Turnovers plague Toppers in season-opening loss

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SPENCER — The new season got off to a promising start for the Hilltoppers when senior quarterback Bryce Wickman hooked up with junior wide out Brady McCarthy for an 86-yard scoring strike on the first play of its 2021 gridiron opener which was played on the road against Spencer/Columbus Catholic last Thursday evening.

Senior all-conference place kicker Marcis DeSmith booted through the extra point and Glenwood City had a 7-0 lead just 24 seconds into the contest.

On its second possession, Glenwood City had another promising drive in the works as the squad moved inside the Rockets’ 40, but Wickman was intercepted on a third-and-10 pass play by Spencer/CC linebacker Sullivan Melander who returned the ball 59 yards to the Toppers’ six yard line.

Three plays later Xane Adler ran three yards or the touchdown, and with a good PAT kick from Brock Bennington, knotted the contest at seven all with 7:14 to play in the first quarter.

From there things quickly went downhill for the Hilltoppers who turned the football over five times – three interceptions and two fumbles – which Spencer/Columbus Catholic turned into a pair of touchdowns en route to a 51-28 romp over their visitors from Glenwood City August 19.

Although the Rockets committed four faux pas themselves, the Toppers were only able to get points off of one, scoring a touchdown following a Spencer/CC fumble midway through the second period.

Otherwise, Glenwood City came up empty-handed on 12 of its 13 drives following its opening score, punting six times, turning over the ball four times and twice running out of downs.

“We had trouble up front on both sides of the ball,” said Hilltoppers’ head coach Shane Strong. “I didn’t think we played physical at the point of attack, which favors a run heavy team like Spencer.”

“And we really hurt ourselves with turnovers,” he added.

With the contest tied at seven, and less than a two minutes remaining in the opening 12-minute frame, Glenwood City committed its second turnover, a fumble that the Rockets pounced on at the GC 20-yard line.

Two plays later, Rockets’ running back Brock Bennington scored the first of his three rushing touchdowns from eight yards out to put Spencer/Columbus Catholic in the lead for good, 13-7, at the 1:08 mark, after the extra point kick failed.

Following a quick three and out from Glenwood City and a short punt, Spencer/Columbus Catholic went just 32 yards in two plays all covered by Will Gorst’s burst up the middle to pay dirt for a 19-7 advantage just eight seconds into the second quarter.

Glenwood City would find the end zone following a recovery of a Rockets’ fumble near midfield. The Hilltoppers went 51 yards in six plays highlighted by senior Drew Olson’s 16-yard touchdown catch from Wickman at 7:49. Despite missing the PAT, Glenwood City was within striking distance at 13-19.

An opportunity to tie the contest following an interception of Rockets’ quarterback Isaac Mauritz went for naught when the Toppers had to punt after just three incomplete passes.

Taking control at its own 16 yard line, Spencer/CC need just two plays to convert its latest possession into six points. A 16-yard run by Gorst was followed by a back-breaking, 67-yard TD jaunt from Bennington, his second of the half. A missed PAT still had the Rockets soaring ahead by a 25-13 count with 3:52 left in the half.

The Toppers then embarked on a 11-play drive at the end of the half which ended on the Spencer/Columbus Catholic one-yard line as the Toppers’ ran out of time outs leaving the first-half clock to expire.

Unfortunately, Glenwood City was not able to regroup following the halftime break.

Another three-play drive to open the third quarter ended with a punt which gave the host Rockets the ball back. They turned that first possesion of the second half into another six points thanks to a nine-yard run from Cole Timmler at 5:23. Bennington booted the PAT to make it a 32-13 contest.

Following yet another GC punt, the Rockets advantage grew to 38-13 when Timmler added his second straight touchdown run – this one going for 64 yards – with 2:54 left in the third quarter.

Glenwood’s defense got a stop to start the fourth when it recovered a Spencer/CC fumble. However, just two plays later Wickman was intercepted by Nathan Rucker, who returned the pick 56 yards for the touchdown to make it 44-13 just a minute and 11 seconds into the final frame.

On the next possession with both teams substituting freely, Gabe Knops, who took over for Wickman as quarterback, leaped over a pile of linemen on first down and raced 74 yards for the Hilltoppers’ first score of the second half. The long run coupled with DeSmith’s kick made the score 44-20 with 10:27 to play.

Unfortunately, Spencer/Columbus Catholic responded with a first-down touchdown jaunt of its own as Brock Bennington capped his three-touchdown performance with a 65-yard dash that ended in pay dirt. Bennington also tacked on the kick for the Rockets’ final points and a 51-20 advantage with 10:03 to play.

Less than five minutes later, Knops put the Toppers’ and game’s final points on the scoreboard with a nine-yard TD run and two-point conversion pass to make it 51-28 with 5:20 remaining.

“We need to make better decisions with the ball if we are going to be successful,” stated Strong. “Our run game needs to improve significantly, we just can’t seem to get movement up front.”

The Toppers finished with 149 yards rushing. Knops had 171 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries to lead the team, but two of its other three ball carriers finished with negative yardage for the evening.

Glenwood City tallied another 206 yards passing as Wickman finished 16-for-43 with a TD and three interceptions. 86 of those aerial yards came via the opening touchdown to Brady McCarthy. But GC also had eight drops in the game.

The Toppers actually finished atop the statistic charts as it out gained the Rockets 355 to 305.

Nearly all of Spencer/Columbus Catholic’s yardage, 303 of the 305, came on the ground. Brock Bennington led the attack with 193 yards and three TDs on 15 carries with Gorst adding 81 yards and score on seven attempts and Timmler crossed the goal line twice and finished with 74 yards on four tries for the Rockets.

“We had some bright spots at times throughout the game,” noted Strong.

“I thought Gabe Knops showed leadership and toughness on both sides of the ball. Drew Olson played nearly every down Friday night, with great effort on every play,” concluded the head coach.

Glenwood City will be on the road again this Friday when it travels to Barron for another out-of-league contest.