GRAND MEADOW — The Superlarks football team didn’t do a lot wrong in the first half of a 36-7 win over Spring Grove, but even when they did, it still worked to their benefit.

After surging to an early 14-0 lead in the first quarter, the Superlarks (6-1 overall, 5-1 SEC) lost some of their momentum when botched a snap at their own 33-yard line. Spring Grove took over and drove to the GM four-yard line, where Caleb Leichtnam knocked down a fourth down pass from SG quarterback Dakotah Rostad to end the possession.

“It’s always a big stand when you stop them (inside the 10) and you could tell it just drained them,” said GM safety and running back Michael Gehling.

The Larks used their newfound momentum to drive 96 yards on 13 plays to go up 22-0 with 7:41 left in the first half. After Leichtnam got loose on an eight-yard run on third and two from the GM 27-yard line, Gehling gained 30 yards on a sweep to the SG 17-yard line, and he scored from 15-yards out on a fake sweep to the left, that saw him dart back against the grain to pay-dirt.

All five of GM’s touchdowns came on plays of more than 10 yards.

“We’ve got really good team speed with our backs. We’re able to hit a lot of long runs against a lot of people and that happened tonight,” GM head coach Gary Sloan said.

Gehling ran for 109 yards and two scores, while Leichtnam, a quarterback on offense, ran for 101 yards and a touchdown, while throwing for 73 yards and two scores.

Leichtnam was big on GM’s second drive as he ran for 17 yards on a third and 13 and he converted a delay sneak into a 25-yard touchdown run. Leichtnam threw an 18-yard TD to Gehling on GM’s first possession.

“The last couple of games I’ve been having a lot of open receivers,” Leichtnam said. “When you have the option to run or pass, that makes it pretty easy, because they can’t defend both. I feel pretty good when I get outside the pocket.”

While the Superlarks’ offense scored touchdowns on four of their first five possessions, the defense held Spring Grove (3-4 overall, 3-3 SEC) to 53 yards and just two first downs in the first half.

“We were really focused on (Cody Colsch, who finished with 58 yards on 14 carries) and I thought we did a good job on him and their passing game,” Sloan said. “This is probably about the best we’ve played.”

The Superlarks were coming off two big wins over Lanesboro and Mabel/Canton and a tough loss to Houston.

“The fast start was important,” Sloan said. “I was worried about how we would respond tonight coming off three big games that we had marked on the calendar. These guys are good and I was worried that we’d have a little bit of a let down, but I liked how we came out.”

GM will play its regular season finale agaisnt LeRoy/Ostrander (0-7 overall) in GM next Thursday at 7 p.m.

GM stats

Rushing: Michael Gehling, 15-for-109, 2 TD; Caleb Leichtnam, 15-for-101, TD; Killian Smith, 12-for-47; Noah Schlee, 3-for-10; Trevor Gomer, 1-for-7; Andrew Bell, 2-for-4; Jason Stier, 2-for-4; Cody Snyder, 1-for-(-3)

Passing: Leichtnam, 4-for-5, 73, 2 TD

Receiving: Smith, 2-for-44, TD; Gehling, 2-for-29, TD

Interceptions: Leichtnam

Sacks: Scott Wilson

Fumble recoveries: Tony Carlson

Penalties: 7-for-45

SG stats

Rushing: Cody Colsch, 12-for-58; Aric Elton, 12-for-20; Joe Morken, 1-for-13; Dakotah Rostad, 2-for-10, TD; Nick Reynolds, 3-for-10

Passing: Rostad, 4-14, 60, INT

Receiving: Morken, 1-for-38; Luke Deters, 2-for-14; Jake Kraus, 1-for-8

Penalties: 2-for-10

SG 0 0 0 7 — 7

GM 14 16 6 0 — 36

SCORING SUMMARY

First quarter

(GM) 8:40 Gehling 17 pass from Leichtnam (Leichtnam run) (6 plays, 40 yards)

(GM) 4:30 Leichtnam 25 run (run failed) (7 plays, 57 yards)

Second quarter

(GM) 7:41 Gehling 15 run (Leichtnam run) (13 plays, 96 yards)

(GM) 1:03 Gehling 13 run (Cory Greenwood run) (8 plays, 61 yards)

Third quarter

(GM) :27 Killian Smith 36 pass from Leichtnam (Wilson kick failed) ( 3 plays, 36 yards)

Fourth quarter

(SG) 2:20 Dakotah Rostad 8 run (Jonas Petzenig kick) (5 plays, 58 yards)