Regis Ramblers rumble past Mounders
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YARDS AFTER CATCH — Mounder receiver Carter Garnett (#6) gained good yardage after making this first-half reception against Regis Thursday evening, September 8 at Carson Park. Garnett had Elk Mound’s only score of the Cloverbelt contest when he caught a 36-yard touchdown from his quarterback Logan Jerome with 1:13 left in the second quarter. The Ramblers won 44-6. —photo by Joel DeWitt
by Joel DeWitt
Sports Correspondent
EAU CLAIRE — Heading into their game on September 8, the winless Mounders were looking to get in the win column. Close losses the first two games of the year, plus a lopsided loss to Neillsville/Granton in last week’s Cloverbelt opener, has the team sitting at the bottom of the standings and hungry for a win.
Yet, that win will have to wait another week as Elk Mound visited Eau Claire Regis and dropped their first road conference game to the Ramblers 44-6 last Thursday evening at Carson Park.
While the 38-point loss looks ugly at first glance, the Mounders had plenty of opportunities to keep it a tight game. A 36-yard touchdown reception by Carter Garnett cut the Rambler led to 22-6 with only 1:13 remaining in the first half.
However, a couple mistakes on special teams would doom Elk Mound. Regis scored two touchdowns in the final 43 seconds of the half to take the 37-6 advantage and never looked back.
Regis would jump on the Mounders early. They took the opening kickoff and only need five plays to light up the scoreboard. Josh Brickner went in from 11-yards out for the early 8-0 lead with only 2:40 off the clock in the opening quarter.
The Mounders took possession on their own 36 yard line and tried to counter the Regis score. Over the next five minutes they put together a nine-play drive deep into Eau Claire territory, however quarterback Logan Jerome was sacked on fourth down at the Regis 29 yard line to end the drive.
Regis’ ensuing possession consisted of six plays and resulted in another touchdown, this one a 9-yard run by Jack Weisenberger for the 15-0 lead with 00:50 remaining in the first quarter.
The next Elk Mound possession would once again be fruitless, and the ensuing Regis drive resulted in the Mounder’s facing a 22-0 deficit with 5:34 left in the first half.
The subsequent Mounder possession would be much like their previous ones and the punt put Regis on the Mounder 35-yard line. Back-to-back penalties by Eau Claire Regis would push it into a third and long, where Mounder Aiden Bartholomew would intercept a pass and return it to his own 39 yard line.
From there, the Mounders would go to the air. Jerome found Nathan Svee on a quick out on first down for a 3-yard gain. On second down, Jerome connected with an open Carter Garnett down the sideline for a touchdown from 36 yards out with only 73 seconds remaining in the half.
The touchdown cut the Rambler’s lead to 22-6 and appeared to give the Mounders momentum going into halftime, however Regis had other intentions.
A short kickoff by the Mounders put Regis in Elk Mound territory with 1:06 left in the half. Two plays later, Regis connected on a passing touchdown to extend the lead to 29-6.
Elk Mound would fail to get anything going on the next possession and was forced to punt with under 20 seconds remaining in the half. The punt was blocked and returned 20 yards to pay dirt by Eau Claire’s Alex Figy to put the score at 37-6 going into halftime.
The second half wouldn’t fair much better for the Mounders. A 75-yard touchdown run by Weisenberger on their second play from scrimmage would seal Elk Mound’s fate on the evening and give the Ramblers the 44-6 lead, which was the final score on the evening.
The loss drops Elk Mound to 0-4 and 0-2 in conference play at nearly the midpoint of the season.
Kamron Diermeier led the way offensively for Elk Mound with nine receptions for 77 yards. Garnett was second with 47 yards on two catches and the single score. Jerome completed 13-23 passes for 139 yards. Carter Vieth paced the Mounder ground game with 45 yards on 15 attempts
Elk Mound will travel to fellow winless Osseo-Fairchild this Friday, September 16 in hopes of securing their first win and climbing out of the cellar in the Cloverbelt conference. Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m.