Rockets score 50 first-half points, improve to 4-1

By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

SPENCER — The high-octane Spencer/Columbus offense was on full display Friday night at Ted Fritsch Field.

After an interception on its first play, the Rockets needed just 11 offensive plays to score four touchdowns and take control of the game as they cruised past previously unbeaten Colby 57-14 in a Cloverbelt Conference football game at Spencer High School.

Spencer/Columbus drove 50 yards in five plays for its first score: a 3-yard run by Hunter Luepke.

Colby responded as Alex Schmitt returned the kickoff 59 yards to the 27, and the Hornets scored four plays later on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Christian Raasch to Lucas Bruesewitz.

From that point on, it was all Rockets.

Luepke raced 43 yards for a touchdown on Spencer/Columbus’ first play after the kickoff. Then after a three-and-out and a punt, Jacob Miller went 53 yards for another Rockets’ touchdown to put them up 22-6.

After another three-and-out forced by the S/C defense, Jarred Mandel completed three passes for 50 yards, the final 10 going to Luepke for another touchdown, and the Rockets (4-1 overall and Cloverbelt Conference) had a 29-6 lead after one quarter.

“I thought our guys got off to a real good start and overall played really well,” Spencer/Columbus coach Jason Gorst said. “I thought we were really quick to the edge, and the defense was swarming and hard hitting all night long. It was a very good game.”

It was much the same for the Rockets in the second quarter as they scored on all three of their possessions.

Miller ran 57 yards for a touchdown, Luepke had a 29-yard touchdown run, and Carson Hildebrandt ran in from 5 yards out to put Spencer/Columbus up 50-6 at halftime.

“Our game plan was to outside, and we accomplished that,” Luepke said of the sweep plays that worked all night against the Hornets. “We got quite a bit of touchdowns on those plays. We always love starting quick.”

Hayden Bauman finished the scoring for the Rockets with a 55-yard scamper with 4:17 to go in the third quarter.

Miller finished with 138 yards rushing and two touchdowns on just four carries. Luepke added another 118 yards rushing on eight carries and also caught four passes for 87 yards and scored four times.

Spencer/Columbus’ defense was just as impressive, forcing two fumbles and holding Colby (4-1, 3-1 Cloverbelt Conference) to just 75 rushing yards on 27 carries.

“We are doing a couple of things different (with the sweep play) this year, blocking a little bit differently, so we looked at some film to see the way they (Colby) defended us last year,” Gorst said. “We tried to use our speed. We have that as an asset for us, and we blocked the edge pretty well.”

Spencer/Columbus hits the road for its next two games: Sept. 22 at Cadott and Sept. 28 at Eau Claire Regis.

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

Rockets 57, Hornets 14

Colby 6 0 8 0 – 14

Spencer/Columbus 29 21 7 0 – 57

First Quarter

SC – Hunter Luepke 3 run (kick missed), 9:10.
C – Lucas Bruesewitz 9 pass from Christian Raasch (run failed), 7:27.
SC – Luepke 43 run (Jacob Miller run), 7:08.
SC – Miller 53 run (Luepke run), 5:19.
SC – Luepke 10 pass from Jarred Mandel (Evan Dieringer kick), 2:31.

Second Quarter

SC – Miller 57 run (Dieringer kick), 7:29.
SC – Luepke 29 run (Dieringer kick), 6:58.
SC – Carson Hildebrandt 5 run (Dieringer kick), 1:18.

Third Quarter

C – Gavino Lopez 3 run (Reece Kellnhofer pass from Raasch), 5:55.
SC – Hayden Bauman 55 run (Dieringer kick), 4:17.

Team Statistics

First downs: Colby 7; Spencer/Columbus 12.

Rushing (att-yards): C 27-75; SC 31-306.

Passing (comp-att-yards-int): C 7-17-127-0; SC 6-11-125-2.

Total yards: C 202; SC 431.

Penalties (no.-yards): C 7-45; SC 2-16.

Fumbles (total-lost): C 2-2; SC 1-0.

Punting (no.-avg.): C 6-28.8; SC none.

Individual Statistics

Rushing: C, Gavino Lopez 8-39, Christian Raasch 5-20, Reece Kellnhofer 6-16, Kane Strassburger 8-0. SC, Jacob Miller 4-138, Hunter Luepke 8-118, Hayden Bauman 1-55, Zach Wheeler-Savoy 2-41, Colton Schillinger 5-26, Carson Hildebrandt 8-16, Will Schlafke 1-6, Bubba Post 1-4, Max McGiveron 1-2.

Passing: C, Raasch 7-17-127-0. SC, Jarred Mandel 6-11-125-2.

Receiving: C, Nathan Meyer 4-95, Harley Schmelzer 1-12, Alex Schmitt 1-11, Lucas Bruesewitz 1-9. SC, Luepke 4-87, Ethan Meece 1-27, Miller 1-11.

Fumble recoveries (defense): SC, Luepke, Logan Zschernitz.

Interceptions (defense): C, Meyer, Raasch.

Punting: C, Armando Campa Mata 6-28.8. SC, none.

Records: Colby 4-1, 3-1 Cloverbelt Conference; Spencer/Columbus 4-1 overall and Cloverbelt Conference.