Posen remains positive inspite of close losses, home for the next three games

The situation or circumstances haven?t changed for the Posen football team. They head into another week of action looking for their first win and having to do it against an undefeated team. The Vikings (0-3), following what might be their toughest loss of the early season, host 3-0 Au Gres Friday at 7 p.m. Posen is coming off a 28-22 loss at Pickford, a game in which the team played its best, but wasn?t able to hang on in the fourth quarter for the second straight week. It didn?t seem to deter the young men. There was a positive atmosphere following the loss, as the players were focusing on some of the good things that happened. Coach Glenn Budnick told his squad to hold their heads high, and they did. The combined record of the teams that have handed the Vikings losses this season is 8-1.

?I THINK THEY?LL remain positive,? said Budnick. ?Losing is never easy. Tonight our football team showed up and came together and played their best game of the year. As long as we keep up this intensity, things will happen down the road.? The Viking offense got the running game going, racking up 324 rushing yards. ?They did a great job of running the ball tonight,? said Pickford coach Josh Rader. ?Our linebackers were having a hard time finding the ball. The coach had his guys ready to play tonight.? Led by 6? 1? back Caleb Rader, Pickford?s running game looked dominant at times. In less than a minute and a half, the Panthers drove from their 40 to score the game-winning points in the final quarter. Rader carried the load to the Posen 34, when coach Josh Rader called on another back to finish the drive.

?It looked they were keying on him and shifted their defense to the motion, so what we did was to give the ball to another back and sent him around the other end and we were able to catch them off a little bit,? said coach Rader. Junior Allen Orr sprinted through the hole and hardly was touched as he motored to the end zone, although Budnick believes a penalty should have been called on the play.

POSEN WOULD get one more shot at scoring with 74 yards to go, but the Vikings would have to do it without one of their 100-yard rushers from the game, sophomore Josh Worthington, who suffered three tears in his knee and will be lost for the year. After a long delay, Posen moved the ball on runs by Richie Kroll and Paul Kroll, along with receptions by Matt Szczerowski and Matt Styma. After a 13-yard gainer by Paul Kroll to the Pickford 33, and a little more than a minute burned off the clock, momentum was clearly on Posen?s side. Quarterback Jason Romel needed to stop the clock and intentionally grounded the ball. On second and 10 a pass to Szczerowski went incomplete. Posen could only gain one yard on the next play, setting up a fourth and nine with the clock running, when the ball was intercepted.

?That is a great 0-3 team,? said coach Rader. ?The difference between them being 3-0 and 0-3 is very slim.?

THE VIKES struck first in the first quarter, stringing together first downs and playing P-Town football. The drive ended on a 30-yard touchdown by Jason Romel with 5:19 remaining in the quarter. Pickford got the ball and answered the score in exactly three minutes. It was Rader touching paydirt and scoring the conversion, giving the Panthers the 8-6 lead with 2:19 left. Worthington had an exceptional return and the Vikes were on their way again. Paul Kroll ran for a first down to the Pickford 35 near the end of the first quarter. Jason Romel ran 12 yards to the 16 and Richie Kroll did the rest from nine yards out to give the Vikings a 12-8 lead with 10:42 left in the half. Richie also ran the two-point conversion, which was the first of the season, and the score was 14-8. Just when it seemed that both offenses were going to have their way with the defenses, Posen forced the Panthers to punt, but had to punt it back after the drive stalled at midfield.

THAT GAVE Caleb Rader another opportunity to run the ball and he broke his longest touchdown of the game for 57 yards. The conversion was good and the Panthers were back on top 16-14. An interception by Szczerowski with less than 30 seconds left, which was forced by a hit on the quarterback by Aaron Romel, gave Posen one more chance at scoring in the half. Szczerowski took it to the 20, but the Vikes couldn?t capitalize. Helped by a Posen penalty, Rader scored his third touchdown of the game with 6:39 left in the third and the Pickford lead was 22-14. That?s where Posen showed its resolve.

A long drive by the Vikings with short yardage conversions along the way, and outstanding runs by Worthington, Richie Kroll, and Jason Romel ended at the Pickford 11-yard line when Jason Romel threw an incomplete pass under heavy pressure. The momentum quickly swung the Panthers way when Rader got the Panthers out from the shadow of his goal post with a 54 ayrd run to Posen?s 34.

THE VIKING DEFENSE held the Panthers? to a third and five, when Rader fumbled a pitch which was recovered by Levi Burgess. ?They pla

yed tough, they played hard,? said Budnick. Near midfield, Worthington ran the ball up the middle for a 26 yard gain to the Panther 22. The Vikes got the ball on the doorstep and were in a fourth and inches situation when Budnick gave the ball to Richie, who was hit short of the goalline, but reached out over a pile of defenders and got the score. The critical conversion was good and the score was tied, but Pickford would answer one last time to win the game. The Vikings have lost all three games by less than eight points. The next three games are on the home field, and all are against teams with winning records.

Statistics: Total offense: 424 rushing, 13 passing, 337 total. Rushing: Richie Kroll 27/123, two TDs; Worthington 17/119; Paul Kroll 14/43; Jason Romel 7/39, TD. Passing: Jason Romel 3/9, Int. Receiving: Szczerowski 2/9; Styma 1/5. Defense: Richie Kroll five tackles; Szczerowski five tackles, Int; Burgess, fumble; Jason Romel, fumble.

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