Plainsmen top Warriors

BELLE PLAINE — Belle Plaine’s Wade Sankot isn’t your typical “bell cow” running back.

But don’t let his size fool you.

The five-foot six-inch junior is the Plainsmen’s go-to back when they need a yard.

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“When we need a tough yard, he’ll get it for us,” Belle Plaine head coach Todd Bohlen said. “He may be five-six, but he’s pretty compact, and the first guy is not going to take him down.”

Sankot, whose twin brother, Will, is also on the team, rushed for three touchdowns in Belle Plaine’s 46-24 victory over HLV Friday night.

Sankot scored two from the goal-line and scored one in fashion from 11 yards out after initially fumbling the snap.

Sankot is a part of a three-headed running attack which includes Ty Alcott and Lane Vokoun.

Coming off the statement victory from the Week Zero 8-player football slate, the Plainsmen are now 2-0, something that hasn’t happened since 2016.

“We’ve just got to keep making strides every week,” Bohlen said. “Our district has some tough teams like Montezuma and BGM.

”We’ve also just got to stay healthy. We just don’t have the roster size of others,“ said Bohlen.

Belle Plaine got an early lead, scoring 14 unanswered points on a couple of rushing touchdowns from Sankot.

The Warriors responded with a touchdown drive for which Cael Weisskopf was strictly responsible. Weisskopf ran the ball and caught one pass down the field before running the ball in for six from one yard out.

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The Plainsmen responded with two more scores before half — one off a Sankot rushing touchdown and the other off a fourth-and-fifteen, 19-yard passing touchdown to Sam Demeulenaere.

The score stood at 30-8 at half.

Ty Alcott added a 10 yard touchdown run in the third, and Demeulenaere added another receiving touchdown.

Being a run-dominant team, the ability to throw the ball over the top, as they did Friday night, will be key for the Plainsmen the rest of the season, Bohlen said.

“We threw the ball a bit better and made of a bit of an upgrade in the passing game from week one,” Bohlen said.

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In the fourth quarter, the running clock was activated, due to Belle Plaine’s lead of more than 35 points.

Plainsmen put in some backups to get some experience, and the Warriors capitalized on a few Plainsmen miscues.

Weisskopf added rushing touchdowns from 38 and 10 yards out to make the final 46-24.

“I was really proud of the effort. We could’ve rolled over and let it be a real blowout,” HLV head coach Kevin Smith said.

HLV travels this week to play English Valleys in a game where one team will come out with its first game of the season.

“It’s a work in progress, but we’re going in the right direction,” Smith said.

Belle Plaine 46, HLV 24

AT BELLE PLAINE

HLV BP

First Downs 9 14

Rushes-yards 40-153 39-276

Passing yards 25 66

Comp-att-int 3-7-1 4-5-0

Total yards 178 342

Fumbles-lost 1-0 5-4

Punts-avg. 2-28.5 0-0.0

Penalties-yards 6-50 5-36

HLV 0 8 0 16 — 24

BP 14 16 16 0 — 46

BP— Wade Sankot 2 run (Voukon rush)

BP — Wade Sankot 2 run (rush failed)

HLV — Cael Weisskopf 1 run (Weisskopf rush)

BP — Sam Demeulenaere 19 pass from Aiden Timm (Sankot rush)

BP — Sankot 11 run (conversion good)

BP — Ty Alcott 10 run Kriegel 59 run (Alcott pass to Demeulenaere)

BP — Demeulenaere 47 pass from Timm (conversion good)

HLV — Weisskopf 38 run (Weisskopf pass to Hunter Bazyn)

HLV — Weisskopf 10 run (Weisskopf pass to Bazyn)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — HLV: Weisskopf 24-147, Bazyn 9-37, Bryar Jack 4-(-37), Landyn Ankrum 3-6. BP: Alcott 20-159, Sankot 11-54, Voukon 7-38, Timm 3-11, Adyson Stark 2-4

PASSING — HLV: Jack 2-5-0-14, Weisskopf 1-2-0-11 BP: Timm 2-3-2-66, Alcott 0-2-0-0

RECEIVING — HLV: Bazyn 2-11, Weisskopf 1-14. BP: Demeulenaere 2-66