Mounders struggle in loss to SV Cardinals

ELK MOUND — The Spring Valley football team may be the sleeper of the Dunn-St. Croix Conference this year since nobody picked them as a favorite with some of the other powerhouses in the league. But the Cardinals brought their overall record to 3-0 with a 34-9 defeat of Elk Mound Sept. 6 on the Mounders’ home field.

Elk Mound had trouble getting things in gear on both sides of the ball as they fell behind 7-0 when Spring Valley’s Tyler O’Keefe ran in from 32 yards out at 9:50 of the first quarter. The Mounders cut the deficit as Ryan Mueller booted a 19 yard field goal at the 3:34 mark but less than a minute later, O’Keefe got through the Mounder defense for a 67 yard score for a 14-3 lead at the end one quarter.

Cardinal quarterback Zach Newton tacked on a pair of TD runs in the second for a 28-3 halftime lead but neither team put any third quarter points up. Spring Valley scored in the fourth on a Jed Schlegel run and the Mounders finally found the endzone when Austin Hanson scampered down the field from 68 yards out with 3:43 left on the clock.

“Spring Valley was a very physical team and we missed some assignments on defense,” Elk Mound coach Dave Lew said. “We will continue to work on our mistakes and get better. Our young men work very hard,” he added.

Hanson led the Mounder rushing attack with 77 yards on seven carries while Derrick Redwine ran for 22 yards on eight carries. Travis Nelson completed eight of 21 pass attempts for 50 yards and had three of them picked off and Dane Lew snagged three of his passes for 22 yards and Zach Mohr and Adam Gottschalk both caught two.

Things won’t get any easier for the Mounders as they travel to Glenwood City this Friday. The Hilltoppers are the defending Division 7 state champions and have outscored all three of their opponents this year 198-13.