Brainerd Football Focused on Defense Ahead of Home Opener

After a win on the road to start the season, Brainerd football is focused on defense ahead of their home opener this week.

The Warriors opened the past two seasons in similar fashion, where they played a chaotic nail-biter against Buffalo and came out on top both times. It took overtime this year, but they beat the Bison 38-32 last week thanks in large part to nearly 300 yards passing from Malik Lauer and four takeaways by the Warrior defense.

They’ll now face Duluth East this Friday, Sep. 11 for their home opener, with both teams entering 1-0. At Thursday’s practice, the boys shared how they plan to remain unbeaten.

“Just get involved in the run game, make sure they can’t run … on us and be ready for the pass,” said senior captain and DB Michael Beliveau. “Just always rallying to the ball and always just being in the right spot at the right time and making plays for us is just fundamentals.”

“For us, it’s just fundamentals,” added senior captain, safety, and DB Evan Rodahl. “I mean tackling, wrapping up, getting to the ball, and just making big hits and going to the rally. I believe that with our defense we’re going to be able to stop them and our offense is going to go out and score, so we just gotta get turnovers for our [offense].”

This will be the second straight year Brainerd squares off with Duluth East, with the Warriors beating the Greyhounds 38-0 last year. The start time has been moved up from 7 p.m. to 4 p.m. due to expected inclement weather.