-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Quinten McCarville

WHITING — Matt Dillon was able to send his seniors out just as he wanted here Thursday night.

St. Edmond took advantage of turnover-prone Siouxland Christian, posting a 39-14 victory in the season finale.

The Gaels and Eagles agreed to meet after neither team qualified for the postseason. The game marked the final contest for 10 seniors who started their high school careers during Dillon’s first season as head coach.

“It’s been a group that has been very special to me,” Dillon said. “They helped us start what we have growing here at St. Edmond. It wasn’t always easy, but they stuck it out and I’m very grateful for that.”

Tyler Rossmanith ran for four touchdowns in his final game, Caleb Schaeffer threw two TD passes and had a pair of interceptions on defense, and seniors Quinten McCarville and Zach Smith each caught scores.

St. Edmond’s initial drive of the game saw them move the ball deep inside Siouxland Christian territory before turning it over on downs. The defense, though, got the football right back on an interception by Schaeffer.

Rossmanith punched in the first score to give the Gaels the lead. Three other SEHS drives, though, resulted in no points despite moving the ball with ease.

“We made some adjustments and were able to move the ball much better,” Dillon said. “This was exactly what we wanted. We sent the seniors out with a win and the younger kids got to experience a nice finish to the season as they move into the offseason.”

Siouxland Christian took advantage of the missed opportunities, scoring on an Elijah Claeys run to start the second with the two-point conversion successful to give them an 8-6 lead.

Following a second interception on defense by Schaeffer, the junior found McCarville on the very next play in the back of the end zone for a score.

Back-to-back interceptions by the St. Edmond defense led to the second and third rushing scores of the night for Rossmanith, pushing the lead to 27-8 late in the third.

Rossmanith found the end zone for a fourth time to begin the final quarter. Smith recorded his first career touchdown on a long pass from Schaeffer to bring the score to 39-8.

Schaeffer finished his first season at quarterback with 13 touchdown passes.

“Tyler had an incredible end to his career and Zach got his first touchdown,” Dillon said. “We could have just packed it in after the GTRA loss, but these guys wanted to have one more opportunity and they made the most of it.”

Isaac Landwehr, Johnny Dickerson and Mason Billingsley also had interceptions for the Gaels.

The game marked the final one for seniors McCarville, Landwehr, Smith, Cayne Reed, Rossmanith, Grant Webster, Zach Lawler, Landon Bartlett, Connor Lawton and Emillian Garcia.