Rockets need just 39 plays to score nine touchdowns in home win

By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

SPENCER — Without the aid of a turnover, the Spencer/Columbus Catholic football team managed to score eight touchdowns in the first half and went on to rout Cadott 63-14 in a Cloverbelt Conference game Friday night at Spencer High School.

The Rockets only needed 39 offensive plays to amass 478 total yards and score nine times in the win.

Noah Zastrow had a touchdown run of 55 yards, caught a touchdown passes of 53 and 20 yards, and threw a 38-yard TD pass to Hunter Luepke for the Rockets.

Luepke added touchdown runs of 1 and 42 yards and also caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from Jarred Mandel.

Carson Hildebrandt and Hayden Bauman each added TD runs for the Rockets.

“We played a good football game tonight,” Spencer/Columbus coach Jason Gorst said. “We were mentally crisp on defense, dictated field position with special teams, and were diverse and explosive on offense.”

Mandel completed seven of eight passes for 161 yards and three touchdowns, and Zastrow finished with 123 yards rushing and 73 yards receiving on just nine touches.

The win sets up a big Cloverbelt Conference showdown next Saturday, Oct. 1, when Spencer/Columbus (5-1 overall and Cloverbelt) hosts Eau Claire Regis (5-0, 4-0 Cloverbelt, heading into Saturday’s game against Colby) in Columbus’ homecoming game at Beell Stadium in Marshfield at 1 p.m. With a win the Rockets would stay alive for their chance at a second-straight conference title.

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

Rockets 63, Hornets 14

Cadott 0 0 6 8 – 14

Spencer/Columbus 29 28 6 0 – 63

First Quarter

SC – Hunter Luepke 1 run (Noah Zastrow run), 10:29.
SC – Zastrow 55 run (Zastrow run), 8:14.
SC – Zastrow 53 pass from Jarred Mandel (pass failed), 3:41.
SC – Luepke 42 run (Luepke kick), 1:18.

Second Quarter

SC – Zastrow 20 pass from Mandel (Zastrow pass from Mandel), 9:58.
SC – Luepke 38 pass from Zastrow (Luepke kick), 7:26.
SC – Luepke 27 pass from Mandel (kick missed), 3:36.
SC – Carson Hildebrandt 19 run (Luepke kick), 0:11.

Third Quarter

C – Brady Ryan 25 pass from Dominick Grimm (run failed), 6:56.
SC – Hayden Bauman 27run (kick blocked), 3:30.
C – Bailey Gillett 36 pass from Mike Emery (Grimm pass from Gillett), 5:41.

Team Statistics

First downs: Cadott 12; Spencer/Columbus 17.

Rushing (att-yards): C 17-26; SC 27-279.

Passing (comp-att-yards-int): C 18-37-244-0; SC 8-12-199-0.

Penalties (no.-yards): C 4-40; SC 4-25.

Fumbles (total-lost): none.

Punting (no.-avg.): C 4-24.3; SC 2-36.5.

Individual Statistics

Rushing: C, Kolton Dupey 3-19, Bailey Gillett 2-14, Henry Wojtczak 3-5, Mike Emery 6-1, Dominick Grimm 3-minus 13. SC, Noah Zastrow 7-123, Hunter Luepke 4-62, Carson Hildebrandt 4-33, Hayden Bauman 2-26, Leonardo Rodriguez 3-15, Andres Rodriguez 3-8, Jacob Miller 1-7, Shane Hamm 3-5.

Passing: C, Emery 15-32-199-0, Grimm 2-3-24-0, Dupey 1-2-21-0. SC, Jarred Mandel 7-8-161-0, Zastrow 1-3-38-0, Austin Bacon 0-1-0-0.

Receiving: C, Grimm 4-64, Matt Drilling 4-47, Gillett 3-45, Brady Ryan 3-29, Nick Nesvacil 2-41, Donovan Walters 1-19, Emery 1-minus 1. SC, Luepke 3-88, Zastrow 2-73, Karak Bushman 2-29, Ethan Meece 1-9.

Punting: C, Dupey 3-29.3, Emery 1-7.0. SC, A. Rodriguez 2-36.5.

Records: Cadott 1-5 overall and Cloverbelt Conference; Spencer/Columbus 5-1 overall and Cloverbelt Conference.