ALTA — For the past four Friday nights, St. Edmond head coach Matt Dillon has stood standing on a football field struggling to understand what went wrong.

The Gaels dropped their fifth consecutive game overall and fourth in Class A, District 2 here to Alta-Aurelia, 33-7.

“It’s just so frustrating because I know we are a better football team than this and the kids know it,” Dillon said. “For whatever reason, we just haven’t had that big moment where we get it all going in the right direction. I wish there was an easy answer, but in this game, there are no easy answers.”

St. Edmond (2-6 overall, 0-4 in district) had five first half possessions end on the Alta-Aurelia (5-3, 3-1) side of the 50, including at the Warrior 35, 26, 13 and 3.

Sean Flattery ran for 84 yards and Drew Schaeffer threw his seventh touchdown pass of the season, hitting Parker Oswald as time expired in the second quarter to make it 21-7.

Schaeffer is now tied for seventh on the school’s single-season charts for passing touchdowns.

“We had so many chances there in the first half to tie it or even take the lead,” Dillon said. “We just kept shooting ourselves in the foot. That’s really been the case here since district play started. We’ve struggled with getting out of our own way.”

Alta-Aurelia, meanwhile, flexed its muscle on the ground for the second consecutive season versus the Gaels. They ran for 407 yards as a team, averaging almost nine yards per carry.

Michael Ryherd had 128 yards, including touchdown runs of 80 and 31, with Cade Rohwer adding 82, Preston McCoy 76 and Logan McCoy 63.

The Warriors are playing without leading rusher Anthony Krier and Levi Sleezer, who ran for a combined 207 yards last year in a 50-22 win over St. Edmond.

“We knew they were going to really try and be strong on the ground,” Dillon said. “They took it to us. They are still playing for something in the district race and it showed.”

The Warriors were hoping for a win by Sioux Central over IKM-Manning, but the Rebels fell, 35-12. That gives the Wolves the league title thanks to a victory last week over Alta-Aurelia, 21-7.

On defense for the Gaels, Sean Flattery and Brock Stanek each had a sack, with Kase Baker and Caleb Schaeffer picking off passes.

St. Edmond will close out the year at Manson Northwest Webster next week. The Cougars (2-6, 1-3) defeated Ridge View last night, 29-12.

SE AA

First Downs 12 16

Rushes-Yards 31-99 47-407

Passing 84 36

Comp-Att-Int 6-22-4 4-8-2

Total Offense 183 443

Punts-Avg. 2-27.5 1-40.0

Fumbles-Lost 3-1 4-1

Penalties-Yards 6-80 7-60

St. Edmond 0 0 7 0– 7

Alta-Aurelia 13 8 12 0–33

Scoring Summary

Alta-Aurelia — Cade Rohwer (27-yard run), 5:41 left in first. Logan McCoy kick.

Alta-Aurelia — Michael Ryherd (80-yard run), 3:02 left in first. Conversion failed.

Alta-Aurelia — Gabe Walters (13-yard pass from Rohwer), 6:05 left in second. Alex DeRoos run.

St. Edmond — Parker Oswald (12-yard pass from Drew Schaeffer), 0:00 left in second. Thornton Aljets kick.

Alta-Aurelia — Ryherd (31-yard run), 9:36 left in third. Kick failed.

Alta-Aurelia — Preston McCoy (42-yard run), 2:32 left in third. Kick failed.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — St. Edmond: Sean Flattery 20-84, Drew Schaeffer 1-13, Tyler Rossmanith 2-9, Kase Baker 5-7, Jackson Bemrich 1-2, Devon Wirtz 2-(minus-16). Alta-Aurelia: Michael Ryherd 6-128, Cade Rohwer 8-82, Preston McCoy 7-76, Logan McCoy 8-63, Alex DeRoss 6-18, Justin Gregory 2-11, Nathan Weflen 1-10, Trey Bailey 4-8, Carson Reinert 3-7, Michael Weiland 1-2, Brandon Mier 1-2.

Passing — St. Edmond: Drew Schaeffer 5-15-3-48, Devon Wirtz 1-7-1-36. Alta-Aurelia: Cade Rohwer 4-6-0-36, Logan McCoy 0-1-0-1, Carson Reinert 0-1-0-1, Sam Colerick 0-0-0-0.

Receiving — St. Edmond: Ethan Lursen 1-36, Parker Oswald 2-17, Sean Flattery 1-16, Quinten McCarville 2-15. Alta-Aurelia: Gabe Walters 1-14, Logan McCoy 1-12, Carson Elston 1-7, Michael Ryherd 1-4.