(West Des Moines) — Fremont-Mills football entered a year of unknowns with a statement win behind an explosion on Saturday.
The Knights displayed brilliant balance, relying on a big-play passing attack and efficient ground game to kick off 2024 with a dominant 57-28 win over Turkey Valley.
“I’m just really proud of our kids,” Fremont-Mills head coach Greg Ernster said after the win. “We had a lot of young kids step up tonight. I’m excited about the growth of our team going forward.”
The Knights exploded for 546 yards with a balanced offense that produced 294 through the air and 252 on the ground.
Turkey Valley opened the game with a 65-yard touchdown on their third play to take an early 6-0 lead. However, F-M aptly responded with a 46-yard touchdown from Sawyer Forney to JW Linkenhoker to take a 7-6 lead. Forney and Linkenhoker connected again on the next drive, this time from 47 to grow the advantage to 13-6.
Turkey Valley answered with another big play of their own, only for Forney and Linkenhoker to hook up on their third touchdown of the first quarter with a 50-yard score. A TD pass from Forney to Paxton Campbell gave the Knights a 26-12 lead after one and they added two more scores in the first half on a rushing score by Linkenhoker and on a touchdown toss from Forney to Carter Rycroft to give F-M a 38-20 lead in the half.
Forney added another passing touchdown in the second half while the ground game found the end zone twice with Johnathan Ekpai and Aidyn Kling.
Forney was cool, calm and collected on Saturday, completing 12 of his 20 pass attempts for 294 yards and six touchdowns — one score less than his 2023 total
“I just had to trust my receivers more,” Forney said.
“He took a lot of time this offseason,” Ernster said. “He has a leadership role. I’m proud of the effort he put in. It showed tonight.”
Linkenhoker caught four passes for 171 yards and three touchdowns to go with his rushing touchdown.
“It was amazing,” Linkenhoker said. “The younger guys stepped up and made the older guys’ game easier.”
“JW is a tremendous athlete,” Ernster said. “And Sawyer is a great quarterback. Give Sawyer some time and let an athlete do his thing. That’s what happened tonight.”
Junior Jonathan Ekpai led the FM ground attack with 155 yards on 19 carries.
“Our two backs (Ekpai and Campbell) did a great job,” Ernster said. “And the passing game really helped the run game.”
Forney also sparked Fremont-Mills’ defense with a pair of interceptions. Turkey Valley showed big-play ability with the combo of Logan Busta and JD Kruse. Busta threw for 231 yards and three scores, while Kruse had 185 of those yards for three scores.
With a season-opening win under their belt, Fremont-Mills turns their attention to a date with KMA Sports State No. 4 Lenox. The Tigers have had F-M’s number in each of the last four meetings, winning the last three by an average of 25.3 points per game.
Click below to view the full interviews with Forney, Linkenhoker and Coach Ernster.
