WINTHROP — As Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop wraps up its Homecoming week, its 3-0 soccer staff faces the likewise 3-0 Lester Prairie Bulldogs in a Mid Southeast District, West Subdistrict matchup.

The run-heavy Thunderbirds will depend on the T formation to search out success on offense.

“We’ve been fortunate to run the same offensive system for seven years, and that’s the power T,” GFW head coach Pat Hentges mentioned. “The boys take a lot of pride in that and the fakes. The first couple of games, I don’t think, offensively, our fakes were great. They weren’t as crisp getting into the holes and such. We introduced that to the boys and let them know, and they take a lot of pride in trying to do the little things right. They’re the kind of team where they don’t get bored with the little things.”

Defensively, GFW desires to maintain issues in entrance of them and swarm to the ball.

“We try to pride ourselves on flying to the football,” Hentges mentioned. “Get as many people to the football as we can while still trying to be disciplined as well. Focusing on trying to get better all the time. Our players are really dialed into that and they just enjoy playing the game, and that’s what we try to mainly focus on.”

Last week GFW got here out with a dominating 64-6 win over Medford. The Thunderbirds had been extremely environment friendly on the bottom, carrying the ball 39 occasions for 503 yards, good for 12.9 per carry. Leading them was sophomore working again Owen Swenson, who had six rushes for 164 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Hentges credit his staff’s success on the bottom to the trenches.

“Our offensive line, I would say, is our strength,” Hentges mentioned. “Numerous these guys performed at the same time as sophomores, acquired fairly a little bit of enjoying time, so our expertise actually stands on the market. Our backfield is fairly skilled too, they had been all starters final 12 months, and so they’re all coming round very well.

“We don’t do any live contact in practice, so getting that game contact and feel has been great for them to remember, ‘Yup, this is how it is, this is were I’ve to look,’ getting our eyes in the right spot.”

While Swenson was the chief on the bottom final sport, any variety of gamers are in a position to step up and have an incredible sport for the Thunderbirds.

“Owen Swenson’s played well for us defensively, and even offensively he had a great night the other night,” Hentges mentioned. “He’s one of many that, each day it just seems like they’re getting better.”

Some different backs that would see success for GFW could be Garret Schmidt, who leads the staff in carries with 46 and has compiled 207 yards on the bottom with two touchdowns, and Justin Messner, who took two runs for 100 yards and a rating in final week’s sport.

When it involves the matchup with Lester Prairie, Hentges has a number of respect for the Bulldogs’ teaching employees, led by head coach Joe Scoblic.

“Their coaching staff does a great job,” Hentges mentioned. “They can energy it at you, they get some nice play motion off of that, and naturally they’re not afraid to unfold you out too. You can inform simply by watching their three video games right here that they know their id, they put guys in the best spot.

“Joe’s a great coach and he’s a great person to visit with. I love having conversations with him, whether it’s about football or anything else. He knows what he’s doing and his staff does too. These guys, they’re agressive, their disciplined, you can tell going to state last year, all that all that practice time sure helped these younger guys, and it really does, I don’t care who you are, the more practice you get, the better it will be for you. It’s going to be a tough task, but certainly one we’re excited for. They’re just a class-act kind of program, and we really enjoy playing those kinds of teams.”

Hentges believes that, whereas Lester Prairie has loads of playmakers on offense, his important focus is extra on what sort of performs his protection can create.

“We teach certain things at certain positions,” Hentges mentioned. “So we have to do those things. It isn’t a matter of focusing on one or two guys. Certainly their number 11 (LaDamien Gatlin-Coellner) is a great running back, shifty, tough, they got very good tight ends and defensive ends, their fullback is a solid young man, their quarterback (Hermann Caiden) just plays with poise, and you can go down the line. But we find out who the dudes are, we make sure we can try to coral them in a little bit, but we don’t add anything new. It’s just a matter of doing our jobs better, and that’s what we pride ourselves on, and hopefully that will happen on Friday. We just want to play ball.”

Hentges thinks that the ultimate rating will come right down to which staff could make the fewest mishaps.

“Determining who plays well, it will be limiting mistakes,” Hentges mentioned. “That’s so key in each stage of soccer, however particularly highschool soccer. We strive to do this. You try this by regularly training the boring stuff and making an attempt to do these to one of the best of your means.

“Special teams could play a role, it can in any game, and we need to tackle well. It’s all the simple things in football, we’re not going to try to make it harder than it is. Just those simple things, doing those at a high level.”

Kickoff for the sport will likely be 7 p.m. Friday at GFW soccer subject.

NUMBERS GAME

GFW and Lester Prairie have confronted the identical three opponents within the first three weeks of the season: Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton, Medford and Waterville-Elysian-Morristown. GFW scored 126 factors and allowed 20 factors of their matchups, whereas Lester Prairie scored 110 factors and allowed 20 factors, all to JWP.

2022 PLAYOFF RECAP

Last season, GFW received its first part playoff sport in opposition to JWP 42-12 earlier than dropping to Mayer Lutheran 35-12 in Round 2. Lester Prairie defeated Mayer Lutheran the following week 14-6 to advance to state, the place they fell 18-16 to Fillmore Central.