By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

SPENCER – Spencer/Columbus wasted little time to take control of Friday’s final regular season football game against Osseo-Fairchild.

The Rockets scored 24 points in the first quarter and rolled to a 44-22 victory in a Cloverbelt Conference matchup at Spencer High School.

Hunter Hildebrandt had a 46-yard touchdown run just 28 seconds into the game to get the Rockets off and running toward a 24-0 lead.

Calvin Lenz added two 7-yard touchdown runs and the Rockets added a safety in the opening quarter.

Spencer/Columbus offensive lineman Dakota Anderae scored on a lateral from Hunter Luepke late in the second quarter and the Rockets led 30-6 at halftime.

Hildebrandt and Lenz each scored again in the third quarter to put S/C up 44-6.

Spencer/Columbus racked up 522 yards rushing on 55 carries, and held Osseo-Fairchild to 206 total yards.

Hildebrandt led the attack with 148 yards on 13 carries. Lenz added 80, Noah Zastrow had 69 yards on only four carries and Luepke ran seven times for 65 more for the Rockets (6-3, 5-3 Cloverbelt Conference).

The Rockets will open WIAA postseason play next weekend. Pairings and brackets will be announced Saturday.

Click here for the final Cloverbelt Conference standings

Rockets 44, Thunder 22
Osseo-Fairchild 0 6 0 16 – 22
Spencer/Columbus 24 6 14 0 – 44
First Quarter
SC – Hunter Hildebrandt 46 run (Hildebrandt run), 11:32.
SC – Calvin Lenz 7 run (Lenz run), 5:56.
SC – Safety, 3:16.
SC – Lenz 7 run (run failed), 2:39.
Second Quarter
OF – Jake Walker 42 fumble recovery (run failed), 4:11.
SC – Dakota Anderae 19 lateral from Hunter Luepke (pass failed), 2:15.
Third Quarter
SC – Hildebrandt 13 run (Noah Zastrow run), 8:07.
SC – Lenz 2 run (kick failed), 2:10.
Fourth Quarter
OF – Brian Giles 8 run (Cody Carlstrom pass from Kyler Hagen), 9:35.
OF – Carlstrom 23 pass from Hagen (Lucas Bowerman pass from Hagen), 3:25.
Team Statistics
First downs: Osseo-Fairchild 13; Spencer/Columbus 27.
Rushing (att-yards): Osseo-Fairchild 23-58; Spencer/Columbus 55-522.
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): Osseo-Fairchild 12-26-148-2; Spencer/Columbus 0-6-0-0.
Penalties (no.-yards): Osseo-Fairchild 3-20; Spencer/Columbus 3-30.
Fumbles (total-lost): Osseo-Fairchild 0-0; Spencer/Columbus 2-1.
Punting (no.-avg.): Osseo-Fairchild 4-29.8; Spencer/Columbus 1-27.0.
Individual Statistics
Rushing: OF, Kyler Hagen 14-41, Brian Giles 3-7, Cody Carlstrom 1-7, Jake Walker 1-3. SC, Hunter Hildebrandt 13-148, Calvin Lenz 15-80, Noah Zastrow 4-69, Hunter Luepke 7-65, Tyler Voda 6-51, Elijah Welsh 4-50, Austin Post 4-36, Dakota Anderae 0-19, Tyler Fuerlinger 1-4, No. 14 (name not provided) 1-0.
Passing: OF, Hagen 12-26-148-2. SC, Lenz 0-6-0-0.
Receiving: OF, Carlstrom 7-80, Giles 2-27, Walker 2-22, Jake Prudlick 1-19.
Interceptions (defense): SC, Hildebrandt, Lenz.
Punting: OF, Hagen 4-29.8. SC, Lenz 1-27.0.
Records: Osseo-Fairchild 4-5, 4-4 Cloverbelt Conference; Spencer/Columbus 6-3, 6-2 Cloverbelt Conference.

(Hub City Times Sports Reporter Paul Lecker is also the publisher of  MarshfieldAreaSports.com).