-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Sam Myer of St. Edmond score a touchdown against Coon Rapids on Friday inside Dodgers Stadium

Matt Dillon has seen this movie play out before involving his St. Edmond football team.

And it doesn’t have a happy ending.

The Gaels, playing short-handed from the start, were unable to overcome Coon Rapids-Bayard here Friday night on Homecoming inside Dodger Stadium, falling 59-34.

Following a road win at GTRA, St. Edmond (3-3 overall, 2-2 in district) was looking to build momentum for the final stretch of the season. Instead, they suffered a third loss over the last four games to put a damper on any hopes of a playoff run.

“We’ve been here in this situation before and it’s so tough to see,” Dillon said. “We lost key starters each of the past two weeks and I look out there and we have young guys — even younger than we were using — in key positions. That is tough on coaches, players and everybody because you just don’t want to be in that kind of situation again.

“It happened last year and it’s happening again. It just feels like (the injuries) are happening to players we cannot afford to have on the sidelines.”

Klay Baker, who was lost for the season vs. Audubon, was joined by Kinnick Henning on the injury report this week. Dominic McClain missed time in the first half and JT Laufersweiler was injured late in this contest.

Laufersweiler, one of two seniors on the team with Leo Ehn, threw for 192 yards and three touchdowns, including a 43-yard scoring strike to Ehn on the first play from scrimmage for the Gaels.

Grant Galles caught five passes for 110 yards and two scores while Sam Myer had a pair of short rushing touchdowns.

“We kept fighting until the end and that’s all you can ask of them,” Dillon said. “We just can’t keep suffering these kind of injuries.”

For Coon Rapids-Bayard (2-4, 2-2), Caden Oswald ran for 216 yards and four touchdowns, Wyatt Oswald added 152 yards rushing and three passing touchdowns, and Ethan Bauer had a key kickoff return just before the half that halted any momentum for St. Edmond.

Down 31-12 after three scores by the Crusaders, the Gaels marched down the field as Laufersweiler hit Galles from 19 yards out. They followed that up with the first 1-yard TD run by Myer to make it a three-point game with under a minute left.

Bauer, though, took the ensuing kickoff back, pushing the lead up to 37-28.

“We had all the momentum and they took it right away from us,” Dillon said. “That was really tough because we felt good going into the half down just three despite not playing very well.”

The Crusaders struck first out of the break and held control of the game from there, rushing for 418 yards and finishing with over 500 yards of total offense.

Aaron Hindt had a sack on defense for the Gaels and Jakob Koopman picked off a pass. Hindt, a freshman, also caught a 35-yard pass that got St. Edmond just outside the end zone before Myer ran it in.

The Gaels return to the road next Friday, taking on Colo-Nesco. The Royals moved to 4-2 on the year with a 46-0 non-district victory over English Valley last night.

SE CB-R

First Downs 14 21

Rushes-Yards 31-112 53-418

Passing 192 83

Comp-Att-Int 8-20-1 5-7-1

Total Offense 304 501

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 3-0

Punts-Avg. 0-0 0-0

Penalties-Yards 5-35 8-59

St. Edmond 12 16 6 0 — 34

CR-Bayard 19 18 8 14 –59

Scoring Summary

Coon Rapids-Bayard — Caden Oswald (2-yard run), 5:36 left in first. Cal Heydon kick.

St. Edmond — Leo Ehn (43-yard pass from JT Laufersweiler), 5:27 left in first. Kick failed.

Coon Rapids-Bayard — C. Oswald (71-yard run), 4:32 left in first. Conversion failed.

St. Edmond — Grant Galles (27-yard pass from Laufersweiler), 2:31 left in first. Conversion failed.

Coon Rapids-Bayard — Heydon (26-yard pass from Wyatt Oswald), :58 left in first. Conversion failed.

Coon Rapids-Bayard — C. Oswald (41-yard run), 11:35 left in second. Conversion failed.

Coon Rapids-Bayard — Heydon (2-yard pass from W. Oswald), 4:20 left in second. Conversion failed.

St. Edmond — Galles (19-yard pass from Laufersweiler), 3:05 left in second. Sam Myer run.

St. Edmond — Myer (1-yard run), :57 left in second. Myer run.

Coon Rapids-Bayard — Ethan Bauer (65-yard kickoff return), :45 left in second. Conversion failed.

Coon Rapids-Bayard — W. Oswald (1-yard run), 6:16 left in third. W. Oswald run.

St. Edmond — Myer (1-yard run), 3:18 left in third. Conversion failed.

Coon Rapids-Bayard — Heydon (18-yard pass from W. Oswald), 11:56 left in fourth. C. Oswald run.

Coon Rapids-Bayard — C. Oswald (47-yard run), 10:35 left in fourth. Conversion failed.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — St. Edmond: JT Laufersweiler 16-84, Sam Myer 13-27, Ethan Swisher 1-6, Aaron Hindt 1-(minus-5). Coon Rapids-Bayard: Caden Oswald 12-216, Wyatt Oswald 15-152, Parker Hays 11-26, Ethan Bauer 7-17, Trey Rosenbeck 3-13, Cal Heydon 1-8, Team 2-(minus-4), Bennett Heidercheit 2-(minus-10).

Passing — St. Edmond: JT Laufersweiler 8-19-1-192, Ethan Swisher 0-1-0-0. Coon Rapids-Bayard: Wyatt Oswald 5-7-1-83, Bryce Lewis 0-0-0-0.

Receiving — St. Edmond: Grant Galles 5-110, Leo Ehn 2-47, Aaron Hindt 1-35. Coon Rapids-Bayard: Cal Heydon 3-46, Kolby Culbertson 2-37.