Team Spotlight: Bettendorf Football
- Ethan Horner
- Sep 5, 2018
- 2 min read
The Bulldogs are off to a strong start in 2018, winning its first two games against tough opponents. It opened the season with a win against arch rival Pleasant Valley, with a score of 20 to 0. Last Friday, the team faced a bigger test, in the Trojans of Iowa City West.
West knocked the Bulldogs out of the state tournament last year, and ended Bettendorf’s hopes of another state championship. Bettendorf got its revenge Friday, Aug. 31, with a 10 to 7 victory.
Defense, once again, proved to be the deciding factor for the Bulldogs. Bettendorf hopes to collect another victory Friday, September 7th against Dubuque Hempstead (1-1).
The Bulldog defense is led by senior defensive end, Rocky Schoenfelder. Schoenfelder has accumulated three sacks in just two games in his senior campaign. Schoenfelder is not the only talented player for this defense.
Schoenfelder said, “One player to look out for is Tre Roland.”
Roland is the the defensive end opposite of Schoenfelder. The two players combine for a dominant pass rush and run stopping defense.
The offense is led by senior quarterback Carter Bell, a passer and rusher. Bell has a pair of receivers in Darien Porter, an Iowa State recruit, and Brandon Tillman. In the first two weeks the offense has been in the shadow of Bettendorf’s defense. Although struggling, the offense has gotten the job done nonetheless.
The Bulldogs’ head coach, Aaron Wiley, has high expectations for this talented group. Wiley said that the Bulldogs need to “continue to get better every week and have a chance to compete for a state title in November.”
After two games Wiley said, “It’s good to be 2-0, but we need to play a lot better. We need to clean up the penalties and we need to continue to get more physical.”
The Bulldogs have seven more weeks to prepare for the ultimate goal, a state championship. If the Bulldog defense can continue to keep teams off the scoreboard, and the offense can improve, the Bulldogs should have another successful football season.
