Photo by Deb Finseth
One calling card of Caledonia football over the years was its defense. The Warriors used their speed to flock to the football and humble opposing offenses. The 2022 campaign opened with Caledonia looking like years past in passing their first test coming off a trying 2021 season. At Class AAA Pine Island, the Warrior defense literally held the Panthers to nothing. PI didn’t complete a pass. They were held to negative yards total offense. Meanwhile, Kyle Bechtel authored up the best offensive stats package. The senior receiver caught three passes for 116 yards. Each reception was a touchdown. Two different Warrior passers completed two TD passes; Lewis Doyle (3 of 7, 102 yards, 2 TDs passing) and Ethan Stendel (2 of 4, 22 yards, 2 TDs passing). Caleb Conniff caught the fourth Warrior TD (2-yards). Doyle also authored a 46-yard interception return TD. Bechtel and Stendel each also had picks, as the Warriors intercepted the Panthers thrice. Owen Denstad (9-91 rushing) and Eric Mauss (10-73 rushing) led the rushing attack. Isaac Blocker and Owen Staggemeyer had late TD runs. Carl Fruechte’s group (0-0, 1-0) scored a pair of TDs in each of the first three quarters in romping to a 47-0 win.