Jeremy Ratliff
Editor
Friday night, Sept. 25, the 2020 Merrill Bluejay varsity football team squared off with Ashland in their season opener at Jay Stadium. Despite a couple early miscues and trailing 6-7 at the half, the Jays would make some adjustments en-route to 14 points in the second half and securing the 20-14 win, thanks in part to a key interception in the fourth quarter.
“I’m pretty happy with how we responded in the second half,” comments head coach Rob Klug.
“We had a couple miscues which cost us in the first half, but the guys really cleaned it up in the second half. We had some guys rise up to the challenge, that’s always great to see.”
Senior quarterback Caleb DeJong took care of the scoring for Merrill, finding the end zone three times on the ground, while piling up 174 yards on 29 carries. DeJong added another 45 yards through the air, connecting on 6 of 16 passes.
Senior running back Eddie Collinsworth enjoyed a solid night as well, rushing for 57 yards on 17 carries.
“Caleb and Eddie carried us offensively,” Klug adds.
“It was great to see them and a few other seniors taking on the leadership role Friday night.”
Despite giving up a few more yards than they may have hoped (263), the Bluejay defense held strong and came up big in the clutch as corner back Bailey Turenne picked off an Oredocker pass, essentially taking the wind out of Ashland’s sails on a fourth quarter drive.
Linebackers Mason Vandervelde (5tk, 2 ast) and Alex Mann (5tk,ast) led the defensive effort Friday night, along with AJ Vogel (4tk, 3 ast) and Ethyn Nowack (3 tk, 2 ast and a tackle for loss.)
Friday night the guys will hit the road for Minocqua to face the Lakeland Thunderbirds.
“We’re gonna need some guys to step up and fill some holes,” Klug adds. “Due to the current circumstances we don’t have all bodies available.”
Game time is set for 7 p.m. at Lakeland Union High School.