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[heading]In what will be a year of many firsts, a few occurred last night under the lights at Battle High School.[/heading]

In the first meeting of all three Columbia high schools, the BHS football team played its first game on their new field. While the Spartans will face neither the Bruins nor the Kewpies in regular season play this year, the Spartans fought their hardest to make this first meeting a memorable one.

In the first scrimmage, which was between RBHS and BHS, the Bruins got off to what Rock Bridge quarterback Logan Twehous called a ‘sluggish’ start. “It was a learning experience for us. Throughout the whole day we were all coming here looking, you know, ‘We want to play Hickman. We want to play Hickman,’ and nobody really gave Battle their respect,” Twehous said. “We came out really sluggish against them, and they took it to us pretty well.”

Twehous, a junior, started for the Bruins a year ago, leading the green and gold on the gridiron to a 7-4 record. He says this year he feels more at home in his role. “I definitely felt a lot more comfortable in the pocket [than last season]. I feel a lot more athletic,” Twehous said. “I had a red jersey on, they couldn’t tackle me, and it was kinda one hand touch, but I felt like if I get full pads on there’s a couple plays I could really make for our team out there.”
During their allotted 18 snaps on offense against the Spartans, where Twehous wore a red jersey to signify that he cannot be tackled in the preseason game, the Bruins scored two touchdowns. The first came as a throw from Twehous found its mark, the second after the reserves entered with 6 snaps left.
On the other side of the ball, the RBHS defense allowed only one touchdown, winning the scrimmage 14-7. The Bruins started the second scrimmage against Hickman with a touchdown in the first two snaps; Twehous’ 38-yard throw and senior Tarus Moore’s subsequent 2-yard run.
After the Kewpie’s defense tackled Twehous for an automatic first down, Moore ran the ball for a touchdown again. Despite losing ground after a 24-yard run from senior Eli Caldwell-Stout, the Bruins struck once more on a touchdown pass from the backup quarterback Carson Ringdal. At the end of their 18 snaps, the defense took the field. Hickman never reached the end zone, and Rock Bridge won 21-0.

“[Our defense was] definitely not bad. We’re obviously transitioning to a new defensive system so there’s a learning curve there,” Bruins’ head coach A.J. Ofodile said. “The main thing with that side of the ball, and that kinda holds true all the time, is your intensity is usually going to dictate how well you play. We were missing a big piece with [senior linebacker] Ross Alexander, who didn’t play tonight. That’s something we gotta have,but we’re intense, we got guys that can run, we got guys that are physical, so we’ll be pretty good on that side.”
The Battle-Hickman scrimmage ended the night with relative drama as the Spartans scored on their final snap, bringing the score to 21-14. As the players from each squad shook hands on the field, they also gazed up into the crowd in amazement of the brand new stadium, filled with fans of each school.
“We don’t play many places that look better than this,” Ofodile said. “I’m happy for Justin Conyers, a very deserving guy, to have this opportunity to build a program and have these kinds of facilities.”
Ofodile, who lost former offensive coordinator and current head coach Justin Conyers to BHS this season, said that the off-season has been all about rebuilding and reworking the play on both sides of the ball and compensating for the loss of many former seniors.

“We graduate great seniors, and you look and you say, ‘How are we even going to field a team?’ Then, all of a sudden, guys grow and they get stronger and they develop,” Ofodile said. “That’s one thing we have: character guys that are committed to the program. They do the weight room, they do the fieldwork, they do all the things they need to do to develop themselves. Every year there’s this huge metamorphosis of the players. All of a sudden you look up and you got a pretty good-looking team, and we’re ready to go again.”
One example of the development came with the offensive backfield, especially Twehous. Ofodile said while Twehous has always been smart, accurate and “mature beyond his years,” the starter has had much physical development in the off-season. “The biggest thing for us is the addition of a tight end into our running game,” Ofodile said. “We have some good guys who we can attach and give some different looks. I definitely expect to run the ball a little bit. That was our Achilles’ Heel. We asked [former tailback] Freeman Simmons to do way too much running the ball. I expect us to be a much improved running football team.”
Twehous, who echoed this sentiment, worked out diligently in the offseason to benefit his physicality and, as a result, the speed and effectiveness of his running plays.
“I’m super excited,” Twehous said. “I think it’s our run game.  I think it showed tonight with Hickman. I think they came out and they didn’t really respect our run game. With all the linemen we have returning … We have Taurus [Moore] and Eli [Caldwell-Stout] back there and Matt [Troyer] getting a couple touches. We have three very dangerous runners who can make a big play any time.”
Despite all the development, Ofodile says the biggest challenge the Bruins face is their demanding schedule. They play only three games at home, with no off-weeks to rest.
“Every week there’s a new opponent, every week that opponent’s going to give you their best shot,” Ofodile said. “There’s no week that you can have a bad day of practice, have a bad half of a game. If you do that, you’re going to lose a game.”
Twehous believes that, despite the loss of graduates and of Coach Conyers, and the difficulty of a grueling schedule, the Bruins can go even further this season than last year’s heartbreaking 10-7 loss in the district semi-final against Hickman.
“We came around, played Hickman, and that intensity that we had … to me,” he said, “if we can bring that intensity every game this season, I think we can win state.”

By Brett Stover
The Bruins come into this season ranked ninth in the state by the national Athlon Sports high school football magazine. Their first game is at DeSmet High School on Aug. 30. The Hickman Kewpies will play host to the annual rivalry game Sept. 27