Spencer/Columbus football clinches WIAA playoff berth with homecoming win over Osseo-Fairchild

Spencer/Columbus coach Jason Gorst congratulates quarterback Joe Meyers after Meyers scored a touchdown during the second quarter of the Rockets’ 42-19 win over Osseo-Fairchild on Friday at Beell Stadium in Marshfield. (Photo by Paul Lecker/MarshfieldAreaSports.com)
Spencer/Columbus running back Kaleb Miller runs around the Osseo-Fairchild defense during the second quarter of the Rockets’ 42-19 win on Friday night at Beell Stadium in Marshfield. (Photo by Paul Lecker/MarshfieldAreaSports.com)

This story is sponsored by The Williams-Gray Co.

By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com

MARSHFIELD – The Spencer/Columbus Catholic football team celebrated Columbus’ homecoming by clinching a WIAA playoff berth as it dominated Osseo-Fairchild 42-19 in a Cloverbelt Conference game Friday night at Beell Stadium.

The Rockets exploded for 380 yards rushing and scored five touchdowns of 27 yards or more in the win, which clinches the program’s second straight playoff berth. Spencer/Columbus improves to 5-2 and 4-2 in the Cloverbelt, while Osseo-Fairchild drops to 3-4 and 2-4 and is eliminated from playoff contention.

“We feel like we’re building a program and moving forward,” Spencer/Columbus coach Jason Gorst said. “It’s nice being able to clinch not in the last week and know that you’re there, not wait for internet results and those sorts of things. We feel like we’re going in the right direction.”

Charlie Mayeux ran 17 times for 137 yards, Kaleb Miller added 105 yards on 16 carries and Eathan Aden added 74 yards rushing on only four carries.

Aden scampered 45 yards for a touchdown just 2:26 into the game and quarterback Joe Meyers ran 35 yards for a score with 5 seconds remaining in the first quarter to push Spencer/Columbus out to a quick 14-0 lead.

The Rockets outgained Osseo-Fairchild 140-9 in the first quarter to set the tone.

“It all starts to the blocking upfront,” Gorst said. “Tonight, we were pretty committed to an eight-man rotation with our offensive line, which keeps them fresh, and we work on a lot of different scenarios throughout the week in practice to be able to counter different defenses and what we’ll do in situations. It really starts with the line blocking upfront, running backs blocking hard and attention to detail with fakes and things like that.”

Mayeux scored on a 30-yard touchdown two plays after Tyler Voda intercepted a pass midway through the second quarter Spencer/Columbus took a 21-0 lead into halftime.

The Rockets kept the ground game churning as they opened the third quarter with an 11-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off by a 28-yard TD run by Mayeux. The drive chewed up 7:28 on the clock and the Rockets were able to score despite having two long touchdown runs by Meyers called back for holding penalties.

O-F responded with a touchdown when Kyler Hagen hauled in a 16-yard pass from Dawson Kuehn on fourth down-and-10.

Aden ran in from 31 yards out on the first play of the fourth quarter and Miller added a 4-yard TD run later in the fourth following a 36-yard interception return by Aden.

Gorst referenced the diversity of ball carriers he has in his backfield.

“Very talented athletes, each one of them, they can break one at any time,” Gorst said. “Each one kind of has a little bit of a different skill set, which is nice. Yes, we run the ball a lot, but I don’t feel as if we’re a one-dimensional team with it – there’s a lot of things we can do with our running game.”

Spencer/Columbus closes out its regular-season schedule Oct. 12 at Fall Creek.

Rockets 42, Thunder 19
Osseo-Fairchild 0 0 6 13 – 19
Spencer/Columbus 14 7 7 14 – 42
First Quarter

SC – Eathan Aden 45 run (Call Innman kick), 9:34.
SC – Joe Meyers 35 run (Innman kick), 0:05.
Second Quarter
SC – Charlie Mayeux 30 run (Innman kick), 6:46.
Third Quarter
SC – Mayeux 28 run (Innman kick), 4:32.
OF – Kyler Hagen 16 pass from Dawson Kuehn (kick blocked), 2:26.
Fourth Quarter
SC – Aden 31 run (Innman kick), 11:51.
OF – Hagen 13 pass from Kuehn (kick missed), 10:52.
SC – Kaleb Miller 4 run (Innman kick), 4:55.
OF – Kuehn 6 run (No. 76 kick), 0:06.
Team Statistics
First downs:
Osseo-Fairchild 12; Spencer/Columbus 17.
Rushing (att-yards): O-F 24-46; S/C 49-380.
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): O-F 14-38-171-2; S/C 2-7-37-1.
Fumbles (total-lost): O-F 0-0; S/C 2-0.
Penalties (No.-yards): O-F 3-15; S/C 8-105.
Individual Statistics
Rushing:
O-F, Dawson Kuehn 12-29, Kyle Sluga 3-11, Cole Kutchera 6-3, Tyler Henke 3-3. S/C, Charlie Mayeux 17-137, Kaleb Miller 16-105, Eathen Aden 4-74, Joe Meyers 8-56, Hunter Hildebrandt 2-4, Elijah Welsh 2-4.
Passing: O-F, Kuehn 14-38-171-2. S/C, Meyers 2-7-37-1.
Receiving: O-F, Henke 5-54, Kyler Hagen 5-60, Sluga 2-21, Ethan Kittelson 1-32, Kutchera 1-13. S/C, Derrick Green 1-23, Mayeux 1-14.
Interceptions (defense): O-F, Sluga. S/C, Tyler Voda, Aden.
Records: Osseo-Fairchild 2-5, 2-4 Cloverbelt Conference; Spencer/Columbus 5-2, 4-2 Cloverbelt Conference.

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