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MarshfieldAreaSports.com
ALTOONA – The Spencer/Columbus Catholic football team responded from a 30-point loss a week ago with a convincing 33-14 victory over Altoona in a Cloverbelt Conference matchup Friday night at Altoona High School.
Spencer/Columbus finishes its Cloverbelt schedule with a 6-2 record, assuring it no worse than a tie for third place. Altoona drops to 5-3 and 5-2 in the conference. The Rockets finish their regular season with a nonconference game next Friday at Rib Lake/Prentice at Rib Lake High School.
The Rockets, coming off a disappointing 62-32 loss to Eau Claire Regis last Saturday, played without leading rusher Hunter Luepke. The offense started slow, but finished strong.
Carson Hildebrandt scored on a 9-yard touchdown midway through the second quarter and Noah Zastrow ran in a two-point conversion to give the Rockets an 8-0 lead, which held to halftime.
The Rockets then opened up the offense in the second half, scoring four unanswered touchdowns to take a 33-0 lead.
Zastrow had touchdown runs of 63 and 41 yards, and Karak Bushman caught touchdown passes of 37 and 29 yards from quarterback Jarred Mandel, to put Spencer/Columbus in control.
“I’m really proud of the way our team responded tonight,” SC coach Jason Gorst said. “We had a lot of guys step up and play well against a good team.”
Zastrow finished with 225 yards rushing on 18 carries for the Rockets, who outgained Altoona 428-221.
Rockets 33, Railroaders 14
Spencer/Columbus 0 8 12 13 – 33
Altoona 0 0 0 14 – 14
Second Quarter
SC – Carson Hildebrandt 9 run (Noah Zastrow run), 5:49.
Third Quarter
SC – Zastrow 6 3 run (Hildebrandt run), 10:14.
SC – Zastrow 41 run (pass failed), 1:20.
Fourth Quarter
SC – Karak Bushman 37 pass from Jarred Mandel (pass failed), 11:27.
SC – Bushman 29 pass from Mandel (Caden Schillinger kick), 6:09.
A – Connor Klatt 59 run (Isaac Koehler kick), 5:13.
A – Zac Klatt 11 run (Koehler kick), 2:47.
Team Statistics
First downs: SC 16; A 6.
Rushing: SC 54-320; A 37-184.
Passing: SC 4-6-108-0; A 3-6-37-1.
Penalties (no.-yards): SC 6-50; A 6-30.
Punting (no.-avg.): SC 3-19.7; A 3-34.0.
Fumbles (total-lost): SC 2-2; A 1-1.
Individual Statistics
Rushing: SC, Noah Zastrow 18-225, Carson Hildebrandt 17-92, Jacob Miller 8-23, Adam Walter 3-7, Austin Bacon 1-2, Andres Rodriguez 2-1, Shane Hamm 2-minus 4, Jarred Mandel 3-minus 26. A, Connor Klatt 18-89, Mitch Adrian 8-65, Kolten Wright 9-20, Zac Klatt 2-10.
Passing: SC, Mandel 3-5-98-0, Zastrow 1-1-10-0. A, Will Brahan 2-5-29-1, Adrian 1-1-8-0.
Receiving: SC, Karak Bushman 2-66, Hildebrandt 1-32, Ethan Meece 1-10. A, Adrian 2-29, Koby Gutsch 1-8.
Interceptions (defense): SC, Lukas Ellefson.
Punting: SC, Hildebrandt 2-11.5, Zastrow 1-36.0. A, Isaac Koehler 3-34.0.
Records: Spencer/Columbus 6-2 overall and Cloverbelt Conference; Altoona 5-3, 5-2 Cloverbelt Conference.