Both the Spring Grove and Grand Meadow B-team boys had a balanced attack, but the Lions had more than twice as much yardage both on the ground (130 to 55) and in the air (142 to 68) in a convincing 32-6 Spring Grove road win on Oct. 4. The Lions improved to 2-0 with a third straight B-team triumph over the Superlarks by a combined score of 90-12.
Opening holes in the trenches and pass-blocking without allowing a sack were four freshman linemen – Emmett Engeldinger, Shawn Crouch, Brandon Jahnke and Nathan Crouch. The defensive line included sophomores Austin Conway and Josh Newgaard, the latter credited with the game’s only quarterback sack.
Spring Grove seized control with a ground game and a punt return before putting the game away with passes. After the teams exchanged first-possession turnovers, freshman Zach Brumm scored on a 14-yard run and then with a 77-yard punt return.
The Superlarks’ only big-yardage play, a deep 48-yard touchdown pass from Timothy Hogfeldt to Dalton Pischke, sliced the Lion lead down to 14-6 in the second quarter. But the score was that close for only three plays. Spring Grove freshman Caleb Eiken completed a 34-yard pass to sprinting Jacob Olerud down to the GM 12 yard-line. Brumm ran it in on the next play, and it was 20-6.
Photo by Lee Epps
On the next Grove possession, Eiken threw to a leaping, double-covered freshman Bryce Berns for 19 yards, which followed by a 12-yard Brumm run, set up a two-yard TD carry by freshman Sylas Flatin to make it 26-6 just a half-minute before halftime.
The only score in the second half came with Lions’ longest drive of the game, a 10-play, 70-yard possession that featured Eiken’s 23-yard toss to Berns and 22-yard completion to Olerud before a 25-yard short pass, long run touchdown connection with Flatin.
Eiken completed 9 of 13 passes (69%) to four receivers. In addition to Flatin’s TD reception, Berns reeled in four passes (46 yards) and also intercepted a Superlark pass. Olerud caught two tosses (56 yards) and Nathan Crouch another two (15 yards). Brumm scored the first three touchdowns with two runs and a punt return (plus a 2-point conversion carry). Flatin then added the final two touchdowns with a run and a pass reception. One offensive shortcoming was converting only one of five extra-points attempts.
Except for the Superlarks’ 48-yard TD pass, the Lion defense dominated, limiting the Larks to only 95 yards on their 37 other plays (2.6 yards per snap). After being stung by Brumm’s touchdown punt return, Grand Meadow did not punt again, but was denied on all four fourth-down plays. The Lion defense stopped all seven Superlark third-down attempts. Nathan Crouch was in on 13 tackles with Olerud making 9 stops, including two for loss.
Photo by Lee Epps
Both teams had a pair of turnovers, and turnovers came in pairs. The game began with Engeldinger falling on a Superlark fumble. Two plays later, Grand Meadow had the ball back with an interception. Later, after the Larks scored on the long pass play, their next aerial attempt was picked off by Berns who promptly lost possession after a 10-yard return.
———————————————-
Spring Grove 32, Grand Meadow 6
SG—14—12—6—0 = 32
GM—0—-6—0—0 = 6
Team totals
YARDAGE (rush + pass): SG 272 (130+142); GM 123 (55+68)
RUSHING: att.-yards (avg.): SG 25-130 (5.3) 3TD; GM 32-55 (1.7)
PASSES: comp-att.-int, yds. (TD): SG 9-13-1, 142 yds. (TD); GM 4-6-1, 68 yds. (TD)
Sacks allowed: SG 0, GM 1
TD: SG 5: (3 rush, 1 pass, 1 special team); GM 1pass
PAT: SG 1-5 (1-2 run, 0-3 pass); GM 0-1 (0-1 pass)
TOTAL PLAYS: SG 38, GM 38
AVG. yards per play: SG 7.2, GM 3.2
FUMBLES – LOST: SG 2-1, GM 4-1
TURNOVERS: SG 2, GM 2
PENALTIES: SG 7-43, GM 4-22
3rd downs: SG 2 for 5, GM 0 for 7
4th downs: SG 1 for 1, GM 0 for 4
Red zone: SG 3 for 4, GM 0 for 0
First downs: SG 10, GM 6
Plays of 20+ yards: SG 5, GM 1
——————————-
LION INDIVIDUALS:
RUSHING: Zach Brumm 9-78, 2TD +PAT; Sylas Flatin 12-45, TD; Bryce Berns 1-7; Caleb Eiken 1-2; team 2-(-2)
PASSING: Caleb Eiken 9-13-1, 42 yds., TD
RECEIVING 9-142: Jacob Olerud 2-56; Bryce Berns 4-46; Sylas Flatin 1-25, TD; Nathan Crouch 2-15
KICKOFF RETURNS: Bryce Berns 1-5; Jacob Olerud 1-2
PUNT RETURNS: Zach Brumm 1-77, TD
SCORING 32: Zach Brumm 20, Sylas Flatin 12
PUNTING: Gavin Ostern 2-65 (32.5 avg.)
INTERCEPTIONS: Bryce Berns 1-10
PASS BREAKUPS: Troy Reinhardt 1
BLOCKED PUNTS: none
FUMBLE RECOVERIES: Emmett Engeldinger 1
FUMBLES FORCED: none
SACKS: Josh Newgaard 1
TACKLES for LOSS (incl. sacks) 5: Josh Newgaard 1½, Jacob Olerud 1½, Gavin Ostern 1, Brandon Jahnke 1
TACKLES (solo + assists): Nathan Crouch 13 (6+7), Jacob Olerud 9 (5+4), Bryce Berns 5 (4+1), Brandon Jahnke 5 (3+2), Shawn Crouch 5 (2+3), Gavin Ostern 5 (2+3), Emmett Engeldinger 5 (0+5), Zach Brumm 3 (2+1), Troy Reinhardt 2 (2+0), Josh Newgaard 2 (1+1), Asher Liptack 1 (0+1)