By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
Caledonia suffered its first football loss of the season to a tough Plainview/Elgin-Millville team on September 17, 26-9.

The defense played well, but six turnovers cost the Warriors a chance to win, coach Carl Fruechte said.

Caledonia (2-1) took a 2-0 lead with a safety in the first quarter when Ross Meyer sacked the QB in the end zone.

The Bulldogs stormed back after that, scoring a touchdown and two field goals in the second quarter for a 13-2 halftime lead

ìEven there going into the halftime 13-2, we felt real good about it,î Fruechte said.

In the second half, Caledonia went to a five receiver set that opened things up. After a P/E-M field goal, Matt Frank caught a touchdown pass from Cory Messner to make it a 16-9 game. Frank ended up with eight receptions for 116 yards. Messner was 9 for 22 in passing.

Rushing yards were much harder to come by. Travis Steel had 16 yards on five carries to lead the team, which rushed for a total of 54 yards.

Another Bulldog field goal in the fourth quarter, and a touchdown with 30 seconds left, gave them the 17-point victory.

Individually, Fruechte thought Justin Conway played well at linebacker.

Plainview is a good team with a good staff and about 85 players on its roster, Fruechte noted. Itís a successful football program, he said, even in the lower levels, with 51 seventh graders and 31 eighth graders competing in recent games.

The Warriors will now focus on cutting down on turnovers, and doing the basics like tucking the ball away, looking the ball into your hands, and making good reads.

ìWeíve got to learn from this. Weíve got to do a better job with the turnovers,î Fruechte said. ìItís just young men trying to make plays and trying to make things happen. Sometimes those things happen.î

ï Other stats: Messner was 9 for 22 in passing. Justin Conway punted seven times for 210 yards. Ross Meyer and Nathan Becker had two sacks. Travis Steele, Kevin Klug, Justin Conway, and Chris Carlson each had one sack. The defense allowed 190 yard s rushing and 134 passing.

ï Up next: Caledonia travels to Spring Valley to take on Kingsland on Friday. The team took second in the state last year, and s known for itís huge players. Fruechte calls Kingsland ìThe land of the giants.î It will be important for the Warriors to get off to a good start in the game and take care of the ball, he added.

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