Football season opener game preview: LP/HT

Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity finished the 2011 season with a 9-2 record. They won the Section 4A championship and lost a nailbiter 35-34 in the Class A state quarterfinals to Blooming Prairie. In regular season play, they won a share of the Gopher Valley Conference title.

The Bulldogs edged the Jaguars 22-21 in the Section 4A semifinals before beating Kimball Area 22-14 in overtime in the section title game.

The Bulldogs have 13 players returning from last year with starting experience. Five of those 13 are just juniors this year and started as 10th graders last year.

B-B-E, meanwhile, has six returning players on offense. Two are senior captains Patrick Rooney and Ross Rath. The other two captains are juniors Austin Kollman and Brian Goodwin.

LP/HT head coach Joe Scoblic (in his 23rd season as head coach with a career record of 133-90) reported to the Howard Lake Herald Journal that a clear strength will be their offensive line, which he described as one of his best. They lost two linemen from the 2011 squad to graduation.

Another big loss to graduation was their bruising fullback, Sam Scoblic, who rushed for 1,000 yards his senior year.

Scoblic's report on the Section 4A field was as follows:

The Bulldogs will, once again, be in Section 4A, but the section will have a much different look in 2012.

Kimball, the team LP/HT defeated in the Section 4A title game last year is out, having moved up to Class 2A.

Teams which will challenge LP/HT for the right to go to the Class 1A state tournament should be Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City, MACCRAY, and Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg.

“All those teams are tough,” Scoblic said.

It should be another very exciting Section 4A tournament when the playoffs roll around.

Additional game preview notes will be added tonight! Stay tuned.