With the start of football coming soon to Linn R-2, eight students in fifth through eighth grade are improving their gridiron skills by participating in the Owensville Youth Football Association’s (OYFA) current fall season. 

Through three weeks of games, the eighth-grade Dutchmen football team, there is a trio of Linn Wildcats — Craig Laughlin, Joseph Brandt, and Jake Bish — donning orange and black uniforms. Sitting at 1-2 through three weeks of games, the eighth-grade Dutchmen have a 54-13 victory over Cuba to go along with losses to Washington and Helias. 

A duo of future Linn Wildcat football players — Owen Reichart and Hunter Bish — are on the seventh-grade Dutchmen football team. After a loss to one Washington team to open the season in late August, the seventh-grade Dutchmen have defeated Cuba 43-7 and another Washington team, 6-0. 

For the sixth-grade Dutchmen, the Linn duo of Ian Laughlin and Aiden Higginbotham has helped the team to a 1-2 start with a 38-0 victory over Cuba in addition to losses to Washington, and Union. 

Sam Reichart and the fifth-grade Dutchmen are still seeking their first victory with losses to Washington, Wentzville, and Union.

All four teams will open the October portion of their season on Saturday, Oct. 2, at Blair Oaks, with fifth-grade action beginning at 10 a.m., followed by the sixth-grade at 11:30 a.m., seventh-grade at 1 p.m., and eighth-grade at 2:30 p.m., in Wardsville.