By City Times staff

SPENCER – The Spencer/Columbus Rockets used a 30-point first quarter to ease past Bloomer Oct. 26 in a WIAA Division 5 level two playoff contest. The Rockets won the game at Fritsch Field in Spencer 37-18, and earned a quarterfinal bid Nov. 2 versus No. 2 Westby in Spencer. Westby got by No. 3 Elk Mound 35-6 in level two last Friday night. Both S/C and Westby are now 10-1.

The Rockets grabbed a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, when Austin Bacon scored on a five-yard touchdown run. S/C then blew the game open with a 23-point second quarter. Carson Hildebrandt scored early in the second, on a one-yard run. Four minutes of clock time later, quarterback Jarred Mandel hit Bacon on a four-yard scoring strike. Mandel ran for another score when he took it in from two yards out to give the Rockets a 27-0 lead. Placekicker Evan Dieringer connected on a 26-yard field goal with :01 left on the second-quarter clock to give S/C a 30-0 halftime lead.

Bloomer scored 18 unanswered points in the third and fourth quarters to close the gap to 12 with 9:10 remaining in regulation time. But, the Rockets closed out the game with a touchdown run by Hayden Bauman with 2:29 left in the contest to lock up the victory, their 10th of the season.

S/C racked up 462 yards, 378 of them on the ground. Two Rocket running backs surpassed 100 yards rushing in the same game. Bacon totaled 123 yards on 12 carries, and Bauman ran for 103 yards on 13 carries. Mandel added 87 rush yards and Hildebrandt 56. Each of those players had TD runs as well.

Bacon also led the team in tackles with six. Ethan Meece had one pass interception.

“I thought their kids played with heart and character all night”, S/C Head Coach Jason Gorst said in a written statement to the media following the game. “Hayden Bauman and Andres Rodriguez really emerged for us tonight. We are very happy with our effort in a very tough game.”