Staff photo by Ari Selvey
Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop’s Garret Schmidt (22) takes a handoff from Dominic Rose (12) during a Mid Southeast District, West Subdistrict football game against Lester Prairie Friday at GFW high school.
WINTHROP — Lester Prairie ran for 213 yards — including 164 by LaDamien Gatlin-Coellner — in a 32-18 victory over Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop in a Mid Southeast District, West Subdistrict football game Friday.
“They did a good job of wearing us down … ,” GFW head coach Pat Hentges said. “They kept the ball on our side of the field for basically the full third quarter, and that’s what good teams do. We just need to come up and do a couple technique things better and maybe we cause a fumble or what have you.
“Proud of our guys. Real happy with how our coaches handled it, tried to pick these guys up too. Lester Prairie is a heck of a ball club.”
GFW ran for 186 yards of its own but were unable to win its Homecoming game. Leading them on the ground was Garret Schmidt with 14 rushes for 104 yards, while Dylan Bernstein ran four times for 11 yards and a score. Dominic Rose completed six passes for 50 yards and a touchdown, with Braylan Freitag getting two receptions for 23 yards and Schmidt hauling in two catches for 17 yards. Easton Taylor had one catch for 2 yards and a score.
Defensively for the Thunderbirds, Ashton Buboltz had 6 1/2 tackles, while Sam Berkner had a sack. Justin Messner had an interception return for a touchdown with four tackles, and Owen Swenson had 1 1/2 tackes and an interception.
GFW started the game with a 17-play, 84-yard drive that ended with a 6-yard touchdown by Bernstein to give the Thunderbirds a 6-0 lead. Lester Prairie responded with a long drive of its own, but an errant pass by Bulldogs quarterback Caiden Herrmann fell into the hands of Messner, who returned it 80 yards for another GFW touchdown to go up 12-0.
Back on offense, the Bulldogs seemed to be stoped on a fourth-and-7 and sent out their punter Trevor Schauer, but the snap flew over his head. Schauer was able to turn the play into a positive gain, throwing it to an open Gibson Kervliet to keep the drive alive.
Lester Prairie was unable to capitalize on the drive, however, with Schmidt deflecting a pass on another fourth-and-7 to give the ball back to GFW. The Bulldogs rallied to force a three-and-out, but GFW had a punting snap error of its own, with Schauer again making a play on special teams, recovering the ball in the end zone for a Lester Prairie touchdown. A successful 2-point conversion rush by Gatlin-Coellner, the lead was cut to 12-8.
With just over a minute to play in the half, GFW worked to cross midfield on the next drive. However, with 15 seconds to play in the half, Rose was hit as he threw, and the ball was intercepted by Shauer, making his third impact play of the game as he returned the ball 62 yards for the go-ahead score. With a successful 2-point conversion by Gatlin-Coellner, Lester Prairie ended the half up 16-12.
“You can’t [make those mistakes] against a good team,” Hentges said. “I congratulate [Lester Prairie head coach] Joe [Scoblic] and his team… Those mistakes aren’t on our kids either, couple of the plays I called there I’ve got to take back, do a better job, got out of our identity. Of course the boys say, ‘No you didn’t, coach, it’s on us.’”
GFW went three-and-out on the opening possession of the second half, allowing Lester Prairie to have a short field, which they turned into a 8-yard touchdown run by Gatlin-Coellner. GFW was forced to punt on their next drive as well, and Lester Prairie scored in seven plays to make it a 32-12 ball game.
GFW had a longer drive on their next attempt, highlighted by a 41-yard run by Schmidt, but it ultimately ended on a turnover on downs.
Shauer nearly had a fourth opportunity to make a big play as Lester Prairie punted again, with the snap again going over his head, but this time his pass fell incomplete. GFW capitalized on starting from Lester Prairie’s 33, with Easton Taylor catching a 2-yard pass from Rose with five seconds to go in the game. Lester Prairie took a knee following the kickoff to take home the 32-18 victory.
GFW (3-1) travels to Mayer Lutheran on Friday.
