By ANDREW FEEBACK
The season ended Friday night for the Southern Wells Raiders as they fell to the visiting Northfield Norsemen 44-0.
Northfield evened its record at 5-5, while Southern Wells finished without a win.
The Raiders struggled to do much on offense in the first half and also had difficulties with Northfield’s triple-option offense.
“That’s not an offense we’ve faced all year,” coach Mike Roeder said. “You get a week to prepare and we did our best, but it’s a tough offense to prepare for if you’ve never seen it. Offensively, I felt like there were moments when we were moving the ball, but we had a lot of dumb penalties.”
The Raiders saw a seven-yard run on the first play of the game wiped out by a holding penalty, which essentially nixed that possession.
The Norsemen went 53 yards on seven plays, all on the ground, for their first touchdown.
Southern Wells faced fourth and three from its own 42-yard-line and decided to go for it.
A lineman deflected a pass from Gearheart, and it went right into the hands of Jaxsen Martin, who returned it 30 yards for a score and a 14-0 lead.
Northfield then recovered a short kickoff near the Raiders’ 33-yard-line and scored six plays later when Mason Fisher threw a four-yard pass to Eli Kroh.
The Raiders reached Norse territory on their next series but turned it over on downs.
Northfield added to its lead when Jaxton Peas ran 29 yards for a score, then tacked on a 61-yard run a few minutes later.
C.J. Long caught a 47-yard touchdown pass late in the first half to make it 42-0.
Southern Wells’s best drive of the game came in the third quarter when they picked up three first downs, but a run down to near the five-yard-line was called back on a holding penalty, and the drive stalled.
Northfield got its final points on a safety with 3:29 remaining when Trey Slusher was tackled in the end zone after a handoff.
The Raiders finished with 103 yards of offense, while the Norsemen had 295.
Seniors Jenson Nusbaumer, Colin Green, and Gage Roberts will be moving on.
For those who will return next season, Roeder is hoping to see a commitment to getting stronger this offseason.
“We’d like to see them in the weight room,” he said.
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NORTHFIELD 44, SOUTHERN WELLS 0
At Southern Wells
Score By Quarters
Northfield 21 21 0 2 – 44
Southern Wells 0 0 0 0 – 0
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
N—Jordan Kinsey 2 run (Pablo Rodriguez kick), 6:21.
N—Jaxsen Martin 30 interception return (Rodriguez kick), 3:31.
N—Eli Kroh 4 pass from Mason Fisher (Rodriguez kick), 0:48.
Second Quarter
N—Jaxton Peas 29 run (Rodriguez kick), 8:29.
N—Peas 61 run (Rodriguez kick), 5:49.
N—C.J. Long 47 pass from Fisher (Rodriguez kick), 2:47.
Third Quarter
Fourth Quarter
N—Safety, 3:29.
Team Statistics
NOR SW
First Downs 8 5
Rushes-Yards 33-244 34-98
Yards Passing 51 5
Passing (C-A-I) 2-4-0 1-2-1
Penalties-Yards 3-30 5-40
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-0
Punts-Average 2-38 3-31
Time of Possession 23:38 24:22
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Northfield, Jordan Kinsey 6-15, C.J. Long 3-47, Jaxton Peas 6-109, Joseph Delgado 4-15, Mason Fisher 1-20, Bryce Smith 4-9, Alec Oswalt 4-9, Jake Perney 3-13, Blake Aderman 1-3, Korbin Haupert 1-1. Southern Wells, Gage Roberts 14-62, Bryar Gearheart 15-42, Owen King 2-(minus 6), Kaiden Schmidt 2-3, Trey Slusher 1-(minus 3).
Passing: Northfield, Fisher 2-3-0-51, Perney 0-1-0-0. Southern Wells, Gearheart 1-2-1-5.
Receiving: Northfield, Long 1-47, Eli Kroh 1-4. Southern Wells, Eli Elmore 1-5.
