ANAMOSA — At times the 2006 Raider football team struggled in finding an identity offensively on the football field.

Was Anamosa a running team, capable of pounding the football down the throat of the opposing defense?

Were the Raiders a passing team with the talent and ability to spread defenses with five-wide schemes unleashing an aerial attack unlike any seen in Anamosa in many, many years?

“We tried it all, and at times, both schemes worked,” said Raider football coach Jeff Kean after his 2006 Anamosa team posted a 2-7 record overall and 1-6 mark in class 3A district 6 action this past fall. “The problem was we just weren’t very consistent either running or passing the football to stay dedicated to that particular style of play. Sometimes we opened things up with the passing game to set up the run and the other way around too, but for the most part, we struggled moving the football but we still found a way to win a couple of games and end the year on a very good note.”

OLIN — Think it’s easy being Lion football coach Jamie Fuhrmeister?

The pressure to come back off such a sensational 2005 football season was enormous and to do it without a pair of first-team all-state stars like quarterback Colton Hansen and receiver Brock Rouse was difficult, but somehow, Olin did it again.

“It was another fun ride this year,” said Fuhrmeister after his team posted a 4-5 record overall during the 2006 campaign and 3-5 mark in class A district 6 play. “Our goal was to play a 10th game this year. It was our goal last year and it will be our goal again next year. We came up short in that regard but it doesn’t diminish what we were able to accomplish again this year.”

Even with opposing defenses knowing exactly what was going to come at them as Olin’s high-flying aerial assault has become almost legendary over the last four years, teams failed in slowing down the Lions’ vaunted five-wide attack.

“We started the season with the philosophy of maybe wanting to run the football a little more than the last few years,” said Fuhrmeister who has brilliantly orchestrated the Olin football machine to one of the state of Iowa’s best passing games.

“For a guy who has never played in an actual game at quarterback, he seemed pretty comfortable throwing the football,” said Fuhrmeister. “He basically played a little over a half against Midland and was so impressive I decided to keep things rolling with Dan at quarterback and he did a great job.”

Inglis passed for 334 yards and five touchdowns against the Eagles that night in leading the Lions to a 35-13 triumph in the heated rivalry battle.

“To step into that situation and perform like that, says something about his ability,” said Fuhrmeister. “Dan had some pretty talented receivers to throw at too.”

Leading the receiving corps was Justin Smith, who was sensational grabbing a whopping 68 passes for 1,173 yards and an incredible 15 touchdowns. Brother Mason added another 50 catches for 343 yards and four scores.

Justin Rix, who even missed a pair of games due to injury, still grabbed 38 passes for 392 yards and two more scores.

Justin Lowinski came back to the team late in the season and made an immediate impact with 14 catches while Zach Brecht stepped up and had 22 receptions totaling 255 yards.

“A lot of our passing success had to do with our offensive line doing such a great job too,” said Fuhrmeister about the play of linemen Marshall Bassett, Chris Osterkamp, Devin Rohwedder, Jon Vernon, Travis McAtee and Drew Bixler. “We are very young on the line and at times had four sophomores on the offensive line. The guys made some youth mistakes but got better and better as the year went on.”

While the Lion offense was what Fuhrmeister had hoped it would be this past fall, defensively he felt his team struggled at times.

“I expected a little more out of our defense,” he said. “If we could have played the way we played the first half against North Tama, we might have been able to play that 10th game this year. That was just an awesome effort. I just wish we could have been able to hang on the entire game.”

North Tama came into Olin as the district leaders and through the first half of play, were shocking the Redhawks leading 21-7.

“When I look back at the season, that first half against North Tama was the best football we played,” said Fuhrmeister. “We played well against Springville too. I would rate those two at the top this year.”

Olin didn’t allow the pressure of expectations coming off a 6-3 campaign a year ago to weigh them down.

“We had high expectations of our own,” said Fuhrmeister. “There are a couple of games we would like to have back. The Don Bosco and Cedar Falls NU High games were two we felt we should have won and let slip away. We don’t want to have that feeling again next year and the kids are already working hard in the weight room to keep our winning football ways going here at Olin.”

Off-season conditioning was key according to Fuhrmeister for his young team’s performance this past fall and feels it will be again next season as well.

“It is every year,” he said. “Our success next fall has to start this November. We’re a young team and we’ll learn from our losses. We might not look the same offensively next year, we might be a bit more conventional, but we’ll do whatever it takes to play that 10th game.“

WYOMING — Making the move to class A district 6 this past fall, the Midland football team was finally in a place where they’d be able to play teams a little closer to their own size on the gridiron.

“We knew as far as a competitive balance standpoint went, we were in a much better situation here than the last few years,” said Eagle football coach Josh Bentley. “That didn’t mean we had it any easier. There are a lot of very good teams in this district and if we were going to win, we’d have to play and not just show up. For the most part this year, I thought we played.”

Midland not only played, they played well posting more wins than any Eagle football team has seen since 1994 when Midland reached the playoffs under former coach and current athletic director Kirk Park.

“We could see the improvements last year and it all played out in the win over Clayton Ridge,” said Bentley. “But each and every week we were going up against teams with twice as many kids on the sidelines as we would have and by the time the fourth quarter would roll around, we would be out of gas.

“I was happy with our ability to establish a running game this year,” said Bentley. “I think with that it allowed us to be a little more successful with our passing.”

Jed Holland keyed the resurgent Eagle rushing attack topping the team with 838 yards on just 163 carries while adding nine touchdowns.

Codey Current added depth in the backfield with 353 rushing yards and four more touchdowns.
“Jed and Codey really stepped up for us this year,” said Bentley. “Lucas Meyer is another person who was a pleasant surprise. Scott Willimack, in his first season at quarterback managed the team for us nicely. The whole offensive line stepped up big time for us too.”

Willimack passed for 608 yards and three touchdowns completing 48-of-151 passes.

Meyer was Willimack’s main target grabbing 15 passes for 170 yards while Holland snared 14 more for 189 yards.

While Bentley was happy with the improvement from his offense this past season, it’s his defense he hopes to see step up even further next fall.

“Most nights our run defense was okay,” he said. “But I must say we need to take a major step next year on the defensive side of the football. Justin Yarolem was a big help for us at nose guard along with Lucas having to play outside linebacker for us at 127-pounds.”

Holland led the defense with 133 tackles while Ryan Balichek (81 tackles) and Current (79) also had big years for the Eagles.

“We’re taking some steps forward, no doubt about that,” said Bentley. “Eventually, I’d like to see us contending for a playoff spot. Is that something for next year’s team? Only time will tell by the off-season commitment put in by those coming back and coming in next season. I think we have a good foundation built, but we need to continue working and never become satisfied because we are a long ways from being where we need to be.”

From where the Midland football program was, the future does indeed look to be very bright for fans in Wyoming.