Friday, Nov. 06, 2009

Freeburg hopes it can turn tables on Knights in grid playoff matchup

Mater Dei beat Midgets in a wild game on Sept. 18

FREEBURG -- Believe, and you can achieve.

That's the mantra of the Freeburg Midgets, who will attempt to slay their second straight gridiron giant today when they play host to No. 10-ranked Mater Dei (9-1) at 7 p.m. in a second-round game of the Class 4A playoffs.

Last week, the No. 14-seeded Midgets (7-3) knocked off previously undefeated and top-seeded Mount Zion 30-21 in a game where they were decided underdogs.

"Mount Zion wasn't giving us a chance in the world to win the ballgame and neither was anybody else, but our kids want to show that they can play at a high level with these teams," said Freeburg coach Ronnie Stuart. "I think the same is true this week.

"I don't think anybody is giving us an opportunity to win this game because they feel Mater Dei is better than what we are. But one of the things I believe is that if you can make kids believe that they can win a ballgame, they can do anything."

Even though the Midgets have lost eight straight games to Mater Dei dating back to 2002 -- including a 41-0 stinker in 2006 and a 44-0 beatdown in 2007 -- they feel they've closed the gap.

Last year, they lost a 50-42 shootout at Mater Dei. On Sept. 18, the Midgets trailed 35-7 in the first half, tied it at 35 with 40 seconds left but lost 38-35 when Brock Bisching kicked a 28-yard field goal as time expired.

The last time Freeburg beat Mater Dei was a 20-10 decision in 2001 under former head coach Steve Sergesketter, who is now the athletic director at the school.

"We've taken some lumps from them," Stuart said. "But the last couple of years, our kids are starting to believe we can compete with them and we've been right there. What Mater Dei has done is taken advantage of our turnovers. That's going to be key Friday is not turning that football over."

First-year Mater Dei coach Jim Stiebel agreed with the last part of Stuart's analysis.

"I've heard a lot of people saying that whoever wins is whoever has the ball last," he said. "I don't think it's going to be that way. It's going to be whoever turns the ball over the least."

What Stiebel doesn't agree with is Mater Dei's status as the favored team.

"My kids and myself do not believe that," Stiebel said. "It's hard to beat a team twice, and they have the momentum. That last game, they kicked our butts in the third and fourth quarter. They do a lot of things well and so do we. We just have to be ready to battle."

The game pits two of the area's most prolific offenses as Freeburg comes in averaging 36 points per game and Mater Dei 33. The defense that steps forward will have a major impact in the outcome.

Freeburg's offense is triggered by quarterback Alex Fricke, a 6-foot-0, 210-pound senior who has completed 128-of-230 pass attempts for 1,569 yards and 16 touchdowns. He ha rushed 127 times for 715 yards and 13 TDs.

Stiebel -- who used to train Fricke at Firehouse Gym, the workout facility he owns in Belleville -- said he's like a fullback playing quarterback with a great arm. Fricke threw for 303 yards and three TDs against the Knights on Sept. 18.

"He's always had the drive," Stiebel said. "Now he has the heart and the size to go with it."

Fricke's favorite targets are Dustin Kimball (37 catches, 538 yards, 10 TDs) and Matt Hendrick (40 catches, 345 yards). Tyler Adamson captains the ground game with 936 yards and 14 TDs on 129 carries.

Mater Dei, which beat Massac County 34-13 in the first round last week, has its own two-way threat in junior quarterback Tyler Detmer. He has completed 137-of-251 pass attempts for 2,156 yards and 18 TDs.

He is also the Knights' leading rusher with 698 yards and 10 TDs on 101 carries, although Lucas Hemann is closing fast. The senior running back ran for a season-high 143 yards against Massac and has 616 yards and 14 TDs on the year.

Mater Dei's stable of receivers -- John Huelsmann (30-611), Adam Fuehne (27-474), Travis Timmermann (33-443) and Collin Toennies (18-264) -- is one of the deepest in the area.

The Knights' ability to establish their running game in recent weeks has carried them to nine straight victories.

"They're such a good team that you have to pick your poison," Stuart said. "We have to figure out what we can do to slow them down offensively, and what can we do offensively that we can take advantage of to score some points and stay in the ballgame.

"They're such a good team, it's hard to say 'OK, they can't do this, we can do this.' They're good at the running game and the passing game."