The Spring Grove defense was dominant; the Lion attack was inconsistent but yet explosive enough to excite the many fans who made the trip to Adams for the 33-14 road win over Southland on Sept. 30. Junior quarterback Elijah Solum had a hand in all five touchdowns – passing for three scores and running for two more. Tysen Grinde caught eight passes for 140 yards, including a 30-yard touchdown and a 42-yard reception down to the Rebel 3 yard-line.
Photo by Lee Epps
Solum hit Jaxon Strinmoen with a 41-yard TD pass on the game’s third play. But winless Southland (0-5, 0-5 East) was the first team to lead the state-ranked No. 6 and unbeaten Lions all season after the Rebels recovered a second-quarter fumble in the Spring Grove end zone for a 7-6 lead. The Lions needed only five plays to regain the lead, including a 41-yard run by Hunter Holland, a 15-yard pass to Grinde and a 2-yard TD toss to tight end Ethan Crouch. That 14-7 lead would hold until halftime, by which time the Grove guys had suffered through all three of their turnovers.
Following the lead-losing fumble in their own end zone, the Lions squandered two scoring opportunities with a fumble at the Rebel 5 yard-line and reaching the 13 yard-line before being halted by an interception. But Grove roared out of the halftime break with three consecutive scoring drives, covering 80, 65 and 60 yards to lead 33-7. Solum scored on 3 and 17-yard scampers and then capped the scoring with a 30-yard TD toss to Grinde.
Caleb Griffin grabbed six passes for 41 yards plus a two-point conversion catch and also kicked an extra point. Griffin shared the tackle lead with Grinde, each with nine stops. Jacob Olerud was in on eight tackles and Logan Brumm six.
While the Lion offense was both hot and cold, the Grove defense limited Southland to minus-7 yards rushing and 175 yards overall. The Rebel offense did not score until their final possession, which accounted for 70 of their total 175 yards. Andrew Timm scored with 3-yard pass from Noah Bauer a minute and 39 seconds before the finish. Southland’s only promising possession of the first half (11 plays, 29 yards) ended with a missed field goal.
The Rebels completely abandoned the ground game after halftime. Except for a fumble, every Southland snap in the second half was a pass or a punt. For the night, Bauer completed 22 of 44 passes for 182 yards with one interception – a splendid diving denial by Strinmoen. Bauer was never sacked, but he was repeatedly pursued out of the pocket by Lion linemen Noah Blackburn, Brandon Jahnke, Logan Brumm and Emmett Engeldinger. Facing that pressure, Bauer was usually on the run before finally lofting a pass. He never opted to keep the ball and run.
Solum rushed for 111 yards and completed 18 of 25 passes for 241 yards and one interception. Holland averaged more than 13 yards per carry while rushing for 160 yards.
That interception was the lone Southland turnover while Spring Grove was losing the turnover battle, 3 to 1, for the second consecutive contest. It was the fourth straight game in which the Lions had the most penalty yardage, in this case, seven flags for 79 yards.
The two programs have split their four 9-man games, but going back into 11-man records, Southland leads the series 12 wins to 4.
The Lion B-team (3-1) blanked Houston, 32-0. But the junior high boys fell to the Hurricanes, 32-14.
————————-
Varsity team totals
YARDAGE (rush + pass); RUSHING: att.-yards (avg.):SG 35-282 (8.1) 2 TD; Sou 10 – (-7)
P ASSES: comp-att-int, yds. (TD): SG 19-27-1, 246, 3 TD; Sou 22-44-1, 182, TD
Sacks allowed: SG 1, Sou 0
TD: SG 5 (rush 2, pass 3); Sou 2 (pass 1, defense 1)
PAT: SG 2-5 (kick 1-3, pass 1-2); Sou 2-2 (kick 2-2)
TOTAL PLAYS: SG 62, Sou 54
AVG. yards per play: SG 9.5, Sou 3.2
FUMBLES – LOST: SG 3-2, Sou 1-0
TURNOVERS: SG 3, Sou 1
PENALTIES: SG 7-79, Sou 5-34
3rd downs: SG 3-9, Sou 3-15
4th downs: SG 0-2, Sou 2-4
Red zone: SG 3-5, Sou 1-3
First downs: SG 21, Sou 9
Plays of 20+ yards: SG 6, Sou 2
LION INDIVIDUALS:
RUSHING 35-182, 2TD: Hunter Holland 12-160; Elijah Solum 15-111, 2TD; Zach Brumm 1-15; Caleb Griffin 1-18; Brandon Jahnke 1-0; Team 5-(-22)
PASSING 19-27-1, 246, 3TD: Elijah Solum 18-25-1, 241, 3TD; Bryce Berns 1-2-0, 5
RECEIVING 19-246, 3 TD: Tysen Grinde 8-140, TD; Jaxon Strinmoen 2-46, TD; Caleb Griffin 6-41; Ethan Crouch 2-11, TD; Logan Brumm 1-8
SCORING 33: Elijah Solum 12, Ethan Crouch 6, Jaxon Strinmoen 6, Tysen Grinde 6, Caleb Griffin 3
KICKOFF RETURNS: Tysen Grinde 2-29
PUNT RETURNS: Tysen Grinde 1-28
PUNTING: Tysen Grinde 2-38 (19.0)
INTERCEPTIONS: Jaxon Strinmoen – no return
PASS BREAKUPS 1: Tysen Grinde 1
FUMBLES FORCED: none
FUMBLE RECOVERIES: none
SACKS: none
TACKLES for LOSS (incl. sacks): Caleb Griffin 1.5 (1 solo, 1 assist); Logan Brumm 1.5 (3 assists); Ethan Crouch 0.5 (1 assist); Noah Blackburn 0.5 (1 assist) ; Tysen Grinde 0.5 (1 assist); Jacob Olerud 0.5 (1 assist)
TACKLES (solo + assists): Caleb Griffin 9 (6+3), Tysen Grinde 9 (5+4), Jacob Olerud 8 (2+6), Logan Brumm 6 (1+5), Elijah Solum 3 (2+1), Ethan Crouch 2 (1+1), Jaxon Strinmoen 2 (1+1), Bryce Berns 2 (0+2), Troy Reinhardt 2 (0+2), Noah Blackburn 2 (0+2), Emmet Engeldinger 2 (0+2), Hunter Holland 1 (1+0), Noah Heppner 1 (0+1), Zach Brumm 1 (0+1), Nathan Crouch 1 (0+1), Josh Newgaard 1 (0+1)
———————-
East Sub-District
Lanesboro 5-0 sub-district (5-0 season)
Spring Grove 5-0 sub-district (5-0 season)
Mabel-Canton 3-1 sub-district (4-1 season)
Grand Meadow 2-2 sub-district (3-2 season)
Lyle/Pacelli 2-2 sub-district (3-2 season)
Kingsland 2-2 sub-district (2-3 season)
LeRoy-Ostrander 1-3 sub-district (1-4 season)
Houston 0-5 sub-district (0-5 season)
Southland 0-5 sub-district (0-5 season)
———————————————-
Spring Grove football 2021
5 wins, 0 losses (5-0 sub-district)
7:00 p.m. kickoff unless noted (series records go back to 1949)
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
Sat. Oct.08…..LeRoy-Ostrander 5 p.m.—last year, L-O 46, SG 6 (L-O has won the last three, leads series 15-13)
Fri. Oct. 14……at Kingsland (Spring Valley)—last year, SG 21, KHS 20 (Lions lead series 3-0)
Wed. Oct. 19…Lanesboro———-last year, LHS 72, SG 27 (Burros have won last two; SG leads series 27-23-3)
———————————————–
B-team Football
3 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
10/03 vs. Grand Meadow – home
10/10 at Lanesboro – away
———————————————————
Junior High Football
1 win, 3 losses
L at LeRoy-Ostrander 6-26
L vs. Kingsland 14-40
W vs. Mabel-Canton 41-7
L vs. Houston 14-32
10/10 at Lanesboro – away
10/17 vs. Southland – home