Mounders crush Cardinals for Lew’s first win

ELK MOUND — “It’s just the greatest feeling in the world, like having your first child,” was how Elk Mound coach Dave Lew responded when asked how it felt to win his first game as the head football coach of the Mounders. His team not only won, but won in a rather convincing way as they pounded the Eleva-Strum Cardinals 42-0 on the Mounder’s home field Aug. 29, bringing their record to 1-1 for the season.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Mounders were on the move as Austin Hanson ran for 26 yards to end the quarter, allowing Elk Mound to begin the second on the E-S 15 yard line. Quarterback Travis Nelson connected with Zach Mohr who ran to the one yard line then Mohr punched it in from a yard out. A missed kick made it 6-0 just 16 seconds into the quarter.

The defense forced a Cardinal punt on their possession and it was not a very good one at that, giving the Mounders a short field as they took over on the E-S 25 yard line. A 19 yard pass from Nelson to Adam Gottschalk and a five yard run by Tyler Deutschlander brought the ball to the one and Deutchlander pounded it in from there. With a Ryan Mueller kick, it was 13-0 at 8:39 of the second quarter.

Forcing another E-S punt, the Mounders went on a 69 yard drive, collecting four first downs, one on a 26 yard run by Derrick Redwine then Mohr scampered in from 14 yards out. Another Mueller kick made it 20-0 and after the Cardinals fumbled the ensuing kickoff, Chris Wolf recovered it for the Mounders on the E-S 26 yard line. Six plays later, on a fourth and five from the five, Nelson found an open Redwine in the middle of the end zone for six points. Mueller’s kick gave the Mounders a 27-0 lead at the 2:27 mark and that’s how the half ended.

“We knew from watching them they had three main plays,” Lew said. “We figured if we could stop those plays we could win. Our team was very focused and the offensive line really got off the ball to open holes for our runners.”

Elk Mound finished off the scoring in the third quarter as Gottschalk, after his own interception, snared a 31 yard pass from Nelson and a Mueller kick made it 34-0 with 7:32 on the clock. A 53 yard drive on their next possession resulted in a one yard run by Hanson and after the kick attempt went haywire, Nelson, the holder scooped it up and ran it in for the two point conversion, making it 42-0.

Numerous backup players saw playing time in the fourth quarter for the Mounders and they managed to keep the Cardinals off the scoreboard to preserve the shutout.

“Our seniors really led the way tonight,” Lew said. “We are a very young team and we have to keep plugging away. We have to hit and get to the ball better but it was a great team win,” he added.

Elk Mound racked up 298 total yards while holding E-S to just 79. Nelson was 7 for 11 passing for 102 yards with Gottschalk collecting three of his passes for 52 yards. Eight different Mounders ran the ball with Hanson leading the team with 54 yards on eight carries while Redwine added 48 on seven attempts and Nelson had 30 on five runs.

Elk Mound begins conference play by hosting Spring Valley this Friday, September 6, at 7:00.

Eleva-Strum 0 0 0 0—0
Elk Mound 0 27 15 0—42