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Bears blank Gaels, 52-0

ALGONA — For years now, Marty Wadle and Chad Hall have worked side-by-side in building a dynasty around the Bishop Garrigan football program as head coach and defensive coordinator.

With St. Edmond — the top-rated rushing team in Class A — the opponent here Friday night, the Golden Bears flexed their might.

No. 3 (Class A) Bishop Garrigan held the Gaels to 83 yards on the ground, scoring seven offensive touchdowns on its way to a commanding 52-0 victory as the school celebrated the 60th homecoming.

“Coach Hall and I talked all week about taking a lot of pride in playing good defense,” Wadle said. “We have been so fortunate to have good defenses the majority of the years here. We just asked the kids to play defense the way they are capable — not make mistakes or hit the wrong gaps, and play physical.”

Brad Capesius, a senior three-year starter at quarterback, threw three touchdown passes and ran in another as the Golden Bears (4-0 overall) stretched their regular season win streak to 31 in a row.

Capesius was 9-for-11 passing for 147 yards, a week after rushing for over 200 yards. He is now 25-2 as a starter with 28 career passing touchdowns and 14 rushing scores.

TJ Schnurr hauled in two of those TD passes, with Tristan Furgeson also finding paydirt through the air. Eric Thul, Sam Vaske and Derrick Kirsch had rushing touchdowns, with Vaske also scoring three conversions.

“Our offense really put on a show starting with our offensive line,” said Schnurr, who has committed to play basketball at Morningside next year. “We really wanted to show that we can move the ball in the air and on the ground just as well.

“Defensively, we knew they were leading (Class A) in rushing, so we took that as a personal challenge and stepped up big at every position.”

A week ago, St. Edmond (2-2) rushed for almost 500 yards in a win over Eagle Grove. Against one of the top defensive units on a regular basis in BGHS, they were held to just 2.7 yards per carry and without a first down in the opening half.

Sean Newell had a team-high 44 yards, with Sean Flattery adding 41. Mason O’Brien recorded a sack on defense and Peyton Spangler recovered a fumble.

“(Bishop Garrigan) is bigger, faster and better than we are right now; it’s that simple,” SEHS head coach Matt Dillon said. “We played hard, we just couldn’t get anything right all night long. Credit to them because that’s the program we are striving to be.

“They are outstanding, physical, bring it at you every single down, and they have players on both sides of the field.”

The Golden Bears were methodical right from the start, as Capesius put together an 11-play drive that covered 54 yards and took up over seven minutes of the clock. That ended with a Thul score from a yard out.

Garrigan converted all three of its third-down attempts on the drive and five in a row to open the game.

After forcing a quick three-and-out, the Golden Bears marched 61 yards on 13 plays, including a huge third-and-19 pass from Capesius to Schnurr, as the quarterback called his own number this time.

Garrigan out-gained St. Edmond 206-2 in the opening 24 minutes 7-for-9 on third-down during that time.

“That’s not going to happen every Friday night,” Wadle said of the third-down conversions. “We were very fortunate, and anytime you have that kind of efficiency, you’ll have success.”

Even when the Gaels forced a punt the Golden Bears took advantage, as Marcus Plathe booted a 66-yarder that pinned SEHS on its own five.

Aidan Koob had a sack for the Garrigan defense, with Capesius recording an interception. Vaske and Isaiah Plathe each recovered fumbles.

“We played like the upstart and they played like veterans,” Dillon said. “We couldn’t get off the field after putting them in tough yardage situations early on. We also had a couple of chances for turnovers and couldn’t quite capitalize on them.”

The Gaels now prepare for their first district game next Friday, returning home to host IKM-Manning (2-2), who fell to East Sac County last night, 16-14. The Golden Bears travel to No. 8 West Hancock (3-1), a 50-13 winner over Forest City.

SE BG

First Downs 4 16

Rushes-Yards 31-83 37-200

Passing 0 147

Comp-Att-Int 0-2-1 9-11-0

Total Offense 83 347

Punts-Avg. 4-34.5 1-66.0

Fumbles-Lost 5-2 3-1

Penalties-Yards 4-25 3-20

St. Edmond 0 0 0 0– 0

Garrigan 8 24 12 8–52

Scoring Summary

Bishop Garrigan — Eric Thul (1-yard run), 6:45 left in first. Preston Kohlhaas run.

Bishop Garrigan — Brad Capesius (9-yard run), 10:35 left in second. Sam Vaske run.

Bishop Garrigan — Tristan Furgeson (45-yard pass from Capesius), 6:32 left in second. Vaske run.

Bishop Garrigan — T.J. Schnurr (26-yard pass from Capesius), 1:57 left in second. Vaske run.

Bishop Garrigan — Schnurr (20-yard pass from Capesius), 10:16 left in third. Kick failed.

Bishop Garrigan — Vaske (44-yard run), 6:07 left in third. Kick failed.

Bishop Garrigan — Derrick Kirsch (1-yard run), 4:28 left in fourth. Marcus Plathe-to-Joey Trainer conversion.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — St. Edmond: Sean Newell 18-44, Sean Flattery 6-41, Kase Baker 3-5, Peyton Spangler 3-0, Eli Litwiller 1-(minus-7). Bishop Garrigan: Sam Vaske 5-56, Colby Graves 5-52, Preston Kohlhaas 8-40, Eric Thul 7-28, Brad Capesius 7-12, Derrick Kirsch 3-11, Marcus Plathe 2-1.

Passing — St. Edmond: Eli Litwiller 0-2-1-0. Bishop Garrigan: Brad Capesius 9-11-0-147, Marcus Plathe 0-0-0-0.

Receiving — Bishop Garrigan: T.J. Schnurr 3-68, Tristan Furgeson 2-54, Sam Vaske 1-9, Preston Kohlhaas 1-8, John Meis 1-4, Kellen Murphy 1-4.

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