Tanagers win 2003 opener 38-0 at South Sioux by Jim Prosser The Vermillion varsity football team demonstrated its defensive and offensive abilities at its fullest in its season opener Sept. 5 at South Sioux City.
After an unfortunate fumble early in the game, it became apparent that Vermillion was in a mismatch of enormous proportions. The Tanagers dominated every phase of the contest as they rushed for 180 yards in the first quarter, scoring on a 66 yard reverse end run by Tyler Brown and a 21 yard off tackle run by Kellen Cusick.
By the end of the first half, the visitors had built a 24-0 scoring margin, built on a Sean Pederson 27 yard field goal and a Collin Prosser 44 yard touchdown pass from Adam Brunick. Pederson kicked all the extra points.
The Cardinals were held to 12 running and 7 pass attempts accumulating 36 total yards in the first half! The Tanager total yardage was 326 yards at this juncture.
Adam Brunick added a 1 yard TD run midway in the third quarter and by this time, many of the varsity defense men had been replaced by JV reserves who gained a wealth of game experience, and the offense was turned over to them for much of the fourth quarter.
The only question to be resolved was whether the Cardinals would score. That was answered by a goal line stand at the one yard line on four down attempts early in the fourth.
The ensuing Tanager play was a 88 yard scamper by Cusick which set up a Rich Boyd 3 yard score.
Defensive stats show a total of over 80 tackles distributed among the entire Tanager roster. Leading tacklers were: Boyd � 8, Cody Hayes � 6, Ben Oberle,and Mike Hanson � 5 each, and seven others credited with 4 each. Jason Donald, Jon Miller, and Sean Pederson each had a QB sack, and Donnie Stewart recovered a fumble.
Individual rushing
Vermillion
Kellen Cusick rushed 13 times for 156 yards and one touchdown.
BJ Campbell rushed 17 times for 98 yards.
Tyler Brown rushed three times for 91 yards and one touchdown.
Adam Brunick rushed three times for 19 yards and one touchdown.
Jon Brooks rushed one time for no yards.
Individual passing
Vermillion
Adam Brunick completed four of seven passes for 99 yards and one touchdown.
Individual passing
South Sioux City
Andy Ott completed four of 12 passes for 25 yards. Brett Gotch completed two of two passes for 37 yards.
Receiving
Vermillion
Collin Prosser caught two passes for 25 yards.
Kellen Cusick caught one pass for 27 yards.
BJ Campbell caught one pass for nine yards.
Receiving
South Sioux City
Joel Rodriguez caught one pass for 26 yards.
Brandon Bausch caught one pass for 11 yards.
Brett Hoch caught one pass for 11 yards.
Vermillion will now take a 1-0 record with them as they head into their second game of the season. The Tanagers will play the Canton C-Hawks at Coplan Field in Canton on Friday, Sept. 12. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.
"It was a nice season opening win for our squad. We played very well defensively as a team," said coach Gary Culver. "Anytime you can shut out a team like South Sioux City, it speaks highly of your defensive play. I felt we also played very well offensively.
"We made very few mistakes for the first game of the season," he added. "I was pleased we rushed the ball so effectively against an always tough South Sioux defense. Adam Brunick passed the ball very nicely also. Our speciality team play was outstanding throughout the night.
"We had many young players on these teams and they performed much better than we anticipated. I thought our offensive line 'came of age' in this game," Culver said. "We had many new faces and they now have some confidence to build on for the next game. We had some young players step in and do a nice job for us.
"Our next opponent, Canton, will be very similar to South Sioux City in the style of football they play," he said. "It will be a tough road trip for our players, but we're looking forward to the challenge."
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