The Pine River-Backus Tigers made the four-hour trip to Greenbush on Friday, Sept. 5, to play the Badger-Greenbush Middle River, and came away with a 27-8 non-conference win over the Gators to even their record at 1-1 overall.
Henry Krecklau finished with three touchdowns, two rushing and one receiving, to lead the Tigers while quarterback Zach Struss passed for 211 yards and two touchdowns in the win.
"We didn't have much trouble moving the ball, and our offense scored most times we had the ball," said PR-B coach Tom Demars. "Our defense was on the field a lot, but we didn't end up giving them any points till the fourth quarter."
Krecklau opened the scoring for the Tigers with a 35-yard touchdown run and the two-point conversion to give the Tigers the early 8-0 lead.
The only scoring of the second quarter was a Struss to Zach Semmler 5-yard scoring pass to give the Tigers a 14-0 lead at the half.
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Krecklau finished the Tigers scoring in the third quarter with a 36-yard pass from Struss and a 23-yard run to give Tigers a 27-0 lead.
The Gators had a touchdown and two-point conversion to break the shutout in the fourth quarter.
"They covered our wideouts very well, so our slot guys and running backs had most the catches," Demars said. "It was a very physical game they have some big guys and good runners."
Demars is pleased that his team has committed just one turnover in its first two games, and that many junior varsity players have "come in to play some good minutes."
The Tigers are scheduled to host Pillager on Friday Sept. 12, in a matchup of two rivals with 1-1 records.
"We have our work cut out for us as Pillager is a very good team and has a lot of guys that play," Demars said.
Pine River-Backus 8 6 13 0 - 27
Badger/Greenbush-MR 0 0 0 8 - 8
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First quarter
PRB-Henry Krecklau 35 run (Krecklau run)
Second quarter
PRB-Zach Semmler 5 pass from Zach Struss (kick failed)
Third quarter
PRB-Kreklau 36 pass from Struss (Nick Gravdahl kick)
PRB-Kreklau 23 run (kick failed)
Fourth quarter
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B-GB-MR - Aaron Dostal 11 pass from Darius Watson (run good)
Team statistics
Rushes-yards: PRB 136, BGMR 252
Pass comp-att-int-yds: PRB 9-14- 211, BGMR 4-11-34
Total offense: PRB 347, BGMR 286
PR-B individual leaders:
Rushing: PRB-Kreklau 11-76, Tim Bardeaux 3-23, Don Owen 2-11, Nick Gravdahl 6-14
Passing: PRB-Struss 9-14-211
Receiving: PRB-Semmler 4-93, Kreklau 2-76, Gravdahl 2-22, Hank Raff 1-21
