Grand Meadow holds off LeRoy-Ostrander

Published 9:58 pm Friday, October 23, 2020

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LEROY — The only thing more piercing than the cold was Grand Meadow’s defense as the Superlarks shut down the Cardinals in a 14-0 win Friday night.

GM senior Daniel Smith set the tone for the Superlarks as he blocked a punt that was recovered in the end zone by Luke Speer to make it 7-0 GM in the first quarter.

Smith added a sack, an interception, and a game clinching one-yard TD run in the fourth quarter. Smith finished with 78 yards rushing, most of them coming on the ground when GM abandoned its spread offense and went back to a power rushing attack.

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“We were only up by one touchdown and the goal was to get up by by two touchdowns and that’s what we did,” Smith said of his score.

The Cardinals (1-2 overall) had a chance to tie the game early in the third quarter after Chase Johnson escaped a variety of tacklers on runs of 14- and 20-yards. But that drive ended at GM’s eight-yard line when Taylor Glynn broke up a pass in the end zone on fourth down.

“I can’t say enough about our defense. Our starting defense hasn’t given up a point all year. Our defense is solid,” GM head coach Gary Sloan said. “Daniel had a huge game. We didn’t plan on getting him the ball that much in the second half, but had the hot hand and we had to ride it. We play more physical in that I formation and we kind of went old school.”

GM didn’t convert a lot of big plays on offense, but they did contain the Cardinals whenver they had to.

“They beat us by a lot last year and it was nice to get them this year,” GM senior lineman Cameron Snead said. “It was battle the whole game and we just had to be more physical.”

The Superlarks (3-0 overall) recorded another blocked punt and returned it to L-O’s six yard line near the end of the half. The Cardinals made a goal line stand to stay within a score at the break.

The first half was dominated by both defenses as the Cardinals sacked GM quarterback Evan Oehlke four times in the first frame and the Superlarks held L-O to less than three yards in 14 of their 17 plays.

SCORING SUMMARY

GM 7 0 0 7 – 14

LO 0 0 0 0 – 0

First quarter

(GM) Luke Speer block punt recovery (1 play, 0 yards) (Evan Oehlke kick) 5:01

Second quarter

No scoring

Third quarter

No scoring

Fourth quarter

(GM) Daniel Smith 1 run (7 plays, 45 yards) (Oehlke kick) 7:31

LO STATS

Rushing: Chase Johnson, 17-for-49; Isaac Collier, 13-for-29; Peyton Roe, 4-for-6

Passing: Johnson, 4-for-14, 70, 2 INT

Receiving: Tristan Lewison, 2-for-37; Brodi Nesler, 1-for-24; Collier, 1-for-9

Defense: Peyton Roe, 2 sacks; Gavin Sweeney, 2 sacks

Penalties: 9-for-72

GM STATS

Rushing: Daniel Smith, 18-for-77, TD; Drew Copley, 7-for-15; Taylor Glynn, 1-for-1; Evan Oehlke, 12-for-(-12)

Passing: Oehlke, 4-for-9, 27

Receiving: Glynn, 2-for-12; Smith, 1-for-9; Copley, 1-for-6

Defense: Daniel Smith, 1 sack, 1 interception; Christian Jacobson, 2 sacks; Luke Speer, 1 sack; Ben Kraft, 1 sack; Copley, 1 fumble recovery

Penalties: 2-for-20