By Jennifer Eisenbart
Sports Editor
As far as Burlington High School coach Hans Block’s opinion, Friday night’s season-opening 20-13 win offered a fair amount of highlights for his football team.
“I was pleased with the victory,” said Block. “I think the team that we beat this year was a better Horlick team than we beat last year.”
The Demons picked up 287 total yards in the contest, and were aided by three Horlick fumbles – all of which turned into scoring drives for the Demons.
But the highlight of the game for BHS was the play of Chad Redmer, who ran the ball effectively. He picked up 122 yards on 19 carries and scored a touchdown, but also got the ball almost exclusively on the Demons’ final drive to make sure his team could run out the clock.
“We wanted to make sure we were securing the ball,” Block said. “We felt we had worn down their right defensive tackle.
“If they’re not stopping that, we’ll just continue to do that,” he added.
BHS got on the board first when Jayden Essman hit Ty Dennis for a 59-yard touchdown pass, and extended the lead on Redmer’s score.
A one-yard touchdown run by Ross Canales made the score 20-6 before Horlick managed a score late in the contest when Ricky Neal Jr. ducked in from three yards out.
The two-point conversion failed, but the Rebels managed to recover the onside kick attempt.
However, the Burlington defense held, forcing a turnover on downs, and BHS got the ball back. Effective running ran out the clock.
“It was a team effort,” Block said.
One of the things Block hoped to improve on this week was conditioning.
“I felt that we played well in the first part of the game,” Block said. “We started to physically get tired. We started to make mistakes.
“Not uncommon for the first game,” he added.
It gets no easier for the Demons this week, as all teams in the Southern Lakes jump immediately into conference action.
Burlington hosts Lake Geneva Badger Friday night at 7 p.m.
“Watching them on film, they’re a very good team,” “It’s not that they’re not beatable.
“We’re doing the best we can to prepare,” “We need to improve on some things from last week, and I think we’re going about that the right way.
“If we play well, we will expect to win.”
Once again, the Demons will face Badger quarterback Peter Krien, a senior in his third year starting.
His father, Ed, is the team’s defensive coordinator, while Bill Krien is the Demons’ defensive coordinator.
“It’s Billy’s defense against Ed’s defense,” Block joked. “It’s kind of a family affair.”
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