TOUGH STRETCH

Injuries slow Gaels down the stretch in home finale

The 2021 football season has been filled with plenty of firsts and interesting moments for St. Edmond and head coach Matt Dillon.

Many of those, though, have been ones Dillon would -- for the most part -- like to forget.

Injuries again hit the Gaels hard here Friday night, as they were topped by Northwood-Kensett inside Dodger Stadium, 35-18.

Both quarterbacks JT Laufersweiler and Caleb Schaeffer were sent to the sidelines at different moments, along with key two-way player Isaac Landwehr. Schaeffer would return to try and mount a comeback effort, but the Vikings wore St. Edmond down late.

"It's honestly nothing like I've ever seen in 40 years of coaching," Dillon said. "We had guys getting hurt left and right. Two quarterbacks, the only tight end I had left…it's just been really, really tough to go through.

"When we had our lineup out there that we wanted, we did a really nice job on offense. We just couldn't keep it out there."

Schaeffer was 8-for-16 passing for 113 yards with a pair of touchdown passes to Quinten McCarville and Johnny Dickerson. Before he got hurt, Laufersweiler hit McCarville for a score, throwing for 60 yards and catching a 26-yard pass from Schaeffer.

McCarville finished with three catches for 75 yards, Landwehr had two for 52, Dickerson three for 27, Zach Smith one for seven and Tyler Rossmanith had 67 total yards.

"We were clicking," Dillon said. "They had no answer for us on offense."

Northwood-Kensett used a ball-control, ground-oriented attack, rushing 58 times for 339 yards. They opened the game on a 13-play drive that resulted in a field goal by Logan Mayberry.

St. Edmond's first possession featured three plays with Laufersweiler hitting McCarville from 25 yards out. After another long drive by the Vikings, the Gaels marched right back down the field, scoring when Schaeffer hit McCarville to begin the second.

"We knew they would try to wear us down with the run," Dillon said. "We had a couple chances to get off the field, but credit Northwood-Kensett for making the key plays to keep their drives alive."

Tyler Mills, who ran for 130 yards, scored two 1-yard touchdowns in the third to give the Vikings the lead for good. Drew Wilder ran for 136 yards and had a pair of fourth quarter scores to seal the win.

Grant Webster led the Gael defense with a pair of sacks.

Prior to kickoff, St. Edmond honored seniors McCarville, Landwehr, Smith, Cayne Reed, Rossmanith, Webster, Zach Lawler, Landon Bartlett, Connor Lawton and Emillian Garcia.

SE NK

First Downs 14 16

Rushes-Yards 26-115 58-339

Passing 189 6

Comp-Att-Int 12-21-0 1-3-0

Total Offense 304 345

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0

Punts-Avg. 2-42.0 7-40.0

Penalties-Yards 6-70 3-35

St. Edmond 6 6 6 0-- 18

N-K 9 0 13 13--35

Scoring Summary

Northwood-Kensett -- Logan Mayberry (32-yard field goal), 4:55 left in first.

St. Edmond -- Quinten McCarville (25-yard pass from JT Laufersweiler), 4:23 left in first. Kick failed.

Northwood-Kensett -- Tyler Mills (3-yard run), :20 left in first. Kick failed.

St. Edmond -- McCarville (8-yard pass from Caleb Schaeffer), 10:31 left in second. Conversion failed.

Northwood-Kensett -- Mills (1-yard run), 5:45 left in third. Conversion failed.

Northwood-Kensett -- Mills (1-yard run), 4:22 left in third. Mayberry kick.

St. Edmond -- Johnny Dickerson (4-yard pass from Schaeffer), 1:48 left in third. Conversion failed.

Northwood-Kensett -- Drew Wilder (30-yard run), 11:18 left in fourth. Kick failed.

Northwood-Kensett -- Wilder (1-yard run), 2:55 left in fourth. Mayberry kick.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing -- St. Edmond: Tyler Rossmanith 16-65, JT Laufersweiler 2-24, Caleb Schaeffer 6-12, Quinten McCarville 1-10, Johnny Dickerson 1-4. Northwood-Kensett: Drew Wilder 23-136, Tyler Mills 17-130, Dante Sims 11-55, Josiah Kliment 3-24, Team 4-(minus-6).

Passing -- St. Edmond: Caleb Schaeffer 8-16-0-113, JT Laufersweiler 2-2-0-60, Quinten McCarville 2-3-0-16. Northwood-Kensett: Drew Wilder 1-3-0-6.

Receiving -- St. Edmond: Quinten McCarville 3-75, Isaac Landwehr 2-52, Johnny Dickerson 3-27, JT Laufersweiler 1-26, Zach Smith 1-7, Tyler Rossmanith 1-2. Northwood-Kensett: Drake Tiedemann 1-6.