East Grand Forks Senior High is the last of the four Greater Grand Forks high school football teams to play a game. The Green Wave have an opportunity to be the first of the four to score a point this season.
The Green Wave open their season at 8 p.m. today at Crookston. Grand Forks Central, Red River and Polk County West all opened last Friday; each was not only defeated, but shut out.
Bismarck Legacy beat Red River 26-0, Mandan topped Central 40-0 and Ada-Borup/NCW beat Polk County West 43-0.
"I looked at that and thought, 'That's not good,' '' said PCW coach Darrin Byklum, whose team is off this week.
The Green Wave will try to get an offense going that was shut out three times in the 2016 season. Senior High was 2-7 last season, averaging 10.3 points a game.
ADVERTISEMENT
"A lot of that (offensive struggle) was because of our youth, our inexperience,'' EGF coach Ryan Kasowski said. "We lost a lot of close, low-scoring games. We've got to put the ball in the end zone when we get into the red zone. There were a lot of times we didn't do that last year.''
Kasowski is looking for an improved offense because of both depth and experience. Kasowski sees big-play potential in speedy running backs Ethan Trebil, Jackson Galstad and Maguire Stanislawski. Carter Beck also is back in his second season as starting quarterback.
"We think we're more explosive,'' Kasowski said. "We think we have the speed to get to the edge. We were a run-right-at-you team last year.''
Senior High beat Crookston 14-6 last season. Controlling Cade Salentine is the big chore for the Wave. "He's a very good running back, a fast, explosive kid,'' Kasowski said.
In 7 p.m. games Friday, Dickinson is at Grand Forks Central while Red River travels to two-time defending Class AAA state champion Bismarck Century.
Dickinson (0-1)
at GF Central (0-1)
Both teams are looking for offense. Central had less than 100 yards in total offense in its opener. The Midgets had less than 150 yards in a 23-9 loss to Fargo North.
"We have to be more assignment sharp up front,'' GFC coach Bill Lorenz said. "We knew the line would be a work in progress. We're starting four kids who are first-year varsity starters on the line. We weren't sharp in our run or pass blocking assignments. And it's not just on the players; it's on the coaching staff.''
ADVERTISEMENT
Lorenz said Dickinson returns a veteran offensive line, but graduated almost all of its skill-position regulars.
Red River (0-1)
at Century (0-1)
The Roughriders had 101 yards in total offense against Legacy and were stalled by several things-penalties, an interception, a bad snap, drops.
"We can't afford to make a lot of mistakes,'' Red River coach Vyrn Muir said.
"I think we can generate big plays. But I don't know if we have a kid who can score from 60 yards out. We have to be able to grind out chunks of yardage consistently.''
The Patriots, coming off a 16-14 loss to West Fargo Sheyenne, have a veteran quarterback in Jakob Olson and a senior-dominated lineup.
