By RICK SPRUNGER
South Adams made the short trip to Carnes Field Friday night and went back home with a 58-0 win tucked under its belt.
The Starfires rolled 51 points up on the scoreboard in the first half to get the clock running at halftime and then finished with a lone score on the first play of the fourth quarter.
It was the last home game for Southern Wells seniors Jackson Collins, Quinten Darling and Bryson Williams.
As if the score wasn’t bad enough for Southern Wells, the Raiders also lost 5-9, 285-pound junior lineman Korbin Eltzroth to an injury less than three minutes into the game.
Eltzroth didn’t get up from a pile after a Raider offensive play, didn’t put any weight at all on his right foot coming off the field and was on crutches for the remainder of the game.
“We don’t know if he’ll be able to play (in the sectional) or not,” said Southern Wells coach Blake Blaker after the game.
“He’s a big part of what we do. The nice thing is that we got the bye, so he’ll have two weeks to recover.”
But Blaker had bigger concerns than that when this one was over.
“If we do what we’re coached to do, it’s easy,” said a frustrated Blaker on the field afterwards. “But we need to be more consistent; We just have to execute. We’ve got (receivers) running their own routes and guys doing their own thing.
“But we just . . .” His voice trailed off.
Then, “I don’t know if it’s a lack of discipline. I don’t know what it is.”
Southern Wells’ problems Friday night started on the opening kickoff.
South Adams’ Will Patterson fielded the kick on the 17, found a seam, and set sail down the left sideline.
Joshua Aulbach made a touchdown-saving tackle from behind at the Southern Wells 6.
But Wes Summersett took it in from there on the Starfires’ first play from scrimmage, and the Berne squad was off to the races.
South Adams needed just three plays to move the ball 51 yards on its next series and four plays to go 57 yards on the series after that.
That made it 21-0 after one quarter, and then the roof fell in on Southern Wells in the second period.
A 40-yard touchdown fling from quarterback Tytus Lehman to Derek McKean and a 39-yard scoring scamper by Patterson upped the count to 35-0 midway through the quarter, and Jackson Garcia added a field goal and Jax Wanner a two-yard touchdown run for a 44-0 score with 1:18 left in the first half.
Patterson then capped the half with a 17-yard scoop-and-score after a Southern Wells fumble deep in its own backfield with just 16 ticks remaining.
Southern Wells was able to move the football in the second half.
The Raiders got first downs on three successive plays early in third quarter, one on a nice catch by Levi Blake for 20 yards on a pass from Slusher and a second on an 11-yard carry by Blake that got the ball to the South Adams 25 before a fumble ended the drive.
And a 34-yard pass from Slusher to Aulbach got the Raiders to the Starfire 35 with less than two minutes remaining in the contest.
After a fumble in the backfield moved them back seven yards, Blaker used a timeout to maximize his team’s chances of at least putting up a touchdown on Senior Night.
He wasn’t able to get another one called after consecutive incompletions.
“I tried,” said a disgusted Blaker. “Twice. They (the officials) wouldn’t give me another one.
“I suppose it’s possible that he didn’t hear me, but I don’t know how,” he added. “I was five feet away from him and yelling in his ear. I think they just wanted to get the game over with and get out of there.”
Southern Wells will next play in two weeks when it travels to either Triton or Southwood in Class A sectional play.
SOUTH ADAMS 58, SOUTHERN WELLS 0
South Adams (4-5) 21 30 0 7 – 58
Southern Wells (0-9) 0 0 0 0 – 0
First Quarter
SA-Wes Summersett 6 run (Jackson Garcia kick), 11:40.
SA-Caiden Neuenschwander 19 pass from Tytus Lehman (Garcia kick), 10:07.
SA-Dillan Ramirez 15 run (Garcia kick), 4:21.
Second Quarter
SA-Derek McKean 40 pass from Lehman (Garcia kick), 10:51.
SA-Will Patterson 39 run (Garcia kick), 8:57.
SA-FG Garcia 27, 4:00.
SA-Jax Wanner 10 run (kick failed), 1:18.
SA-Patterson 17 fumble return (Garcia kick), 0:16.
Fourth Quarter
SA-Zaden Baumer 9 run (Garcia kick), 11:24.
Team Statistics SA SW
First Downs 17 8
Rushes-Yards 21-170 34-31
Passing Yards 153 106
Passing (Comp-Att-Int) 8-10-0 8-15-1
Penalties-Yards 2-15 3-35
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 5-1
Punts-Average 0-0 3-25.7
Time of Possession 16:34 31:26
Individual Statistics
Rushing: South Adams-Gavin Herring 5-11, Dillan Ramirez 4-32, Zaden Baumer 3-6, Will Patterson 2-47, Wes Summersett 2-11, Caiden Neuenschwander 1-18, Nolan Colpaert 1-13, Easton O’Dell 1-13, Jax Wanner 1-10; Southern Wells-Trey Slusher 13-15, Levi Blake 9-17, Alden Dollar 9-6, Lyrik Maddox 3-(-6).
Passing: South Adams-Tytus Lehman 6-7-0 108, Derek McKean 1-2-0 16, Zaden Baumer 1-1-0 29; Southern Wells-Trey Slusher 8-15-1 106.
Receiving: South Adams-Derek McKean 3-67, Estaylin Pyle 1-29, Caiden Neuenschwander 1-19, Craig Landis 1-16, Wes Summersett 1-15, Jax Wanner 1-7; Southern Wells-Levi Blake 4-54, Joshua Aulbach 2-40, Alden Dollar 2-13.
