Lions roll past Superlarks in semifinals
Published 6:43 pm Saturday, October 29, 2022
Grand Meadow’s Dalton Pischke wraps up Spring Grove’s Caleb Griffin in a Section 1 nine man semifinal in Spring Grove Saturday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Grand Meadow’s John Swanek is brought down by a three Lions in Spring Grove Saturday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Grand Meadow’s Dustin Stejskal is brought down by multiple defenders in Spring Grove Saturday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Grand Meadow’s Jace Kraft attempts to an elude a tackle from Spring Grove’s Caleb Griffin. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Spring Grove’s Jaxon Strinmoen attempts to break a tackle from GM’s Cael Gilbert. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Grand Meadow’s Cael Gilbert fakes a hand-off to Jace Kraft in Spring Grove Saturday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Grand Meadow’s Colton Gardner wreaps up Spring Grove’s Elijah Solum. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Corbin Ludemann drops back to pass for the Superlarks in Spring Grove Saturday. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
Spring Grove’s Caleb Griffin scores on the first play of the game for the Lions. Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
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SPRING GROVE – The No. 4 seeded Superlarks were shorthanded and outmatched as they saw their season slip away in a 47-6 loss to top-seeded Spring Grove in a Section 1 nine man semifinal Saturday afternoon.
The Superlarks (6-4 overall) weren’t able to play a few of their key playmakers in their normal roles as they went into the game a little banged up and things only got worse as the contest went on.
“Spring Grove’s a damn good team and they’re going to be fun to watch for hopefully the next couple of weeks,” GM head coach Josh Bain said. “We had plenty of injuries from the get go, but those seniors wanted to give it everything they had and they wanted to give it a shot. That’s all you can ask for. Then Corbin (Ludemann) got hurt and that sucked, but he tried to battle back and that’s what we’ve been about all year. Eventually he had to come off though.”
The Lions (10-0 overall) scored on the first play from scrimmage when Caleb Griffin hauled in a 75-yard TD from Elijah Solum, but the Superlarks looked to have an answer when Corbin Ludemann rolled left on a fake punt and hit Jace Kraft for a 55-yard TD to bring GM within 7-6.
Unfortunately for GM, just a few minutes later Ludemann was out with an injury and the Lions were up 27-6 as Hunter Holland broke off a 44-yard TD run and Jaxon Strinmoen caught scoring strikes of 56- and 17-yards from Solum.
The Lions led 40-6 at halftime.
Bain is a former Superlark himself and he took over the program this season after being a long-time assistant. He learned many lessons, but he enjoyed the ride of year one.
“The buck stops with you as head coach. You’ve got to make the hard decisions and you get all of the fingers pointed at you. I enjoyed this season and our seniors never gave up. It was just a bummer that we got hit with the injury bug at the end of the year,” Bain said. “I’m really happy for our seniors. They left a good legacy for our program.”
SG 21 19 7 0 – 47
GM 6 0 0 0 – 6
First quarter
(SG) Caleb Griffin 75 pass from Elijah Solum (Griffin kick) (1 play, 75 yards) 11:42
(GM) Jace Kraft 55 pass from Corbin Ludemann (pass failed) (8 plays, 71 yards) 7:59
(SG) Hunter Holland 44 run (Griffin kick) (4 plays, 64 yards) 7:59
(SG) Jaxon Strinmoen 56 pass from Solum (Griffin kick) (1 play, 56 yards) 5:25
Second quarter
(SG) Strinmoen 17 pass from Solum (kick failed) (3 plays, 37 yards) 10:55
(SG) Ethan Crouch 8 pass from Solum (Griffin kick) (2 plays, 30 yards) 8:45
(SG) Solum 8 run (kick failed) (3 plays, 36 yards) 5:44
Third quarter
(SG) Byrce Berns (Griffin kick) (8 plays, 64 yards) 6:41
Fourth quarter
No scoring
GM STATS
Rushing: Jace Kraft, 19-for-58; Dustin Stejskal, 8-for-24; Dalton Pischke, 2-for-11; Corbin Ludemann, 2-for-9; Kaiden Bunne, 1-for-1; Cael Gilbert, 10-for-(-9)
Passing: Ludemann, 3-for-8, 59, TD; Gilbert, 1-for-5, 16, 2 INT
Receiving: Kraft, 2-for-56, TD; John Swanek, 1-for-16; Connor Munson, 1-for-3
Defense: Isaac Harmening, 1 interception; Aaron TMork, 1 fumble recovery
SG TEAM STATS
Rushing: 241
Passing: 184
