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HAMMOND – St. Croix Central piled up 435 yards rushing and scored five first-half touchdowns on its way to a 53-21 win over Spencer/Columbus Catholic in both teams’ high school football season openers on Friday night at St. Croix Central High School.
St. Croix Central quarterback Caden Wester racked up 188 yards on the ground and scored three times on runs of 86, 8 and 21 yards, and also tossed a touchdown pass for the Panthers, who pulled out to a 33-7 lead by halftime.
Sullivan Melander ran for 80 yards and scored on a 5-yard run in the second quarter for Spencer/Columbus.
Rockets quarterback Isaac Mauritz ran for a 1-yard TD in the third quarter and added a 65-yard touchdown pass to Landon Behselich later in the quarter for Spencer/Columbus’ final two scores.
“Hats off to St Croix Central,” SC coach Jason Gorst said. “They are a very good team that plays with class and dignity. I am proud of our players for their effort. We need to keep working to improve.”
Spencer/Columbus will host defending WIAA Division 6 state champion Colby on Friday, Aug. 26, at Spencer High School. The game begins at 7 p.m. and will be live-streamed at zaleskisports.com.
Panthers 53, Rockets 21
Spencer/Columbus Catholic 0 7 14 0 – 21
St. Croix Central 21 12 7 13 – 53
First Quarter
SCC – A.J. Holmgren 2 run (Max Waters kick), 7:46.
SCC – Mason Sullivan 44 pass from Caden Wester (Waters kick), 5:40.
SCC – Kyle Trainor 37 run (Waters kick), 2:03.
Second Quarter
SC – Sullivan Melander 5 run (Mac Konieczny kick), 11:05.
SCC – Wester 86 run (kick missed), 4:57.
SCC – Trainor 43 run (kick blocked), 0:56.
Third Quarter
SC – Isaac Mauritz 1 run (Konieczny kick), 8:33.
SCC – Wester 8 run (Waters kick), 4:52.
SC – Landon Behselich 65 pass from Mauritz (Konieczny kick), 2:50.
Fourth Quarter
SCC – Wester 21 run (Waters kick), 10:32.
SCC – Sam Fischer 1 run (kick missed), 5:53.
Team Statistics
First downs: Spencer/Columbus 8; St. Croix Central 25.
Rushing (att-yards): SC 30-156; SCC 53-435.
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): 2-11-71-1; SCC 2-5-41-0.
Total yards: SC 227; SCC 476.
Penalties (no.-yards): SC 1-5; SCC 5-34.
Fumbles (total-lost): SC 3-1; SCC 1-0.
Punting (no.-avg.): SC 4-25.0; SCC 2-29.0.
Individual Statistics
Rushing: SC, Sullivan Melander 14-80, Carter Luepke 6-74, Landon Behselich 4-8, Isaac Mauritz 6-minus 6. SCC, Caden Wester 17-188, Kyle Trainor 3-94, Sam Fischer 12-69, A.J. Holmgren 11-55, Brecken Ponath 5-17, No. 45 (no name provided) 1-11, Jayden Boyce 1-1, Aaron Hage 2-0, Junior Czeminger 1-0.
Passing: SC, Mauritz 2-11-71-1. SCC, Wester 2-5-41-0.
Receiving: SC, Behselich 1-65, Luepke 1-6. SCC, Mason Sullivan 1-44, Noah Nusbaum 1-minus 3.
Interceptions (defense): SCC, Nolan Merth.
Records: Spencer/Columbus 0-1; St. Croix Central 1-0.