Knights, Redmen ready to play football

By BOB VARMETTE

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- There may have been doubts about whether the game would be played. There was never any doubt about whether they wanted to play.

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon Tuesday, both the Martin Luther Knights and the Carthage Redmen will try to bring some sense of normalcy to a Saturday afternoon. MLC (0-2) and Carthage (1-0) will kick off at noon today at Art Keller Field in Kenosha, Wis.

And they will be ready.

"Yeah, we're ready to play, the guys want to play," MLC coach Dennis Gorsline said.

Carthage's Tim Ruck, in his eighth year coaching the Redmen, believes it's important the two teams play.

"It's a statement of fortitude," Ruck said. "I think it's important to deal with this as a family. ... We decided that it's better for us to go through this together rather than individually, with the players scattered all over."

The Redmen are coming off a 21-15 season-opening win over Lakeland (Wis.), the Knights a 35-21 loss to St. Olaf in Northfield. And again, it was a costly loss for MLC.

Eli Cloute was lost, likely for the season, with what was thought initially to be a recurring hamstring injury. The latest diagnosis is a nerve injury.

The senior tailback joins a list of injured that now runs to seven key players. Jamye Chapman also will miss today's game -- he has a broken hand and will be sidelined until at least the Mount Senario game Sept. 22.

The pair joins Seth Fitzsimmons, Bill Heiges, Paul Schupmann and cornerback Eric Schroeder as Knights who will be out. Junior running back Paul Mattek, who sustained a quadricep contusion against the Oles, is listed as doubtful.

Freshman running back David Dodge will likely get his first start for MLC with the loss of Cloute and the status of Mattek. Gorsline added "several" other players may be pressed into duty in the backfield, and that entails switching from other positions.

"There's years like that," Gorsline said. "Some years, you go with no serious injuries. Then there's years like this year. I guess, at this stage, I've kind of adjusted to it."

The Redmen come in much healthier. The only starter out is tight end John Warnecke; freshman Rob Hicks will start in his place.

MLC has other concerns in addition to its lengthy injury report. First among them is Rob Garnes.

Garnes -- a 6-foot-4, 195-pound junior -- was the Redmen's leading receiver in 2000, catching 64 balls for 894 yards and 12 touchdowns, including two in Carthage's 34-14 win in New Ulm.

"We've given up the bomb in the last two games, and anytime they needed something last year, they went to him," Gorsline said. "Anytime they needed a go-to-guy, they went to him."

The Knights' pass defense has been suspect in the first two games. Both Dubuque and St. Olaf exploited MLC's injury situation and lack of experience.

Gorsline will try to counter that by alternating freshman cornerback Dan Unke, who is 6-foot-3, to Garnes' side to match up height with height. But Unke is a freshman who will be starting just his second game.

"He's our tallest guy," Gorsline said. "But Unke's green. There's a good chance I think he learns a few lessons."

Another concern for the Knights is the Redmen's pass rush. Gorsline, recalling last year's game with Carthage, compared it to "water through a sieve. They'll probably bring five only one time in the game -- they'll bring six, seven, they just come like crazy."

After taking nine sacks in the season-opening loss to Dubuque, the Knights did not yield a sack in the loss to St. Olaf. Gorsline said the primary reason was the Oles were more of a finesse team than the big and physical Spartans, and that they only rushed four men for much of the game.

Gorsline is concerned enough that MLC will utilize several maximum protection schemes. Protecting senior quarterback Ben Kuerth will mean quite a few two-man routes with the remaining backs and receivers held into block.

Ruck has his own concerns. He remembers well the game against the Knights last season.

"They play extremely, extremely, hard," Ruck said. "And they're very sound in what they do. They just don't have the depth that a lot of the teams they play, or maybe the level of athletes. But you have to be impressed with how hard they play."