Chiefs trample Trojans

RONAN — The Chiefs football team racked up 269 yards on the ground, including 126 from senior Colby Roberts on 15 carries, en route to a convincing 36-14 victory over Troy in Ronan on Friday.

RONAN — The Chiefs football team racked up 269 yards on the ground, including 126 from senior Colby Roberts on 15 carries, en route to a convincing 36-14 victory over Troy in Ronan on Friday.

It was a gratifying result for Ronan (1-1) which came into the game off a demoralizing 35-8 loss against Bigfork in the season opener. 

Chiefs head coach Jim Benn said the coaching staff re-worked the playbook after the loss as they may have been trying to do too much with it in these early weeks of the season.

“We just simplified some things,” Benn said. “We looked at some things as coaches and felt like we had put too many things in that were maybe too complicated at this stage in the game.”

This “simplified” offense was a hit in its debut, as the Chiefs were able to put up 22 unanswered points on the board before the Trojans scored their first points of the game in the second quarter.

Carston Baertsch drew first blood, scampering 12 yards for a score in the first quarter.

Baertsch would finish the day with seven carries for 64 yards and two touchdowns.

Roberts also double-dipped in the game, scoring on runs of three and eight yards.

Dallas Jore was the third different Chiefs player to find the endzone in the game, collecting a touchdown on an eight-yard trot. He carried the ball eight times for 70 yards on the day, while also hauling in a pass for 12 yards.

Benn was pleased to see multiple players being effective on offense as it will help create matchup problems for opposing defenses down the road.

“That’s always a positive,” Benn said. “If you can spread the ball around it makes you harder to defend.”

The team also shined on defense, intercepting the Trojans twice (Jalen Bell, Jake Stenstrom) and bringing down the quarterback four times in the game.

Baertsch led the way with two sacks, while Andy Clary and Shelby Grant finished with one apiece. Baertsch also came up with a blocked punt in the game.

However, no player has impressed Benn more than senior two-way lineman Quentin Denton.

“He is just playing at a very high level right now,” Benn said. “He is the guy on film right now that I guarantee you teams are going to notice. He really showed up the last two weeks and has been as good as I’ve seen here.”

Moving forward, Benn is hoping Denton’s high-quality play is contagious.

“If we can get other guys playing at the level he’s playing at we could have a really fun year,” Benn said. 

While the Chiefs ended the night on a high note, though, Benn said he doesn’t plan on letting his team getting overconfident as a result.

“It was one step forward, and that’s what we need right now,” Benn said. “We’re not going to overthink it or read too much into it.”

Benn knows the team wasn’t perfect in the win and still has to polish up their game a bit.

He said the focus for improvement will be on things that are “controllable” like turnovers and penalties.

“Those are, in my opinion, controllable variables,” Benn said. “You can’t control the weather, you can’t control how big and fast your opponents are, but you can control holding onto the ball and not jumping offsides or holding. Those are mental errors.”

The team will also continue to try to “readjust” at some vital positions.

The team lost tight end and linebacker Austin Hakes for the season to a torn ACL suffered in the Bigfork game and possibly the same for backup running back and strong safety Brennan Andrews, who broke two bones in his hand in the game.

Offensive tackle Brad Hartwell has also been out the last two games after dislocating his knee cap before the Bigfork game. They are hoping to have him back for their game against Manhattan Christian on Sept. 21.

Benn has been able to take something positive away from their absence, however, as it has allowed for the development of some younger players.

“Any time that happens you get some younger guys some time and experience and you develop some depth for down the line,” Benn said.

Ronan’s adjustments can expect to be challenged in the next matchup, which will be on the road against Townsend (1-1) on Sept. 14.

“I think we’ll be pretty evenly-matched with them,” Benn said.

His scouting report seems to validate this assessment. 

“They’re well-coached and defensively are very similar to us, they are an odd front,” Benn said. They are throwing the ball a lot more than they have in the past and they have a nice, tall quarterback with a good arm.”

Things will kick off in Townsend at 7 p.m. for what looks to be an exciting matchup.