AUDUBON — Despite the loss of two starters and four turnovers, the St. Edmond football team still gave themselves a chance here Friday night against Audubon.

In the end, though, the ground attack of the Wheelers was too much, falling 66-48.

Junior running back/linebacker Klay Baker suffered a season-ending injury in the first half, while sophomore defensive back Ethan Swisher was also lost before the break.

JT Laufersweiler and Grant Galles picked up the offensive load, connecting six times for 182 yards, with five of those receptions going for touchdowns. Laufersweiler finished the night 9-for-22 passing for 243 yards while leading the Gaels (2-2 overall, 1-2 in the district) with 99 yards on the ground.

Galles had six catches for 182 yards, setting career-high numbers for the sophomore. Sam Myer added 83 yards rushing and Kinnick Henning 48.

“Listen, the end result was not what we wanted…but I am so proud of the effort of this team,” SEHS head coach Matt Dillon said. “We lost guys early to injury, we had some weird plays not go our way, we didn’t win the turnover battle, but we still gave ourselves an opportunity to be in this game against a very talented team.

“We’ll work on figuring out what we need to do next, but as far as the effort, I am so proud of it.”

Audubon (3-1, 2-0) was powered by the two-headed attack of Evan Alt and Aaron Olsen. Alt ran for 240 yards and scored four rushing touchdowns with a punt return while Olsen had 144 and two TDs.

The two teams combined for seven scores in the first 12 minutes of the game alone, racking up almost 600 yards of total offense before the break. The Wheelers ran for 266 during that time to take a 38-28 lead.

“We knew it was going to be a battle that might end up with the last team with the ball winning,” Dillon said. “Our defense made some key stops in the first half but we just couldn’t take advantage.”

Down 30 in the fourth, St. Edmond climbed back within striking distance on a pair of Laufersweiler-to-Galles touchdowns that came during a 20-second span after they recovered an onside kick.

“With this team, seeing them try with everything they had to make it a game until the end was something we can build off of,” Dillon said. “We have a group that wants to win and wants to get better and build this program.”

The Gaels will remain on the road for a second consecutive week, taking on non-district foe GTRA next Friday night in Ruthven.

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Rushing – St. Edmond: JT Laufersweiler 10-99, Sam Myer 12-83, Kinnick Henning 7-48, Klay Baker 5-24, Team 2-(minus-20). Audubon: Evan Alt 24-240, Aaron Olsen 27-144, Edward Miller 1-60, Ezekiel Konkler 3-20, Evan Christensen 2-10, Carson Wessel 1-1, Team 4-(minus-14).

Passing – St. Edmond: JT Laufersweiler 9-22-2-243. Audubon: Aaron Olsen 2-6-0-49, Carson Wessel 0-0-0-0.

Receiving – St. Edmond: Grant Galles 6-182, Leo Ehn 3-61. Audubon: Edward Miller 2-49.