Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: Klay Baker of St. Edmond scores a touchdown against Bishop Garrigan on Friday inside Dodger Stadium.

St. Edmond overcame an injury, cramps and the physical play of Bishop Garrigan to post a stunning 42-34 victory here Friday night at Dodger Stadium.

“Wow, that’s really all I can say,” SEHS head coach Matt Dillon said. “That was a phenomenal football game. I don’t know if you’ll see a better eight-player game. Credit to Bishop Garrigan and Marty Wadle because they are going to have a great season.

“I am just so proud of our guys from the players to my staff. They gave it everything they had and left it all out there.”

Sophomore Kinnick Henning darted around and by the Golden Bear defense on third-down late in the fourth for the game-winning touchdown while JT Laufersweiler added the conversion for the final points.

“We waited all game to use that play,” Dillon said. “Kinnick made a perfect read and just used his speed to do the rest.”

Laufersweiler had two passing touchdowns and ran for two more, hitting Klay Baker on both scores. The senior finished with 224 yards passing and another 29 on the ground while Baker had three receptions for 120 and rushed for 78 yards.

For Garrigan, Trayton Cink had 156 yards rushing and three scores before leaving the game while Caden Roethler added 64 yards and a TD.

“That is one of the more physical teams we will see this year and (the Golden Bears) are really going to make a push for their district title because of that,” Dillon said. “I just really can’t say enough about our guys.”

In the season opener, the two rivals who first played each other in 1959 each started fast. Laufersweiler hit Baker on a 35-yard touchdown strike less than two minutes into the game with Garrigan answering less than a minute later on a 44-yard run to the end zone by Cink.

Laufersweiler gave the Gaels a 14-6 lead with a 4-yard scamper of his own late in the first quarter with Baker doing the same on a 1-yard run to make it 20-6.

From there, the Golden Bears took control, scoring three unanswered times on a pair of TD runs from Cink and one by Tate Foertsch. The 69-yard scoring run by Cink with 10:51 to go in the third gave Garrigan a 27-20 advantage.

“We really had to dig down deep and find something there when we went down,” Dillon said. “We had guys out, guys that never cramp, cramping and we were looking for answers.”

Some of that came just before the break when St. Edmond misplayed a kickoff and gave the Golden Bears the ball back on the cusp of the end zone. However, the Gael defense that had just surrendered a score buckled down and forced a stop, limiting the damage.

“That might have been the play of the game,” Dillon said. “If we give up a score there, all the momentum remains on their side. Instead, we sprint into the locker room with the momentum back.”

Laufersweiler made it a one-point game with his second rushing score of the night, but Garrigan responded as Roethler hit paydirt after six consecutive carries. The big plays continued in favor of the Gaels when Baker broke free for 52 yards before hauling in a 15-yard strike from Laufersweiler to make it 34-all.

Following a quick three-and-out by the defense highlighted with the second sack of the night from Koleman Hanson, Henning took the ball and sprinted up the right side of the field for a score.

“Koleman Hanson had himself a coming out party,” Dillon said. “He’s been our scout team defensive end and really causing fits for our offense. He’s a kid that wasn’t expected to play much and here he is having a career night.

“We had several kids that stepped up and really came through for us when we needed it.”

Along with the two sacks by Hanson, Adam Walker also recorded a sack as there was just one turnover in the game.

St. Edmond opens district play next Friday when they head to Collins-Maxwell. Bishop Garrigan heads to West Bend-Mallard for a district contest.

SE BG

First Downs 12 15

Rushes-Yards 31-170 50-292

Passing 224 95

Comp-Att-Int 7-17-0 8-23-0

Total Offense 394 387

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 0-0

Punts-Avg. 4-28.0 4-38.0

Penalties-Yards 4-20 13-75

St. Edmond 14 6 6 16– 42

Garrigan 6 15 6 7–34

Scoring Summary

St. Edmond — Klay Baker (35-yard pass from JT Laufersweiler), 10:20 left in first. Koleman Hanson kick.

Bishop Garrigan — Trayton Cink (44-yard run), 9:22 left in first. Conversion failed.

St. Edmond — Laufersweiler (4-yard run), 2:59 left in first. Hanson kick.

St. Edmond — Baker (1-yard run), 11:50 left in second. Kick failed.

Bishop Garrigan — Cink (6-yard run), 6:20 left in second. Cink run.

Bishop Garrigan — Tate Foertsch (17-yard run), :13 left in second. Sam Plathe kick.

Bishop Garrigan — Cink (69-yard run), 10:51 left in third. Conversion failed.

St. Edmond — Laufersweiler (11-yard run), 1:11 left in third. Conversion failed.

Bishop Garrigan — Caden Roethler (3-yard run), 7:31 left in fourth. Drew Lappe kick.

St. Edmond — Baker (15-yard pass from Laufersweiler), 6:11 left in fourth. Laufersweiler-to-Baker conversion.

St. Edmond — Kinnick Henning (38-yard run), 2:55 left in fourth. Laufersweiler run.

INDIVIDUAL

STATISTICS

Rushing — St. Edmond: Klay Baker 10-78, Kinnick Henning 7-57, JT Laufersweiler 13-29, Sam Myer 1-6. Bishop Garrigan: Trayton Cink 18-156, Caden Roethler 14-70, Tate Foertsch 13-64, Owen Murphy 5-2.

Passing — St. Edmond: JT Laufersweiler 7-17-0-224. Bishop Garrigan: Tate Foertsch 8-23-0-95.

Receiving — St. Edmond: Klay Baker 3-120, Dominic McClain 1-40, Grant Galles 1-33, Sam Myer 1-20, Leo Ehn 1-13. Bishop Garrigan: Sam Plathe 4-66, Drew Lappe 3-16, Benjy Trainer 1-13.