MAXWELL — The St. Edmond football team hits the road for the first time this week while also opening district play.

The Gaels (1-0 overall) take on Collins-Maxwell (1-0) here Friday night in an eight-player, District 9 contest. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Last week, St. Edmond downed rival Bishop Garrigan inside Dodger Stadium, 42-34, outscoring the Golden Bears in the second half, 22-13.

JT Laufersweiler threw for 226 yards and accounted for four touchdowns, including two passing TD strikes to Klay Baker. Baker had 78 yards rushing with a score and 120 yards in the air.

“Those two are big time players and they made some big time plays for us,” SEHS head coach Matt Dillon said. “We have to lean on them to continue to do that and improve as the season goes forward.”

Kinnick Henning added 57 yards as the Gaels ran for 167 overall and averaged over five yards per carry. Four other players caught passes from Laufersweiler besides Baker.

“It’s hard to put into words just how important that game (vs. Garrigan) was,” Dillon said. “It was a war for 48 minutes and just an incredible win for our guys.”

The defense was led by sophomore Koleman Hanson, who came off the bench to register two sacks. Baker had 13 tackles, Adam Walker had seven with four being for loss and Henning had 7.5 stops including five solos.

Laufersweiler now has 41 career touchdowns including 23 passing. He also went over 2,000 passing yards, sitting at 2,170 entering this week.

Collins-Maxwell used a 32-point second quarter to sprint by GMG, 60-28. Cooper Wierson threw for 231 yards, ran for 116 and had six total touchdowns. The sophomore found classmate Reed Oswalt four times for 107 and a score and junior Josef Dvorak five times for 99 with two TDs.

Wierson completed 45 percent of his passes last year for 387 yards and five touchdowns while rushing for 241 and seven scores. He was also the second-leading receiver with 18 recepions for 312 and a pair of scores.

Dvorak led the team with 329 yards and had 11 TDs.

The Spartan defense also forced four turnovers, including three interceptions with two being by Dvorak.

Collins-Maxwell went 3-5 last year in its sixth season as a program. Previously, the school was combined with Baxter, who is also in the district and will travel to St. Edmond next Friday night.