Rangers squeeze Lemmon to a pulp

The Hill City Rangers once again dominated the field as they easily defeated the  Lemmon-McIntosh Cowboys last Friday.

After a slow start the Rangers converted on fourth and long to score six with about 10 minutes left in the first quarter. 

Late in the first quarter a Ranger interception led to a huge play with quarterback Devin  Buehler connecting  with Nick Schroeder, who ran almost the entire length of the field, putting the Rangers up 14-0.

Lemmon took possession of the ball to start the second quarter but was unable to convert forcing them to punt. Buehler returned the punt the length of the field and into the end zone, extending Rangers lead to 21-0.

On the Cowboys’ next possession the Rangers defense created a third and long situation forcing the Cowboys once again to kick on four and long.

The Rangers took over on the 43-yard line with eight minutes left in the half. 

On third and long Buehler  completed a pass  to Breylon Rahn, who was stopped just shy of the end zone. On the next play, Buehler ran the ball in to give the Rangers a 27-0 lead with seven minutes 20 seconds left in the first half.

The Cowboys were unable to move the ball down the field against the Rangers defense who kept forcing fourth down situations resulting iand repeated punts. The Rangers continued to dominate the field, even after a Rangers fumble late in the first half.

A Cowboys fumble early in the second half gave the  Rangers possession on their own 45 with 9:51 left in the third quarter.

Buehler completed some short plays and a long pass to Zane  Messick, setting up a first and 10. On the very next play Mason Reece  took the ball into the end zone giving the Rangers a 33-point lead.

The Rangers ended up defeating Lemmon by a score of 41-8, making them 2-0 on the season.

Head coach Brett Eckert said his team played well.  

“Offensively we are executing at a very high level.  We have a lot of athletes all over and one of our strong beliefs is to spread the wealth,” he said. “Make it harder for teams to key off on just one guy but have to worry about all of our weapons on offense.”

Eckert notes five receivers were used during the main part of the win against Lemmon.

“Devin does a really good job with seeing what people are giving us and taking advantage. That shows his development as a player. He has been starting since his freshman year and he matured each season with understanding the game even more and taking advantage of what is presented before him,” Eckert said. “We don’t target or look just for one guy in our game planning. We try and get as many guys involved in the game plan as possible, but then again on a Friday night if they are giving you something and it is working the reality is why would you go away from it?”

Ecker said the Rangers defense was relentless,  forcing the Cowboys into fourth down situations on virtually each possession. “

We were able to bottle up a very physical back from Lemmon. Our defense loves playing on that side of the ball and has played incredibly disciplined thus far,” he said. “They are reading their keys and trusting those keys and then they are just playing relentless pursuit. Trying to get as many guys to the ball carrier as possible and it is so far paying off for us.”

Eckert says the Rangers have some tough teams to face.

“We have Dupree this week and they just scored 82 against North Central so they are clicking offensively and we will need to try and slow down their offensive attack,” he said. “Then after that we have Harding County who is known for their physicality and just being a storied program.

“We hope we can just continue to get better everyday and we will see what happens.”

The Rangers travel to take on Dupree Sept. 6 at 6 p.m.