-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla St. Edmond’s Jacob Koopman makes an overhead catch from Audubon’s Aaron Olsen inside Dodger Stadium on Friday.
The first quarter of the last two games has been won by the St. Edmond football team.
Back at Dodger Stadium on Friday night, co-No. 1 ranked Audubon showed the Gaels what it’s like to be on the other side of it.
The Wheelers scored on the first play from scrimmage and scored 18 points in the first 12 minutes en route to a 44-22 win over St. Edmond.
Senior Aaron Olsen, who scored three touchdowns in last year’s 66-48 win over the Gaels, scored four times in the game and rushed for a game-high 189 yards.
“It was awful offensively.” “We just couldn’t match up to what they brought to the plate defensively,” SEHS head coach Matt Dillon said.
“Defensively, we had too many missed tackles, and they were always big tackles that led to touchdowns.”
Audubon (4-0 overall, 2-0 in District 9), which beat Exira EHK 72-0 last Friday night, got touchdown runs of 49 and 56 yards by Olsen and a safety on a blocked punt 11 minutes into the game.
It was a stark contrast to a week ago, when the Gaels (2-2, 2-1) comfortably won at Baxter, scoring 36 points on two interception returns in just under four minutes.
“In an eight-man game, a missed tackle counts as a touchdown.” Dillon said. “Especially when you’re playing against a quality back like Olsen. I told him after the game I’m glad he’s a senior and I don’t think we’ll ever have to see him again because he’s a special player.”
Audubon outshot St. Edmond, 242-107, forcing two turnovers. Carson Wessel threw for 101 yards and ran for another 56 before leaving the game with an injury.
“They don’t do a lot of things, but they do what they do very well.” Dillon said. “They’re a well-coached, disciplined football team and they’re very talented.”
The Gaels, after scoring 144 points in a row, opened the scoring on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Ethan Swisher to Grant Gareth midway through the second quarter.
This came after they were held to just 39 yards of total offense in the first quarter.
Swisher was 12 of 26 for 150 yards and included second-half touchdown passes to Jakob Koopman and Dominique McClain. Aaron Hint ran for a career-high 81 yards.
“We made some plays in the passing game in the second half that we didn’t make in the first half.” “But we have to have a more balanced attack,” Dillon said. “We can’t just be the team that powers the ball up the field and then comes back and does it again.”
“That’s not who we are. Instead, we have to be able to throw the ball, and I thought Ethan has done a great job of that. He made some throws that he probably wishes he could do over, but he’s learning and getting better.”
St. Edmond will look to get back on track next Friday in a non-district match against GTRA. The Titans improved to 4-0 with a win over West Bend Mallard last night.
Audubon, which was tied for first place with defending state champion Bishop Galligan in the first Associated Press poll conducted last week, next hosts Coon Rapids Bayard.
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First Down 13 12
Rush yards 34-107 34-242
Pass 150 112
Comp-Attack-Intelligence 12-26-1 6-12-0
Total Attacks 257 354
Fumble-Lost 5-1 6-0
Punt Average 1-16.0 1-33.0
Penalty Yards 5-27 6-55
St Edmund 0 8 14 0– 22
Audubon 18 12 6 8–44
Scoring Summary
Audubon — Aaron Olsen, 49-yard run, 11:40 left in the first quarter. Conversion from Olsen to Hayden Larsen.
Audubon — Safety (Larsen blocked punt in end zone), 10:17 left in the first quarter.
Audubon — Olsen (56-yard run), 49 seconds left in the first quarter. Olsen to Larsen conversion.
Audubon — Austin Christensen (10-yard interception return) with 7:53 left in the second quarter. Conversion failed.
St. Edmond — Grant Gareth, 24-yard pass from Ethan Swisher, 5:22 left in the second quarter, Clay Baker run.
Audubon — Logan Stetzel, 11-yard pass from Olsen, 2:13 left in the second quarter. Conversion failed.
Audubon — Olsen (41-yard pass from Carson Wessel) with 8:57 left in the third. Conversion failed.
St. Edmond — Jakob Koopman, 19-yard pass from Swisher, 6:08 left in the third. Sam Meyer runs.
Audubon — Olsen (22-yard run), 9:47 left in the fourth quarter. Olsen runs.
St. Edmond — Dominique McClain, 8-yard pass from Swisher, 2:20 left in the fourth quarter. Conversion failed.
Personal Statistics
Rushing — St. Edmond: Aaron Hint 10-81, Clay Baker 11-19, Sam Meyer 1-4, Ethan Swisher 9-3, Coleman Hansen 2-2, team 1-(minus 2). Audubon: Aaron Olsen 18-189, Carson Wessel 13-56, Mason Kasperbauer 1-2, team 2-(minus 5).
PASSES — St. Edmond: Ethan Swisher 12-26-1-150 Audubon: Carson Wessel 5-10-0-101, Aaron Olsen 1-1-0-11, Hayden Larsen 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING — St. Edmond: Dominic McClain 3-47, Grant Gareth 4-33, Sam Meyer 1-21, Aaron Hint 2-19, Jakob Koopman 1-19, Clay Baker 1-11. Audubon: Aaron Olsen 2-39, Austin Christensen 1-32, Logan Stetzel 2-26, Brody Weber 1-15.
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