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Football: No. 1 D-C downs No. 4 NLS

michael lyne and joe brown, west central tribune, willmar, minn.
·5 min read

Sep. 15—NEW LONDON — Dassel-Cokato's run scheme overwhelmed New London-Spicer in a matchup of two top five prep football teams on Friday.

The Chargers, ranked No. 1 in Class AAA, ran for 302 yards and had five rushing touchdowns on 50 carries en route to a 32-16 victory over NLS, which is ranked No. 4 in Class AAA.

D-C's offense utilizes a T-formation. The scheme includes three running backs who are featured in the backfield.

"It was hard to simulate that and they're very good at it," Wildcats head coach Chad Gustafson said of the T-formation. "(D-C) has patient runners and you can't key in on one of them."

Chargers junior running back Caleb Smock led the way for D-C. He ran for 129 yards and four touchdowns on 18 carries.

Then junior running back Kobee Thielen and senior running back Monte Gillman also found success for the Chargers.

Thielen ran for 95 yards and 17 carries and Gillman had 71 yards, which included a game-long 47-yard touchdown run, on six carries.

"D-C played well and executed what they wanted to do," Gustafson said. "We just didn't get out to a great start and we got behind where we wanted to be."

The Chargers jumped out to a 14-3 lead midway through the second quarter on Gillman's big run.

NLS punched back less than three minutes later with its first passing touchdown of the season to cut D-C's lead to 14-10 with 3 minutes, 1 second remaining. Wildcats junior quarterback Blake Schultz found junior wide receiver Blake Kath for a 10-yard touchdown.

"It was nice to see the passing game come alive," Gustafson said. "I was happy about that. We spread it around and had four guys with multiple catches."

Then the Chargers made quick work on the ground and Smock scored his second touchdown with 52.1 remaining in the first half to push D-C's lead to 20-10.

Smock went on to add two more scores in the fourth quarter and NLS got one off a blocked punt in the end zone.

"I thought the second half we played well but a little too late," Gustafson said. "Offensively, we got to finish the drives. Defensively, we have to clean up a couple things — having better starts on first downs."

The Wildcats had an opportunity to cut their deficit to a one possession game late in the third quarter, but a missed field goal attempt kept D-C ahead by 10.

NLS heads to Litchfield at 7 p.m. next Friday.

"They are a hard-nosed physical football team and we're going to have to be ready for that," Gustafson said. "It should be another classic old fashioned Wright County game."

D-C (3-0) 6 14 0 12 — 32

NLS (2-1) 0 10 0 6 — 16

Scoring Plays

D-C — Caleb Smock 3 run (kick failed)

NLS — Griffin Thompson 23 kick

D-C — Monte Gillman 47 run (Nikolas Keith pass from Caleb Thinesen)

NLS — Blake Kath 10 pass from Blake Schultz (Thompson kick)

D-C — Smock 1 run (pass failed)

D-C — Smock 23 run (pass failed)

NLS — Everett Halvorson recovered blocked punt in end zone (pass failed)

D-C — Smock 41 run (run failed)

First downs: 14 ... Penalties: 4-50 ... Rushing (Individual and team): Caleb Smock 18-129, Kobee Thielen 17-95, Monte Gillman 6-71, Garrett Kelly 3-12. Total: 50-302 ... Passing (Individual and team): Caleb Thinesen 2-5-0. 17 ... Receiving: Smock 1-9, Nikolas Keith 1-5 ... Interceptions: none ... Fumble recoveries: none ... Tackles (solo-assist): n/a ... QB sacks: team 2

First downs: 14 ... Penalties: 7-49 ... Rushing (Individual and team): Mason Delzer 22-93, Luke Knudsen 4-27, Ethan Holme 3-16. Total: 35-146 ... Passing (Individual and team): Blake Schultz 10-22-1, Knudsen 0-1-0. Total: 10-23-1. 139 ... Receiving: Knudsen 4-55, Delzer 2-35, Grant Paffrath 2-26, Blake Kath 2-22 ... Interceptions: none ... Fumble recoveries: Halvorson 1 ... Tackles (solo-assist): Braden Long 9-3, Knudsen 8-2, Paffrath 7-2, Halvorson 7-2, Holme 6-2, Brody Duke 5-2, Brock Buffington 5-1 ... QB sacks: none

Litchfield ran for 246 yards on 46 carries in a victory over host Foley.

Lukas Kuehl led the Dragons with 152 yards on 23 carries. He had TD runs of 6, 4, and 1 yard. TJ Christensen scored twice, from 6 and 21 yards out, in a six-carry, 59-yard effort.

Litchfield's defense had five takeaways. Alex Medina had an interception. Four players — Jacob Elwell, Garrison Jackman, Nicholas Lehar and Henry Grabow — recovered fumbles in the victory.

Litchfield has its home opener at 7 p.m. next Friday against New London-Spicer.

Litchfield (2-1) 7 13 17 0 — 37

Foley (1-2) 0 6 0 0 — 6

Scoring Plays

L — TJ Christensen 6 run (Garrison Jackman kick)

F — Josiah Petersen 12 pass from Noah Fitch (pass failed)

L — Lukas Kuehl 6 run (pass failed)L — Kuehl 4 run (Jackman kick)

L — Kuehl 1 run (Jackman kick)

L — Jackman 40 field goal

L — Christensen 21 run (Jackman kick)

First downs: 20 ... Penalties: 4-25 ... Rushing (Individual and team): Lukas Kuehl 23-152, Anthony Taylor 2-36, Logan Bosma 2-7, TJ Christensen 6-59, Brandon Jansky 7-16, Garrison Jackman 2-3. Total: 46-246 ... Passing (Individual and team): Jackman 6-12-0 75 ... Receiving: Jack McCann 4-51, Christensen 1-11, Ethan Holtz 1-13 ... Interceptions: Alex Medina 1 ... Fumble recoveries: Jacob Elwell 1, Jackman 1, Nicholas Lehar 1, Henry Grabow 1 ... Tackles: Holtz 5, Jacob Dietel 4, Kuehl 4, Jackman 4, Ayden Cziok 4 ... QB sacks: Creighton Huhner 1

First downs: 11 ... Penalties: 4-35 ... Rushing (Individual and team): Jackson Welle 8-43, Derek Dahmen 6-21, Gavyn Wirth 1-14. Total: 30-99 ... Passing (Individual and team): Noah Fitch 8-15-1 75, Dane Wheeler 0-2-0 0 ... Receiving: Bryce Gapinski 4-43, Josiah Petersen 1-12 ... Interceptions: none ... Fumble recoveries: Landon Harris 1, Wyatt Lueck 1 ... Tackles (solo-assist): n/a ... QB sacks: n/a