NORTHWOOD — An impressive victory by the St. Edmond football team was somewhat overshadowed by the often-unfortunate side of the sport here on Friday night.

Early in the third quarter. senior Caleb Schaeffer was tackled on a kickoff. Schaeffer laid on the grass for several minutes as medical personnel attended to him.

Schaeffer was then taken from the field on a stretcher.

According to SEHS head coach Matt Dillon, Schaeffer was transported to a local hospital, but had movement in all of his extremities and was released after further testing.

“It’s such a tough thing to go through as a high school coach,” Dillon said. “You never want to see anyone go down like that. Caleb has given so much to this team and program, and you want to see a kid like that finish out his senior season on the field.

“We’ll know more in the coming days in regards to his injuries, but we are all thinking and praying for him right now.”

The injury left a shadow over a dominating 54-26 win by the Gaels against Northwood-Kensett.

Klay Baker ran for over 100 yards in the first half, Sam Myer did the same in the second and JT Laufersweiler accounted for five touchdowns. As a team, St. Edmond (4-3 overall, 3-2 in district) had a season-high 425 yards rushing.

Myer finished with 169 and three total touchdowns, Baker went for 134 and a score, while Laufersweiler added149 yards passing and 109 on the ground. The junior threw TDs to Schaeffer, Johnny Dickerson and Myer, while running in two himself.

“Klay had a great first half,” Dillon said. “He’s been battling some minor aches, so we wanted to give him a rest and see what Sam could do with Kinnick (Henning) home sick.

“Sam ran like a man on a mission and really had a great night.”

Dickerson finished with four catches for 80 yards and forced a fumble on defense. Myer recovered a fumble, freshman Ethan Swisher picked off a pass and both Baker and Adam Walker had a sack.

Walker, John Nemmers, Tyler McDowell, Dominic McClain and Jonathan Xiao dominated in the trenches for St. Edmond, paving the way for the rushing performance.

“I think that was the best rushing performance in my five years here,” Dillon said. “And a lot of that goes to those guys up front. They were dominating and really got after it right from the start.”

After taking a 6-0 lead following the opening 12 minutes, the Gaels took control in the second quarter, finding the end zone four times against the Vikings (2-5, 1-4). Laufersweiler had a hand in four of the five touchdowns, while senior Alex Tiernan knocked in a pair of extra-point attempts.

Northwood-Kensett ended the shutout in the third on passing TDs by Colby Eskildsen to Kooper Julseth and Michael Janssen. Julseth, a 6-foot-5 sophomore, had 10 catches for 168 yards, while also running in a 52-yard TD for the final points of the night.

Eskildsen, also a 10th-grader, completed 19 of 33 for 263 yards, with most of that coming as he tried to rally his team on Senior Night.

Laufersweiler now has a combined 24 touchdowns on the year, while Myer scored his first three of the season. Baker, also a sophomore, has five rushing TDs and a receiving score, while Dickerson, a senior, has six receiving touchdowns.

St. Edmond will now turn its attention to GTRA next Friday night in the home finale for the Gaels inside Dodger Stadium. The Titans (6-1, 4-1) topped Bishop Garrigan, 66-44.

SE NK

First Downs 26 12

Rushes-Yards 54-425 17-71

Passing 149 263

Comp-Att-Int 8-20-1 19-33-1

Total Offense 574 334

Fumbles-Lost 4-2 5-2

Punts-Avg. 1-34.0 5-27.8

Penalties-Yards 6-45 3-25

St. Edmond 6 28 6 14– 54

N-K 0 0 12 14–26

Scoring Summary

St. Edmond — Caleb Schaeffer (23-yard pass from JT Laufersweiler), first quarter. Conversion failed.

St. Edmond — Johnny Dickerson (10-yard pass from Laufersweiler), second quarter. Laufersweiler run.

St. Edmond — Laufersweiler (24-yard run), second quarter. Alex Tiernan kick.

St. Edmond — Klay Baker (5-yard run), second quarter. Tiernan kick.

St. Edmond — Laufersweiler (6-yard run), second quarter. Kick failed.

Northwood-Kensett — Kooper Julseth (64-yard pass from Colby Eskildsen), third quarter. Conversion failed.

Northwood-Kensett — Michael Janssen (15-yard pass from Eskildsen), third quarter. Conversion failed.

St. Edmond — Sam Myer (9-yard pass from Laufersweiler), third quarter. Kick failed.

St. Edmond — Myer (40-yard run), fourth quarter. Tiernan kick.

Northwood-Kensett — Julseth (6-yard pass from Eskildsen), fourth quarter. Conversion good.

St. Edmond — Myer (1-yard run), fourth quarter. Tiernan kick.

Northwood-Kensett — Julseth (52-yard run), fourth quarter. Conversion failed.

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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — St. Edmond: Sam Myer 19-169, Klay Baker 13-134, JT Laufersweiler 18-109, Jonathan Xiao 1-5, Caleb Schaeffer 1-5, Ethan Swisher 2-3. Northwood-Kensett: Kooper Julseth 1-52, Michael Janssen 3-16, Colby Eskildsen 7-9, Carter Anderson 3-4, Evan Lorenzen 1-(minus-2), Lamonte Sims 1-(minus-4), Team 2-(minus-4).

Passing — St. Edmond: JT Laufersweiler 8-20-1-149, Ethan Swisher 0-0-0-0. Northwood-Kensett: Colby Eskildsen 19-33-1-263, Carter Anderson 0-0-0-0.

Receiving — St. Edmond: Johnny Dickerson 4-80, Caleb Schaeffer 1-23, Dominic McClain 1-15, Klay Baker 1-12, Sam Myer 1-9. Northwood-Kensett: Kooper Julseth 10-168, Nolan Senne 2-36, Nicholas Hanson 3-28, Evan Lorenzen 1-22, Michael Janssen 2-5, Carter Anderson 1-5.