Freedom showing seed means nothing

FREEDOM - Freedom coach Clint Kriewaldt left a Division 4 seeding meeting a couple weeks ago and unlike most teams in his position, he said he liked being a No. 8 seed.

Kriewaldt looked at the potential matchups for his team and thought it could make a run. Two games into the postseason, Kriewaldt is still coaching, meaning he knew what he was talking about.

"Freedom's never made it past the second round of the playoffs and that was one of the big goals, to do that,” junior running back Nathan Peters said. “So we got that done."

But in order to make 3-for-3 in the postseason, Freedom will need to do something it hasn’t doesn’t this season – beat Little Chute in Friday’s GameTime Game of the Week. The teams met during Week 3 of the season in an Eastern Valley Conference game and Little Chute won a tough 13-6 game.

If Freedom is to pay back No. 2-seeded Little Chute for that loss, it’s likely Peters will need to do more than he did in the first meeting. Peters has rushed for 1,744 yards and 18 touchdowns, but against Little Chute, Peters rushed for “only” 120 yards and a touchdown.

Peters, maybe, can pick up where he left off last week in a 41-33 Level 2 win over Marshall. The junior rushed for 307 yards and five touchdowns. At 5-foot-7, 170 pounds, Peters isn’t imposing, but on the field he is.

"He runs hard,” Kriewaldt said. “I don't think there are too many other kids in the area, or even the state, that you can put him up against that run as hard as he does. For running that hard, he doesn't put the ball on the ground; probably just jinxed ourselves, but he runs hard."

Freedom has defeated No. 1 Chilton, 20-6, in Level 1 and No. 4 Marshall in Level 2. While those wins were impressive, a win Friday would easily outshine those accomplishments.

"It's going to be huge,” Peters said. “We were really mad after they beat us in the regular season, so we want to really put it to them."

Kriewaldt said to-date his team’s success has been great for the area and a Level 3 game against your main rival just adds to the excitement.

“It’s exciting for our community, the school; couldn’t ask for much more,” Kriewaldt said. “Week 3 was very physical, big intensity. It’s going to be two times that times 10.”

Follow Doug Ritchay on Twitter @dougritchay

doug.ritchay@wluk.com