Republished from the Columbia Missourian

COLUMBIA — When the Rock Bridge football team lost against Hickman on Sept. 21 in the Providence Bowl, the Memorial Stadium scoreboard read 22-21, but the outcome could be determined by listening. The Rock Bridge faithful released countless groans while thousands of joyous exclamations erupted from the Bruins’ crosstown rivals.

Sophomore quarterback Logan Twehous summed up his feelings in one word.

“Disappointment,” he said. “You always want to be able to beat them. We had opportunities. We just didn’t capitalize on them when they were there. I was just thinking, ‘We’ll get ‘em again.’”

Bruins coach A.J. Ofodile has predicted that the rivals might meet again in district competition. Twehous said he is eager to get another shot at the Kewpies.

“But we’ve got a lot of tough games coming up the rest of the season, so I can’t really skip ahead and start thinking about that yet,” he said.

The first of those games finds the Bruins lining up across a regular foe, Helias Catholic, this Friday.

“They’re a fundamentally sound team,” Twehous said. “Some good linebackers, some good defense. It’s gonna be a good challenge.”

The team, which has lost its past two games, is determined to keep the losing skid in the past.

“It starts off with a good week of practice,” Twehous said. “This week, being able to come out with some fire, being able fly around during practice, prepare well for this week and just be able to focus up and play how we know we can.”

Rock Bridge Stadium will host a home game for the first time since Sept. 7.

“It’s always fun to be able to come out there in front of our fans (and the) loud crowd,” Twehous said. “We’re just ready to start winning again.”

The Bruins’ early season schedule was cluttered with tough matchups, including ranked teams such as De Smet and Har-Ber (Arkansas), in addition to Raymore-Peculiar and Hickman, who accounted for Rock Bridge’s two losses.

Twehous said he thinks the high level of difficulty has forced him to speed up his maturation process in his first season as starting quarterback.

“With the schedule we play, you’ve got to get out there and start settling in as soon as possible with how good they’ve been. And they just keep on coming,” he said.

His sophomore campaign has gone pretty well so far, he said.

“I think I’ve started settling in. You know, still need to make a few more throws here and there each and every game, but I’ve got to make sure I keep on getting my timing down with my receivers and making throws when they present themselves,” he said.

Twehous acknowledged one area that needs improvement.

“The anticipation,” he said. “Throwing it before the receiver makes his cut. That’s part of just trusting the receiver and knowing where they’ll be.”

That trust will be his main focus in Friday’s game, he said.

“We have very talented receivers,” he said, “and I just got to get my timing down with them and trust that they’ll be where they need to be, and I’ll make the throws.”

Original: http://www.columbiamissourian.com/a/153964/rock-bridge-football-looks-to-regain-footing-against-helias-catholic/ (with paywall)