(Audubon) The 4-0 Audubon Wheelers host 2-2 Glidden-Ralston in Week 5.
Life is good for the Audubon football team. The Wheelers won 80-0 on Friday night against Boyer Valley. Coach Sean Birks knows they still have some things to shore up. “Offensively there are quite a few things that we didn’t do very well. The first couple of drives we didn’t block very well. We had more penalties than they did so we didn’t play super disciplined. There’s definitely some issues to clean up especially offensively. I thought special teams played really well and our defense played really well.”
The Wheeler defense has allowed just 15 points in four games and most, if not all, of that has been during garbage time. This week Audubon will face a quickly improving Glidden-Ralston squad. “Right now they are hungry, they are playing better. Their execution is so much better and they are trying to keep that trajectory on the uptick. We are going to get a team that’s kid of sneaky, scary good. They’ve got athletes all over the place.” Coach Birks describes Glidden-Ralston’s Brigham Daniel as one of the best athletes pound for pound that his team has seen so far.
For as dominant as Audubon has been, their pursuit of a district championship is still far from a sure thing. They have league powers Coon Rapids-Bayard and Woodbine still ahead. “It’ll be good for us this week. I’m sure it’ll be tough, they’ll be hungry. Anytime you come off a big win against a team that’s .500 on Homecoming there’s all sorts of challenges. With Coon Rapids-Bayard and Woodbine looming focus will be the big question this week. Hopefully we’ll be ready to go this week because if we’re not they could snag us.”
Audubon held Boyer Valley to just 17 rushing yards on 27 attempts last week. The Wheelers are allowing just 3.8 points per game. Joey Schramm leads the group in tackles with 15.5. They’ve recovered three fumbles and intercepted seven passes. Gavin Smith continues to be the biggest, of many, bright sports on offense. The junior QB has completed 78% of his throws for 477 yards and 11 TD with no interceptions. Smith is also the team’s leading rusher and averages 12.6 yards per carry with 12 rushing scores.
