-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Grant Galles of St. Edmond makes a catch for a touchdown against Fremont on Friday inside Dodgers Stadium

As disappointing as Friday night’s loss was for Matt Dillon, it was his senior St. Edmond football players that the veteran coach felt for.

Dillon gave hugs to the six seniors that helped lead the program to back-to-back state playoff appearances and 14 wins over the last three years, as the Gaels lost to ninth-ranked Fremont-Mills inside a chilly Dodger Stadium, 62-7.

Ethan Swisher found Grant Galles on a senior-to-senior connection for the lone score for St. Edmond (5-4 overall), while fellow classmate Koleman Hanson kicked through the extra-point.

Kinnick Henning, another senior, led the team in rushing, while senior Jakob Koopman had 62 yards receiving in the first half before an injury forced him to miss the remainder of the contest.

The sixth senior, Max Webster, made his successful return to the field three weeks ago and played every snap on offense at center.

“Football is such a different sport for these kids,” Dillon said. “For most, this is the last time they will ever play the game this way. You can play basketball and baseball in some variation long after high school, but if you are not going on to play at the collegiate level, this is it. And that can be very tough to handle as a kid, because it is very tough to handle as a head coach.

“I’ve got to come to grips with it just like they do. I love doing this. I’ve been doing it for 45 years now, the last 44 as a head coach, and I continue to do it because I love it. But there will come a time when I have to figure out what the other side of all this looks like for me.”

Fremont-Mills (7-2), making its 16th consecutive playoff appearance, advances to next Friday against an opponent that will be determined Saturday. The Knights were led by Sawyer Forney, who had four passing touchdowns and 187 yards.

Forney, who hit JW Linkenhoker on two TDs for 108 yards and Carter Rycroft twice for touchdowns, also ran for 90, as Fremont-Mills had 225 yards rushing as a team.

“They are a very, very good football team,” Dillon said. “They are physical, and looked a whole lot better in person compared to on film.

“I thought they came out and really punched us right in the mouth and we never really responded. The kids kept fighting, but it was just tough to climb out of that early hole.”

Junior Ty Mericle had a career-high 10 receptions for 78 yards, and Blake Bartlett caught two passes. Swisher finished his final game 18-for-26 passing for 185 yards. Henning ran for 38.

“These six seniors meant so much to this program,” Dillon said. “Each and every single one of them was important to our success and we’ll have to figure out a way to replace them. But I’m excited for the guys we have coming back.

“We’ve got to do a few things over the offseason, though, if we want to compete against teams like this. And that starts with getting bigger and stronger. We have to take that next step in order to get where we want to get.”

SE FM

First Downs 15 14

Rushes-Yards 25-4 29-222

Passing 185 187

Comp-Att-Int 18-26-2 6-9-0

Total Offense 189 409

Fumbles-Lost 2-2 0-0

Punts-Avg. 3-35.0 1-28

Penalties-Yards 1-5 8-87

St. Edmond 0 0 7 0– 7

Fremont-Mills 12 22 14 14–62

Scoring Summary

Fremont-Mills — Carter Rycroft (33-yard pass from Sawyer Forney), 9:36 left in first. Conversion failed.

Fremont-Mills — Paxton Campbell (5-yard run), 6:20 left in first. Conversion failed.

Fremont-Mills — Wyatt Madison (13-yard run), 10:41 left in second. Conversion failed.

Fremont-Mills — Rycroft (9-yard run), 8:04 left in second. Jonathan Expai run.

Fremont-Mills — JW Linkenhoker (43-yard pass from Forney), 3:24 left in second. Forney run.

Fremont-Mills — Rycroft (30-yard pass from Forney), 9:50 left in third. Expai run.

Fremont-Mills — Linkenhoker (65-yard pass from Forney), 2:58 left in third. Conversion failed.

St. Edmond — Grant Galles (12-yard pass from Ethan Swisher), 10:58 left in fourth. Koleman Hanson kick.

Fremont-Mills — Expai (7-yard run), 6:09 left in fourth. Geovanni Lopez kick.

Fremont-Mills — Brody Schaaf (10-yard fumble recovery), :43 left in fourth. Lopez kick.

——

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — St. Edmond: Kinnick Henning 17-38, Aaron Hindt 1-1, Grant Galles 1-1, Ethan Swisher 1-(minus-2), Team 5-(minus-34). Fremont-Mills: Sawyer Forney 6-90, Jonathan Expai 9-63, Paxton Campbell 5-42, Wyatt Madison 2-17, Carter Rycroft 2-10, Aidyn King 2-2 Nash Moreland 2-1, Landon Morse 1-0, JW Linkenhoker 1-(minus-3).

Passing — St. Edmond: Ethan Swisher 18-26-2-185, Thomas Ehn 0-0-0-0. Fremont-Mills: Sawyer Forney 6-9-0-187, Wyatt Madison 0-0-0-0.

Receiving — St. Edmond: Ty Mericle 10-78, Jakob Koopman 3-62, Blake Bartlett 2-21, Grant Galles 3-18, Kinnick Henning 1-5. Fremont-Mills: JW Linkenhoker 2-108, Carter Rycroft 3-72, Mason Reed 1-7.