Some days, it’s just not worth it to leave the locker room.
After one player stumbled and fell during the pre-game charge out onto the field, the rest of the Muskie football team soon followed as they was whitewashed 40-0 on Friday night during their annual exhibition clash with the International Falls Broncos.
Muskie head coach Bob Swing didn’t mince his words after the rout.
“The most positive thing that happened tonight, and make sure you get this right, is I got to coach the whole football game because my [expecting] wife didn’t have the baby,” said a clearly agitated Swing.
“There were too many mental errors tonight. I’m extremely disappointed in how we played.”
The black-and-gold fell behind early in the first quarter on 30- and 15-yard touchdown runs by Bronco running back Josh Presler and quarterback Brent Bahr, respectively.
Presler added a one-yard scoring plunge in the final minute of the second quarter to make it 28-0 at halftime after his brother, Jake, had raced into the end zone from 25 yards out earlier in the period.
The first three touchdowns—each featuring several missed tackles by Muskie defenders—left Swing shaking his head.
“We had guys in the right spots all night and they weren’t making the plays,” he remarked.
Touchdown runs by Floyd Brito and Rhegy Gelo in the second half capped the onslaught as Muskie quarterback Andrew George and the offence struggled in the face of the relentless Broncos defence.
“I didn’t mind how we played in the first half, even though we had only one or two first downs,” said Swing.
“There were too many negative yardage plays in the second half. This is stuff we’ve been working on for three weeks.”
With their regular-season opener looming here this Friday afternoon against three-time defending champion and top-ranked Oak Park, Swing knows a stronger performance is crucial to avoid another blowout.
“The team has got to realize it has to play better than that if we’re going to compete,” he stressed. “Now we have to go out and prove ourselves again.”
The Muskies, set to begin their second season in the Winnipeg High School Football League, are ranked second in the ‘AA’ division behind Oak Park.
