After a 8-1 start, the Rural Vista Heat ended the successful season, with a 46-0 loss to defending 4-time consecutive State Champions Axtell.
Unfortunately, the Heat could not get on track on offense or defense against the Eagles. "Their speed was way more than we expected on both sides of the ball," said Head Football Coach Brian Henry. He adds, "We could not defend their big plays on defense and our offense could not get any traction. They were pretty athletic on both sides of the ball."
Koden Sanford led the team in rushing with 10 rushes for 48 yards, followed by Kole Riedy, who had 10 carries for 47 yards. To the team’s detriment, Axtell hemmed in Kole Riedy all night. He ran for 46 yards on the first play from scrimmage but could not muster a lot of positive yards after that. Sanford added only 10 yards passing. 2 were caught by Grant Eskeldson for 8 yards. Kole Riedy led all tacklers with 5 tackles, followed by Koden Sanford and Tucker Mein with 3 tackles each.
This year’s Heat team graduates the winningest Senior class record-wise in Rural Vista Football History. They were 2-8 as Freshmen, 5-5 as Sophomore, 7-3 as Juniors and 8-2 during Senior year. Their combined record in the 4 yrs was 22-18, in addition to being undefeated as 7th and 8th grade Junior High football (Combined 13-0)
The seniors were: Koden Sanford, Tyler Brockmeier, Andrew Calvert, Kole Riedy, Mason Marsh, Tucker Mein, Grant Eskeldson and Trent Hoff. In addition, the team benefited from two Foreign Exchange students: Celian Van Bemten and Nabar Valbueva.
The team was undefeated District 2 Eight Man D II Champions and finished the season with Rural Vista's best record in History 8-2 with both losses to teams that are set to make a deep run in the playoffs - Little River and Axtell.
If you see these young men on the street please shake their hands, and thank them for the 6 years of football they provided.
Great job, guys!