Not much went right for the St. Edmond football team in the first half of their return to Dodger Stadium here Friday night.

Alta/Aurelia’s Anthony Krier returned the opening kickoff 77 yards as the Warriors built a commanding 30-0 lead before halftime.

While Alta/Aurelia left with a 50-22 victory, SEHS head coach Matt Dillon believes his message at halftime was received by the Gaels.

“I challenged them,” Dillon said. “I was very disappointed in that first half. We gave up a kickoff return and a fumble return for 16 points.

“But I was proud of the guys for rallying in the second half. We kept playing hard, kept our heads up and made some plays on offense.”

Krier, who also returned a punt 67 yards in the third quarter, finished with 325 yards of total offense. That included 169 yards rushing on just eight carries with three more scores to lead the Warriors (6-2 overall, 3-1 in Class A, District 2).

For St. Edmond (2-6, 0-4), Sean Newell ran for 141 yards and scored on a 65-yard scamper to the end zone, with Peyton Spangler adding 49 more yards and a TD run.

Drew Schaeffer hauled in a perfectly-placed 36-yard pass from Elijah Litwiller for the first score of the contest by the Gaels, who had played back-to-back road games over the past two Fridays.

“We finally got Newell loose and we had some other guys step up and make plays,” Dillon said. “Listen, the bottom line is I’m not disappointed. This is the first year in a building process that is going to take time. We are going to build it the right way and the kids understand that.”

Nick Gaes, a 6-foot-4, 225-pound senior for Alta/Aurelia, had two sacks, caught a 20-yard touchdown pass, averaged 42 yards per punt and made a pair of extra-points. He is receiving attention from a handful of FBS and FCS programs.

“That is as good of a football player as I’ve seen in this league this year,” Dillon said. “He’s a man’s man that checks off all the boxes. I told one of my assistant’s that he is their fixer because wherever we were having success, that’s where he would move and take it away.”

Jackson Bemrich led the Gael defense with a sack, as Schaeffer finished with three receptions for 52 yards.

Alta/Aurelia, which suffered a 20-19 loss to IKM-Manning last week in overtime, can finish tied atop the district with a win vs. Sioux Central next week. The Rebels (7-1, 4-0) knocked off the Wolves (5-3, 3-1) last night, 26-7.

St. Edmond completes its season at home vs. rival Manson Northwest Webster (0-8, 0-4), which fell to Ridge View, 32-19.

SE AA

First Downs 9 12

Rushes-Yards 41-169 32-289

Passing 52 46

Comp-Att-Int 3-8-0 3-8-0

Total Offense 221 335

Punts-Avg. 5-29.8 2-42.0

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties-Yards 6-40 6-65

St. Edmond 0 0 6 16– 22

Alta/Aurelia 16 14 14 6–50

Scoring Summary

Alta/Aurelia — Anthony Krier (77-yard kickoff return), 11:49 left in first. Logan McCoy conversion.

Alta/Aurelia — Nick Gaes (20-yard pass from Logan McCoy), 3:16 left in first. McCoy-to-Krier conversion.

Alta/Aurelia — Krier (47-yard run), 5:33 left in second. Gaes kick.

Alta/Aurelia — Alex DeRoos (2-yard fumble return), :21 left in second. Gaes kick.

Alta/Aurelia — Krier (67-yard punt return), 10:14 left in third. Conversion failed.

St. Edmond — Drew Schaeffer (36-yard pass from Elijah Litwiller), 3:28 left in third. Conversion failed.

Alta/Aurelia — McCoy (64-yard run), 3:16 left in third. Krier run.

St. Edmond — Peyton Spangler (25-yard run), 8:57 left in fourth. Spangler run.

Alta/Aurelia — Krier (53-yard run), 7:26 left in fourth. Kick failed.

St. Edmond — Sean Newell (65-yard run), 5:13 left in fourth. Newell run.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — St. Edmond: Sean Newell 23-141, Peyton Spangler 7-49, Sean Flattery 5-8, Drew Schaeffer 1-0, Jake Rossow 1-0, Elijah Litwiller 4-(minus-29). Alta/Aurelia: Anthony Krier 8-169, Logan McCoy 5-58, Levi Sleezer 5-34, Conrad Falck 4-16, Michael Ryherd 5-9, Trevor Robbins 1-5, Alex DeRoss 1-2, Sam Zimmerman 1-0, Keaton Mork 1-(minus-2), Team 1-(minus-2).

Passing — St. Edmond: Elijah Litwiller 3-8-0-52. Alta/Aurelia: Logan McCoy 3-7-0-46, MIchael Ryherd 0-1-0-0, Conrad Falck 0-0-0-0, Cade Rohwer 0-0-0-0.

Receiving — St. Edmond: Drew Schaeffer 3-52. Alta/Aurelia: Nick Gaes 2-41, Michael Ryherd 1-5.