Elk Mound ground game dominates St. Croix Falls

By Cara L. Dempski

ST. CROIX FALLS — Dave Lew’s Elk Mound football team vastly outrushed St. Croix Falls in a non-conference contest played September 9 on the Saints’ home field.

St. Croix Falls managed 120 yards rushing in their 28:24 of offensive possession. Meanwhile, Elk Mound used its shorter possessions to much greater effect, racking up nearly three-and-a-half times the yardage as the Mounders finished with 409 yards on the ground on 40 attempts. Noah Zurbuchen had 181 yards on 20 hauls for a score while teammate Tyler Sahm finished with another 118 yards and two scores to give the Mounders a convincing 39-13 win.

The Saints did out-pass the Mounders by a seven-to-one ratio, tallying 69 yards passing to the Mounders’ 10. Despite that, Coach Lew seemed happy with how the team played.

“I thought our boys rebounded nicely from the Glenwood City loss,” he said.

Elk Mound got on the board at 8:43 in the first quarter when Noah Zurbuchen hit paydirt on a three-yard run for a touchdown. His two-point conversion run was no good, and the Mounders were off with a 6-0 lead.

Tyler Sahm was the next to score for the Mounders. He bolted 80 yards down the field to score. Dylan Black’s pass was incomplete for the two-point conversion and the Elk Mound advantage went up to 12-0.

The Mounders scored one more time in the half. Dane Lew punched through the St. Croix Falls line on a one-yard run for the touchdown. His point-after kick was good, leaving the score at 19-0 with 6:39 left in the half.

The Saints couldn’t leave the half without making some big plays of their own. Mounder George Friberg kicked the ball all the way to the Saints’ 17-yard line. Alex Johnson, of Saint Croix Falls, caught it and ran the ball 83 yards to put the Saints on the board with 6. Brandon Bastin’s kick for the point after was good, making the score 19-7 with 6:27 to go in the first half.

Mounder Hunter Adleman responded with a seven-yard run for another touchdown. This time, Lew’s kick was no good, leaving the score 25-7.

St. Croix Falls responded with one more score at 2:22 left in the half. Saints quarterback Alex Johnson found Clay Carney on a 24-yard pass play that netted the Saints another six points. Johnson’s point after run was no good, and the half ended with Elk Mound up 25-13.

The third quarter passed without a score.

It wasn’t until 9:47 of the fourth that the Mounders added another score and went on to control the remainder of the game .

Tyler Sahm ran 22 yards for a touchdown with 9:47 left on the game clock. Brady Redwine would run the ball in again a little over two minutes later. Both of Dane Lew’s kicks for point after were good, making the score 39-13. The Mounders were able to hold on defensively to keep St. Croix Falls from scoring in the second half.

Coach Lew commented after the game, “We made plays and our defense really played well. I’m very happy with the win and all our players’ efforts.”

Elk Mound, who improved to 3-1 overall, will make the short trip to Colfax for its annual rivalry game with the Vikings. Colfax fell to 0-4 with a 52-12 loss in Glenwood City last Friday.

Elk Mound 39, St. Croix Falls 13
Elk Mound     6  19   0  14 — 39
St. Croix Falls     0  13   0   0  — 13

First Quarter: EM — N. Zurbuchen 3 run (conversion fail), 8:48.

Second Quarter: EM — T. Sahm 80 run (conversion fail), 10:34; EM — D. Lew 1 run (kick good), 6:39; SCF — A. Johnson 83 run (kick good), 6:27; EM — H. Adleman 7 run (kick fail), 5:18; SCF — C. Carney 24 pass (conversion fail), 2:22.

Fourth Quarter: EM — T. Sahm 22 run (kick good), 9:47; B. Redwine 17 run (kick good), 6:58.

Individual Statistics:

Passing (comp-yds-att) — EM (1-10-3) — D. Black 1-10-1, D. Lew 0-0-2; SCF (6-69-11) — A. Johnson 6-69-11.

Rushing (att-yds) — EM (40-409) — N. Zurbuchen 20-181, T. Sahm 5-118, H. Adleman 9-39, B. Lambele 1-37, B. Redwine 1-17, W. Muzynski 3-16, D. Lew 1-1; SCF (38-120) — T. Henk 12-45, S. Steek 13-40, A. Johnson 11-28, C. Carney 2-7.

Receiving (rec-yds) — EM (1-10) — H. Adleman 1-10; SCF (6-69) — C. Carney 1-24, J. Wilson 1-14, T. Henk 1-13, C. Webb 1-10, T. Bushwieler 2-8.