell paper what Gregory intends to do about any percieved deficiencies.
"We have so much work to do," VanDerWerff said. "We played a pretty bad game on defense. We have to get in there and watch some film, see our mistakes and come out stronger next game."
Love some of the playcalling for Gregory. They went for a couple of fake punts AND they even dialed up an onside kick just before half that turned out to be a big deal.