Photo by Barb Paul
Grand Meadow football played a game that finally wasn’t somehow super asterisk-worthy significant. After a season of on-field (and off-field) obstacles, Gary Sloan’s group ended the year with a rousing win devoid of any huge meaning, short of it clinched a perfect regular season. The now #1 in 9-Man Larks beat Nicollet 61-20 to conclude the regular campaign 6-0. GM built a 27-6 halftime lead and led 55-6 early in the fourth quarter. They ground out 343 rushing yards and harvested four Raider turn-overs (making them plus-17 on the season). Dusty Copley (18-130, 4 TDs rushing), Corbin Ludemann (3-61, 2 TDs rushing), and Daniel Smith (10-58, 2 TDs rushing) each scored multiple times on the ground. Three of Copley’s rushing scores came in the third quarter. Smith’s two scores were both in the second quarter. Ludemann’s two scores were both in the fourth quarter. Evan Oehlke (4-6, 49 yards passing, 7-47, TD rushing) also found pay-dirt. Copley added a pair of interceptions on defense. GM (4-0, 6-0) is the only team in the South-East District to go unblemished, though the schedules were unbalanced, meaning no District champion. The Larks are 9-Man Section 1’s 1-seed and are idle in the quarterfinals. They await 4-seed Spring Grove or 5-seed Houston.