Matt Dillon quickly focused on a few important things Friday night inside Dodger Stadium following his St. Edmond football team’s heartbreaking loss.
GTRA, ranked No. 9, remained undefeated thanks to great pitching from backup QB Teagan Hanson, earning a thrilling 54-46 overtime victory over the Gaels in Homecoming.
Hanson, who replaced Casey Huff after the senior went down, found Isaiah Malm and hit Jackson Schnell for the conversion.
From there, the Titans (5-0 overall) defense stepped up and got the stop that sealed the victory.
“Losing is never fun, but these kids experienced what playoff football is like.” Dillon said. “The good thing about all of this is that it won’t hurt us in the district, and we know that the next three weeks will decide that.
“Last year we won (against GTRA), but I think it was pretty draining mentally and physically. Now we have an opportunity to turn that around.”
Huff never left the field until going down in the overtime session, finishing the night with 332 yards passing and 131 yards rushing. He threw three touchdowns, scored two more, played defense, and handled punt duties and return kicks.
“He has a special, special talent.” Dillon said. “And give credit to (Hanson) for coming out and making those plays. A very good football team, the third very good football team we’ve played this year already.”
Senior Clay Baker had three rushing scores and 50 yards for St. Edmond (2-3), and Ethan Swisher threw for 191 yards and two rushing scores. Grant Gareth caught eight passes for 118 and Sam Meyer returned the kickoff for a TD.
Aaron Hint ran for 99 yards and a score, 95 of which came in the first half, and GTRA entered intermission with a narrow 14-12 lead. Dominic McClain had four receptions for 51 yards and Swisher rushed for 43 yards.
“I’m disappointed that we lost, but I’m more excited because we played our hardest for four quarters against a really good football team.” Dillon said. “I can’t think of another schedule with three teams going 5-0 like we do.”
The first quarter ended scoreless, but a tip and Baker’s TD run gave the Gaels the lead. Hint contributed to the scoring drive, gaining 47 yards on four rushes.
GTRA went ahead with a score on Huff’s 1-yard dive with nine seconds left in the first half. After Huff threw a touchdown pass to Malm, Meyer took a short kickoff and raced into the end zone.
The fourth was a scorefest, with 32 points up in just over five minutes. The Titans trailed 38-32, but the Gaels tied it and Baker’s third rushing score of the night sent the game into overtime.
St. Edmunds had a chance to win in regulation, but opted for a two-point conversion after a GTRA penalty brought the ball closer.
On defense, Adam Walker, Coleman Hanson and Quintin Jaschke each had sacks.
After two straight home games, the Gaels will now head off to two of three games this week, starting with Coon Rapids vs. Bayard (1-4, 1-2) this Friday. The Crusaders lost to No. 2 Audubon last night, 64-6.
SEG
First Downs 19 21
Rush Yards 41-161 36-117
Passing 191 348
Comp-at-Into 12-26-1 24-34-0
Total number of attacks 352 465
Lost fumble 1-1 0-0
Punt average 3-40.0 5-36.8
Penalty Yards 5-55 10-80
St. Edmund 0 12 6 20 8 0– 46
GTRA 0 14 6 18 8 8–54
Score overview
GTRA — Caleb Swedin (16-yard run), 2nd with 11:06 left. Conversion failed.
St. Edmund — Aaron Hinds (4-yard run), 4:18 left, 2nd. Conversion failed.
St. Edmond — Clay Baker (3-yard run), 1:48 left in the second. Conversion failed.
GTRA — Kasey Hough (1-yard run), 2nd: 09 remaining. Hough to Jackson Schnell conversion.
GTRA — Isaiah Malm (7-yard pass from Huff), 3rd with 2:28 left. Conversion failed.
St. Edmund — Sam Meyer (50-yard kickoff return), 2:17 left, third. Conversion failed.
St. Edmond — Baker (4-yard run), 11:55 left in the fourth. Ethan Swisher to Baker conversion.
GTRA — Malm (14-yard pass from Huff), 10:21 left in the fourth. Conversion failed.
GTRA — Huff (17-yard run) with 9:39 left in the fourth. Conversion failed.
St. Edmond — Swisher (10-yard run) with 8:37 left in the fourth. Conversion failed.
GTRA — Schnell (54-yard pass from Huff), 4th with 6:53 left. Conversion failed.
St. Edmond — Baker (3-yard run), 4th: 24 left. Conversion failed.
St. Edmund — Swisher (10-yard run), overtime. Swisher to Grant Gareth conversion.
GTRA — Huff (10-yard run), in overtime. Huff-to-Landen-Dietrich transformation.
GTRA — Malm (15-yard pass from Teagan Hanson), overtime. Conversion from Hanson to Schnell.
personal statistics
RUSH — St. Edmund: Aaron Hint 11-99, Clay Baker 16-50, Ethan Swisher 7-43, Sam Meyer 3-7, team 4-(minus-38). GTRA: Casey Huff 29-131, Caleb Sweden 3-17, Landen Dietrich 1-(minus-6), Team 3-(minus-25).
Passed — St. Edmund: Ethan Swisher 15-25-1-191. GTRA: Casey Huff 23-33-0-332, Teagan Hanson 1-1-0-16.
Receiving — St. Edmunds: Grant Gareth 8-118, Dominic McClain 4-51, Aaron Hint 2-16, Clay Baker 1-4, Sam Meyer 1-2. GTRA: Jackson Schnell 5-164, Caleb Sweden 9-81, Landen Dietrich 3-45, Isaiah Malm 4-29, Kenny Ness 2-17.
EAGLE GROVE — A 38-0 win over Eagle Grove on Friday night added Munson Northwest Webster to the No. 3 spot.
DODGE CITY, Kan. — The Iowa Central football team will be back on the roads here Saturday for some photo…
HUMBOLDT — No. 6 ranked Humboldt got back on track with a 28-10 win here Friday night.
DENISON — Fort Dodge’s offense scored enough points to make football fans sit up and take notice during the game.