St. Marys uses big Third Quarter to take down Giltner

O'Neill St. Marys RB Aydan Kloppenborg (#10/white jersey) takes a handoff from All-Stater Gage Hedstrom (#2/white jersey) in the Cardinals 48-16 when over Giltner Thursday night.

GILTNER, NE

In a game you will not find on the original NSAA 2023 high school football schedule, O’Neill St. Marys played some fierce defense and rode the offensive performances of Aydan Kloppenborg and All-Stater Gage Hedstrom to defeat Giltner 48-16.

St. Marys had originally been scheduled to play a road game at Osmond on September 8th, and Giltner to host Cedar Bluffs on the same night.

When both Osmond and Cedar Bluffs were unable to field a team for the 2023 season, both St. Marys and Giltner decided to play each other instead of taking a forfeit victory and just like that, we had Thursday Night Lights in Giltner, Nebraska.

St. Marys, whose 18 man roster is made up of nine freshmen, hit the board first when senior Aydan Kloppenborg scored from a yard out. Kloppenborg’s touchdown was set up by a splendid 23 yard run by Hedstrom on a 4th and 12 play from the Giltner 24 yard line.

Less than two minutes later, the Hornets Phillip Kreutz reeled off a 26 yard touchdown scamper down the Giltner sideline to level things at 8 apiece.

But, it took just one minute, thirty seven seconds for the Cardinals to answer the Giltner score.

Riding the legs of Aydan Kloppenborg, St. Marys drove from their own 19 yard line to score in just 5 plays. Kloppenborg was a shining star on the drive, reeling off runs of 15 and 10 yards, before cruising in from the Giltner 12 yard line for the score.

The St. Marys drive was aided by a pair of Giltner penalties, the big one coming on a personal foul facemask infraction following Kloppenborg’s 10 yard scamper from the Giltner 34 to the 24.

The first quarter ended with St. Marys on top 14-6.

The visitors wasted little time in scoring when the second quarter commenced. Once again though, Giltner had forced St. Marys into a 3rd and long situation at the Hornets 11.

What transpired on that 3rd down play reminded me of a 6-Man football “quarterback scramble for 20 seconds, then finally spot an open receiver open for touchdown” play.

No, Gage Hedstorm did not scramble in the Cardinals backfield for a 20 count, but it had to be close. The sensational sophomore quarterback seemingly had time to write a short novel before finding senior Carson Dannenbring for an 11 yard scoring strike.

The PAT run failed and St. Marys went into the locker room with a 20-7 halftime advantage.

Giltner actually buckled down and played some pretty stingy, physical defense in that second stanza and was very much in the game at the halfway point.

That would change in a hurry on the 3rd quarter kickoff.

Who else, but Aydan Kloppenborg delivered a crushing blow to Giltner’s Homecoming celebration when he hushed the home crowd with a spectacular 66 yard kick return touchdown to open the second half.

St. Marys special teams blocking enabled the speedy senior to go coast to coast untouched for the crippling score thirteen seconds deep into half number two.

St. Marys added two more touchdowns in the 3rd frame, courtesy of a 7 yard scoring strike from Gage Hedstrom to freshman Ben Barlow, and a two yard horizontal dive by the terrific Cardinals quarterback.

Meanwhile, the St. Marys defense was pitching a 3rd quarter shutout of the Giltner offense.

The home town Hornets did hit the board with 10:10 left in the 4th when senior quarterback Cooper Reeson, who appeared to be trapped in his own backfield, pulled off a “pinball wizard” type 21 yard touchdown scamper.

The Hornet senior, twisted, turned and bounced off St. Marys defenders like a steel ball off pinball machine bumpers.

Fittingly enough, Reeson outraced the St. Marys “D” to the pylon to gain the double PAT, and it was 42-16.

Gage Hedstrom capped off the game’s scoring with a one yard run before the Cardinals sent in the backups.

Unofficially, O’Neill St. Marys Gage Hedstrom led all rushers with 84 yards on 22 carries and a pair of touchdowns. Aydan Kloppenborg matched Hedstrom’s rushing touchdown total and gained 74 yards on just 12 totes before leaving the game in the 3rd quarter with an apparent ankle injury.

Hedstrom completed 7 of 13 passes for 60 yards and two scores as the Cardinals improved to 2-1 on the year.

The Giltner ground attack was paced by Phillip Kreutz, who rushed for 40 yards on 14 tries and a touchdown. QB Cooper Reeson hit 8 out of his 14 aerials for 55 yards.

St. Marys players that stood out to me, other than players previously mentioned, were freshman Eli Banks, senior Sam Barlow and junior Jace Rosenkrans, who was an absolute monster on defense.

Freshman Drake Berg, whose Mom is the renowned, highly successful head girls basketball coach at St. Marys, was also a sparkler on the defensive side of the ball for the Cardinals.

I thought both Kreutz and Reeson ran very hard for Giltner, who will win some football games before this season is in the books.

St. Marys will return home to face Boyd County next Thursday in O’Neill, while Giltner, who falls to 1-2 on the year, will travel to Clarks next Friday to face High Plains Community.

……………………1…….2……3…..4……,Final

St. Marys (2-1)… 14……6……22..….6…..……48

At Giltner (1-2) ...8…...0…….0..…..8…..……16

1st Qtr.…………………………………………………………................SM -Giltner

SM- Aydan Kloppenborg 1 run - PAT- Gage Hedstrom pass to Kloppenborg…8-0 - (7:14)

G - Phillip Kreutz 26 run - PAT-Cooper Reeson run…8--8 - (5:44)

SM - Kloppenborg 12 run - PAT-pass failed…14-8 - (5:02)

2nd Qtr

SM - Carson Dannenbring 11 pass from Hedstrom - PAT-run failed…20-8 - (7:07)

3rd Qtr.

SM - Kloppenborg 66 Kick Return - PAT-Hedstrom run…28-8 - (11:47)

SM - Ben Barlow 7 pass from Hedstrom - PAT-run failed…34-8 - (8:23)

SM - Gage Hedstrom 2 run - PAT-Hedstrom pass to Dannenbring…42-8 - (3:35)

4th Qtr.

G - Reeson 21 run - PAT-Reeson run…42-16 - (10:10)

SM - Gage Hedstrom 1 run - PAT-pass failed…48-16 - (3:35)