COON RAPIDS — The St. Edmond football team kicked off a modified three-game season with a convincing 55-22 victory here Friday night over Coon Rapids-Bayard.

Behind two defensive touchdowns just over a minute into the game, the Gaels moved one step closer to securing the first eight-player playoff appearance in school history.

Koleman Hanson, who was 7-for-8 on extra-point attempts, scored on a fumble recovery to set the tone early on the Crusaders, who posted a 59-34 victory over St. Edmond last year.

“That’s about as well of a start as you could have,” SEHS head coach Matt Dillon said. “We’ve been preaching a fast start all week and the kids came out and performed. When you are playing a team down and battling injuries, you have to come out and take it right at them.

“We created turnovers and we were able to get momentum on our side.”

On the very next drive, Sam Myer picked off an errant pass and darted to the end zone for six, giving the Gaels a 14-0 advantage.

Coon Rapids-Bayard would get on the scoreboard to cut the deficit but St. Edmond quickly answered with six straight rushing touchdowns. Aaron Hindt scored three times, Klay Baker had two and Myer one during the stretch.

“We started a little slow on offense but we were able to get going behind our run game,” Dillon said. “You really saw a special performance out of Aaron and he is somebody we are going to rely on for the next two weeks.

“I thought our offensive line did a great job and Ethan (Swisher) made some plays to our receivers when we needed them.”

Jakob Koopman had two catches for 74 yards as Swisher finished with 93 yards passing. Koopman and Dominic McClain, who also had a pair of receptions, both picked off passes.

“Our defense has been playing lights-out,” Dillon said. “They are running all over the field and making plays; it’s fun to watch.

“We’ve got two more regular season games left to achieve our goal.”

St. Edmond returns home to face Colo-Nesco next Friday inside Dodger Stadium.

SE CR-B

First Downs 8 10

Rushes-Yards 25-132 43-144

Passing 93 42

Comp-Att-Int 4-7-0 5-11-2

Total Offense 225 186

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 5-1

Punts-Avg. 1-13.0 2-20.0

Penalties-Yards 0-0 2-25

St. Edmond 14 21 20 0 — 55

CR-Bayard 0 6 0 16 –22

Scoring Summary

St. Edmond — Koleman Hanson (15-yard fumble return), 11:07 left in first. Koleman Hanson kick.

St. Edmond — Sam Myer (10-yard interception return), 10:54 left in first. Hanson kick.

Coon Rapids-Bayard — Caden Oswald (26-yard run), 8:35 left in second. Conversion failed.

St. Edmond — Klay Baker (4-yard run), 6:46 left in second. Hanson kick.

St. Edmond — Aaron Hindt (7-yard run), 4:08 left in second. Hanson kick.

St. Edmond — Hindt (3-yard run), 1:46 left in second. Hanson kick.

St. Edmond — Baker (10-yard run), 11:30 left in third. Hanson kick.

St. Edmond — Myer (12-yard run), 6:32 left in third. Kick failed.

St. Edmond — Hindt (7-yard run), 2:09 left in third. Hanson kick.

Coon Rapids-Bayard — Oswald (2-yard run), 6:15 left in fourth. Oswald-to-Ethan Bauer conversion.

Coon Rapids-Bayard — Bennett Heiderscheit (18-yard run), :40 left in fourth. Bryce Lewis-to-Heiderscheit conversion.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing-St. Edmond: Aaron Hindt 11-54, Klay Baker 7-35, Ethan Swisher 4-35, Sam Myer 1-12, Team 2-(minus-4). Coon Rapids-Bayard: Caden Oswald 18-82, Ethan Bauer 9-50, Wyatt Oswald 12-30, Bennett Heiderschelt 1-18, Bryce Lewis 1-(minus-6), Team 2-(minus-30).

Passing-St. Edmond: Ethan Swisher 4-7-0-93, Ty Mericle 0-0-0-0. Coon Rapids-Bayard: Bryce Lewis 5-9-2-42, Wyatt Oswald 0-1-0-0, Caden Oswald 0-1-0-0.

Receiving-St. Edmond: Jakob Koopman 2-74, Dominic McClain 2-19. Coon Rapids-Bayard: Logan Kenyon 1-21, Wyatt Oswald 2-20, Caden Oswald 1-6, Ethan Bauer 1-(minus-3).