It was not close at the finish of state-ranked Spring Grove’s 48-16 playoff win on Oct. 25, but the first half was tight until Tysen Grinde took an interception 97 yards, the Lions’ second touchdown in the final 46 seconds before halftime. No. 1 section seed Spring Grove (9-0) scored first, but No. 8 seed Houston led 8-7 after the first quarter. But it would be 48-8 before the Hurricanes (1-8) would add another score in the fading minutes at Blayne Onsgard Memorial Field.
Photo by Lee Epps
On offense, Grinde had three receptions, two of which reached the end zone (32 and 14 yards). Caleb Griffin had a game-high five grabs, including two touchdowns (6 and 16 yards) and booted four extra points. Elijah Solum completed 13 of 18 passes (72%) for those four touchdowns with no interceptions or sacks and also scored on a two-yard TD run and a two-point conversion carry. The other rushing touchdown came from senior offensive lineman Ty Cleven, who closed Spring Grove scoring with a one-yard plunge. Hunter Holland was the game’s leading rusher with 101 yards on 10 carries.
With Cleven, Logan Brumm, Brandon Jahnke, Ethan Crouch and Cooper Olson blocking up front, the Lions again displayed a balanced offense with 140 yards on the ground and 196 yards in the air and outgained Houston overall, 336 yards to 183.
The Lion defensive line – Brumm, Noah Blackburn and Emmet Engeldinger – along with linebackers Solum (13 tackles) and Jacob Olerud (10 tackles) limited Houston to 10 yards rushing in the first half. Even with some late success against Lion reserves, the Hurricanes averaged only 1.3 yards per rush (49 yards on 38 carries) for the evening. But the Hurricanes did have some success through the air.
The ‘Canes remained in contention for almost all of the first half with three big pass completions. During a 14-play, 80-yard drive, Morgan Rohweder went deep to Conner Porter for 23 yards to set up a 29-yard TD toss to Ethan Frauenkron for an 8-7 lead with a two-point conversion run by Austin Groth.
The Lions then were denied on downs at the Houston 3 yard-line, but forced the ‘Canes to punt out of the end zone and took advantage of the field position to regain the lead, 14-8. It was a more comfortable 21-8 advantage when the Hurricane aerial attack made things interesting again with a hook-and-ladder, pass & run for 43 yards down to the Lion 18 yard-line.
With the halftime clock running down and the ’Canes threatening to make it a one-score game, Grinde grabbed a tipped pass at the 3 yard-line and then broke a tackle and stiff-armed the last would-be tackler as he raced down the sideline to make it a suddenly satisfying 27-8 margin just two seconds before halftime. It was likely the longest interception return in Spring Grove history.
That pickoff was the only turnover of the game; Rohweder was also sacked three times while completing 10 of 17 passes (59%) for 134 yards. The Lions had no turnovers for the third time in nine games and matched another season-best with only three penalties.
It was the Lions’ 18th straight victory versus Houston, including a 60-30 decision in the season opener. Since 1949, Spring Grove leads the series, 46 to 30 with 3 ties. Grove advances to an Oct. 29 semi-final bout versus No. 4 seed Grand Meadow (6-3) which ousted No. 5 Lyle/Pacelli, 36-22. The Lions defeated the Superlarks, 47-16 in week four.
In other section action, the seeds held as No. 3 Mabel-Canton outscored No. 6 LeRoy-Ostrander, 52-32 while No. 2 Lanesboro eliminated Southland, 35-6.
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Varsity team totals
YARDAGE (rush + pass): SG 336 (140+196); Hou 183 (49+134)
RUSHING: att.-yards (avg.): SG 23-140 (6.1) 2 TD; Hou 38-49 (1.3) TD
PASSES: completions-attempts-interceptions, yards. (TD): SG 13-18-0, 196, 4 TD; Hou 10-17-1, 134, TD
Sacks allowed: SG 0, Hou 3
TD: SG 7 (rush 2, pass 4, defense 1); Hou 2 (rush 1, pass 1)
PAT: SG 5-7 (kick 4-6, rush 1-1); Hou 2-2 (rush 1-1, pass 1-1)
TOTAL PLAYS: SG 41, Hou 55
AVG. yards per play: SG 8.2, Hou 3.3
FUMBLES – LOST: SG 2-0, Hou 1-0
TURNOVERS: SG 0, Hou 1
PENALTIES: SG 3-25, Hou 2-7
3rd downs: SG 3-5, Hou 7-14
4th downs: SG 0-2, Hou 1-3
Red zone: SG 5-6, Hou 1-2
First downs: SG 14, Hou 12
Plays of 20+ yards: SG 5, Hou 3
LION INDIVIDUALS: RUSHING 23-140, 2TD: Hunter Holland 10-101; Elijah Solum 8-40, TD +PAT; Bryce Berns 1-8 ; Ty Cleven 1-1, TD; Jaxon Strinmoen 1-(-8); Team knees 2-(-2)
PASSING 13-18-0, 196, 4 TD: Elijah Solum 13-18-0, 196, 4 TD
RECEIVING 13-196, 4 TD: Caleb Griffin 5-53, 2 TD; Tysen Grinde 3-52, 2 TD; Jaxon Strinmoen 2-36; Hunter Holland 1-44; Ethan Crouch 1-9; Bryce Berns 1-2
XP KICKING: Caleb Griffin 4-6
KICKOFF RETURNS: Caleb Griffin 2-48
PUNT RETURNS: Tysen Grinde 3-40
SCORING 48: Tysen Grinde 18, Caleb Griffin 16, Elijah Solum 8, Ty Cleven 6
PUNTING: none
INTERCEPTIONS 1: Tysen Grinde 1-97, TD
PASS BREAKUPS 4: Jaxon Strinmoen 1, Ethan Crouch 1, Emmet Engeldinger 1, Jacob Olerud 1
FUMBLE RECOVERIES: none
FUMBLES FORCED: none
SACKS 3: Logan Brumm 1, Emmet Engeldinger 1, Elijah Solum 1
TACKLES for LOSS (incl. sacks) 11: Logan Brumm 4.0; Noah Blackburn 2.5; Elijah Solum 1.5; Tysen Grinde 1.0; Emmet Engeldinger 1.0
TACKLES (solo + assists): Elijah Solum 13 (3+10), Jacob Olerud 10 (6+4), Logan Brumm 8 (4+4), Jaxon Strinmoen 7 (4+3), Noah Blackburn 6 (4+2), Tysen Grinde 5 (3+2), Zach Brumm 5 (2+3), Emmet Engeldinger 5 (1+4), Sylas Flatin 4 (1+3), Troy Reinhardt 4 (0+4), Ty Cleven 3 (2+1), Caleb Griffin 2 (1+1), Dash Ranzenberger 2 (1+1), Bryce Berns 1 (1+0), Braedon Solie 1 (0+1), Ethan Crouch 1 (0+1)
Houston INDIVIDUALS
RUSHING 38-49, TD: Austin Swenson 14-54, TD; Austin Groth 5-9; Axel Vix 1-1; Maddox Rodriguez 11-1; Morgan Rohweder 7-(-16)
PASSING: Morgan Rohweder 10-17-1, 134, TD
RECEIVING 10-134, TD: Ethan Frauenkron 3-40, TD; Maddox Rodriguez 0-36; Conner Porter 1-23 +PAT; Zachary Olson 3-16; Austin Swenson 2-12; Axel Vix 1-7
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Spring Grove football 2021
9 wins, 0 losses (8-0 sub-district champion)
W vs. Houston 60-30
W at Lyle/Pacelli 48-20
W vs. Mabel-Canton 56-14
W at Grand Meadow 47-16
W at Southland (Adams) 33-14
W vs. LeRoy-Ostrander 50-21
W at Kingsland 41-20
W vs. Lanesboro 28-6
SECTION
W vs. Houston 48-16
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Lion B-team Football
5 wins, 1 loss
W at Mabel-Canton 54-0
L vs. Kingsland 6-14
W vs. Mabel-Canton 44-6
W vs. Houston 32-0
W vs. Grand Meadow 38-14
W at Lanesboro 56-36
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Lion Junior High Football
2 wins, 4 losses
L at LeRoy-Ostrander 6-26
L vs. Kingsland 14-40
W vs. Mabel-Canton 41-7
L vs. Houston 14-32
W at Lanesboro 48-12
L vs. Southland 26-47
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