Bluestreaks host East Central today

CHISHOLM—His team may have lost to Deer River last week, but Chisholm High School football coach Nick Milani took a lot of positives out of that game with the Warriors.

The Bluestreaks will try to take those positives and carry them over today when Chisholm hosts East Central, beginning at 7 p.m. at Joel Maturi Field.

It was some outside factors that limited the Bluestreaks last week.

“There were a lot of positives,” Milani said. “We had a good game plan going in, but a couple of injuries hindered us in the second half. Our offense was able to move the ball for the first three quarters.

“We made some conversions on third and fourth down that helped keep drives alive. We played well.”

The Bluestreaks’ offense is starting to come around, according to Milani.

“It’s molding into shape nicely,” Milani said. “Lawrence (quarterback Lawrence Oberg) is getting more comfortable at the quarterback position, as well as Charlie (Pearson) being a young running back. He looks more comfortable.

“Hopefully, we can get some chunk plays through the air to open it up for Charlie to run the ball effectively.”

Milani believes his team can get those chunk plays, either through the air or on the ground.

“Teams have done a few different things against them,” Milani said. “Braham ran the ball well against them, and other teams have had success through the air. I always try to go into the game with the mindset of our offense being balanced.

“If one thing starts to work well, then we’ll stick with that.”

Defensively, Chisholm will need to control the line of scrimmage.

“We have to make sure we can stop the run,” Milani said. “They have some big backs that run hard. We have to make sure that we stand them up. They do have a size advantage up front, so we have to make sure we beat them off of the ball.”

The Bluetreaks might be 1-4 this season, but Milani believes that they’re better than that.

“We’re better than our record,” he said. “This far, we’ve played two Class AA schools, and two of the top teams in our section. We’ve had a tough schedule, and we’ve played well against tough teams.

“We have the opportunity to get some wins in the next couple of weeks.”