-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Jakob Koopman of St. Edmond makes the catch over Audubon Aaron Olsen on Friday inside Dodgers stadium

The first quarters of the past two games have belonged to the St. Edmond football team.

Back here inside Dodger Stadium on Friday night, co-No. 1 Audubon showed the Gaels what it feels like to be on the other end of that.

The Wheelers scored on their first play from scrimmage as part of an 18-point opening 12 minutes, claiming a 44-22 victory over St. Edmond.

Aaron Olsen, a senior who had three touchdowns vs. the Gaels last year in a 66-48 win, accounted for four scores in this one, rushing for a game-high 189 yards.

“It was an abomination offensively,” SEHS head coach Matt Dillon said. “We didn’t meet the force that they brought on defense.

“Defensively, we missed way too many tackles — and they were key ones that seemed to always result in touchdowns.”

Coming off a 72-0 win last Friday night over Exira-EHK, Audubon (4-0 overall, 2-0 in District 9) received 49- and 56-yard TD runs by Olsen in the first 11 minutes of play along with a blocked punt that resulted in a safety.

It was a stark contrast from a week ago when the Gaels (2-2, 2-1) scored 36 points in just under four minutes with two interception returns in an easy win at Baxter.

“Missed tackles in the eight-player game result in touchdowns,” Dillon said. “Especially against quality backs like Olsen. I told him after the game I’m glad he’s a senior and we won’t have to see him again because he is a special, special player.”

Audubon out-rushed St. Edmond 242-107 and forced a pair of turnovers. Carson Wessel threw for 101 yards and added 56 more rushing before leaving the game with an injury.

“They don’t do a lot, but what they do, they do it very well,” Dillon said. “They are a well-coached, disciplined football team, and they’re very good.”

Coming off back-to-back wins in which they scored 144 points, the Gaels got on the board with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Ethan Swisher to Grant Galles midway through the second.

That came after being held to just 39 yards of total offense in the first.

Swisher finished the night 12 of 26 for 150 yards, hitting both Jakob Koopman and Dominic McClain on second half TD passes. Aaron Hindt ran for a career-high 81 yards.

“We made some plays in the passing game in the second half that we didn’t in the first,” Dillon said. “But we’ve got to be a more balanced offense. We’re not going to be the kind of team that’s just going to power the football down the field and come back and do it again.

“That’s not who we are. Instead, we’ve got to be able to throw the ball and I thought Ethan did a nice job of that. He had some throws I’m sure he’d like to have back but he’s learning and getting better.”

St. Edmond will look to get back on track when they host GTRA in a non-district affair next Friday. The Titans improved to 4-0 with a win over West Bend-Mallard last night.

Audubon, who shared the No. 1 spot in the first Associated Press poll this past week with defending state champion Bishop Garrigan, hosts Coon Rapids-Bayard next.

SE A

First Downs 13 12

Rushes-Yards 34-107 34-242

Passing 150 112

Comp-Att-Int 12-26-1 6-12-0

Total Offense 257 354

Fumbles-Lost 5-1 6-0

Punts-Avg. 1-16.0 1-33.0

Penalties-Yards 5-27 6-55

St. Edmond 0 8 14 0– 22

Audubon 18 12 6 8–44

Scoring Summary

Audubon — Aaron Olsen (49-yard run), 11:40 left in first. Olsen-to-Hayden Larsen conversion.

Audubon — Safety (Larsen blocked punt in end zone), 10:17 left in first.

Audubon — Olsen (56-yard run), :49 left in first. Olsen-to-Larsen conversion.

Audubon — Austin Christensen (10-yard interception return), 7:53 left in second. Conversion failed.

St. Edmond — Grant Galles (24-yard pass from Ethan Swisher), 5:22 left in second. Klay Baker run.

Audubon — Logan Stetzel (11-yard pass from Olsen), 2:13 left in second. Conversion failed.

Audubon — Olsen (41-yard pass from Carson Wessel), 8:57 left in third. Conversion failed.

St. Edmond — Jakob Koopman (19-yard pass from Swisher), 6:08 left in third. Sam Myer run.

Audubon — Olsen (22-yard run), 9:47 left in fourth. Olsen run.

St. Edmond — Dominic McClain (8-yard pass from Swisher), 2:20 left in fourth. Conversion failed.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — St. Edmond: Aaron Hindt 10-81, Klay Baker 11-19, Sam Myer 1-4, Ethan Swisher 9-3, Koleman Hansen 2-2, Team 1-(minus-2). Audubon: Aaron Olsen 18-189, Carson Wessel 13-56, Mason Kasperbauer 1-2, Team 2-(minus-5).

Passing — St. Edmond: Ethan Swisher 12-26-1-150 Audubon: Carson Wessel 5-10-0-101, Aaron Olsen 1-1-0-11, Hayden Larsen 0-1-0-0.

Receiving — St. Edmond: Dominic McClain 3-47, Grant Galles 4-33, Sam Myer 1-21, Aaron Hindt 2-19, Jakob Koopman 1-19, Klay Baker 1-11. Audubon: Aaron Olsen 2-39, Austin Christensen 1-32, Logan Stetzel 2-26, Brody Weber 1-15.