Beach slips up, falls to Central McLean

• Tyler Steffan

Press Photo by Royal McGregor Beach running back Tyler Steffan, middle, takes the ball from quarterback Marshall Nunberg, back, on Saturday afternoon during the 9-man, Region 4 football game at the Badlands Activites Center.

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The Beach football team experienced mental mistakes Saturday that didn’t occur in its season opener.

Central McLean capitalized on those slip-ups, defeating Beach 24-6 in a 9-man, Region 4 game on Saturday at the Badlands Activities Center.

“Central McLean is well-coached team and we got outcoached,” Beach head coach Mike Zier said. “I didn’t have my team ready and we have to go back and get ready. We turned the ball over too many times and made too many mistakes.”

When the Cougars (1-1, 1-1 Region 4) needed a leader after a tough loss to Shiloh Christian on Tuesday, they looked to senior quarterback Aaron Mormann.

“He’s a very good athlete,” Central McLean head coach Kevin Dockter said. “Last year, he spent a lot of time at running back and wide receiver. Aaron did a heck of a job. I think he’s capable of being a dual threat.”

The senior quarterback delivered.

He completed three passes in the first half, but two of the three passes went to Nathan Rauhauser for 19- and 10-yard touchdowns.

Mormann wasn’t finished there, carrying the ball 13 times for 81 yards and two touchdowns.

Beach (1-1, 1-1 Region 4), on the other hand, had trouble getting its offense going. The Buccaneers turned the ball over three times — two on fumbles and another on a Marshall Nunberg interception.

Central McLean held the edge in total yards at halftime, 143 to 127.

“That’s an example of a team that hasn’t played together a lot,” Zier said. “We’ll go in spurts and we’ll look good on offense, then boom, we’ll fizzle out inside the 20 or 15.”

Tyler Steffan led the Buccaneers’ running game with 15 carries for 66 yards, while Nunberg ran five times for 48 yards and had their lone touchdown in the game.

“Marshall (Nunberg) did a good job,” Zier said. “We were able to hone the option, which looked terrible in Parshall. We still put the ball on the turf, which is unacceptable.”

Dockter said his defense gave a bounce-back performance after giving up 38 points to Shiloh.

Not only did the Cougars cause three turnovers, they made quality stands in the red zone.

“The other night we did not play well at all,” Dockter said. “I was really proud of our defense having a quick turnaround.”

Despite not winning, Beach wants to learn week-by-week and be a factor as the season progresses.

“We’ve got to work hard and bust our tails in practice,” Nunberg said. “We have to hone up on a lot of little mental mistakes. We had a couple drives in the red zone. We just have to execute.”

Beach 0 6 0 0 — 6

CM 6 12 6 0 — 24

First quarter

CM–Nathan Rauhauser 19 pass from Aaron Mormann (run failed), 4:43.

Second quarter

CM–Rauhauser 10 pass from Mormann (run failed), 9:45.

CM–Rauhauser 3 run (pass failed), 5:08.

B–Marshall Nunberg 1 run (run failed), :00.

Third quarter

CM–Mormann (run failed), 5:34.

Fourth quarter

No scoring.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: B, Tyler Steffan 15-66, Marshall Nunberg 5-48, Kirby Maus 6-17. CM, Aaron Mormann 13-81, Dalton Hirschorn 16-93, Dylan Ruff 16-60.

PASSING: B, Nunberg 1-4-1, 50, Maus 1-1-0, 2. CM, Mormann 3-9-0, 29.

RECEIVING: B, Zachmann 1-50, Danny Skoglund 1-2. CM, Rauhauser 2-29.

Tags: high school football, central mclean cougars, beach buccaneers, sports, preps