Picture courtesy of Colten Southern

The Ell-Saline Cardinals traveled to Mankato on Friday evening to take on the Rock Hills Grizzlies in a 8M-II district 5 matchup. The Cardinals were searching for their fourth straight win after starting the season 0-3. Ell-Saline shut out the Grizzlies as the Cardinals defense only allowed two first downs on the night. Along with some big plays from the Ell-Saline offense the Cardinals cruised to a 52-0 victory at halftime.

The Cardinals won the coin toss and chose to defer giving the Grizzlies the ball first. Rock Hills Wayson Colson fumbled the football on the very first play from scrimmage and the Cardinals recovered giving them great field position. A couple plays later senior fullback Branton Gosvener punched it in from 2 yards out to give Ell-Saline a 8-0 lead.

Ell-Saline scored two more times in the first quarter with both coming by the way of rushing touchdowns. Senior running back Jaxsen Seed scored the first before fellow senior quarterback Julian Roche used a QB sneak to put the Cardinals up 22-0 after the 1st quarter.

It did not take long into the 2nd quarter for the Cardinals to find the endzone once again, this time Julian Roche used his arm to find a diving Colter Smith that put Ell-Saline up 28-0.

Ell-Saline special teams wanted to get in on the fun as junior JT Moye took a Grizzlies punt down the sideline 40 yards to the house and it was 36-0 Cardinals.

With 7:49 left in the half Jaxsen Seed scored his second rushing touchdown of the game this time it was a 6 yard option play and Seed went in untouched. Then after a Grizzles fumble, Julian Roche needed just one play to find JT Moye on a 15-yard touchdown reception that made it 52-0.

The Grizzles finished with just two first downs on the night, one by way of penalty. The stout Cardinal defense gave up just 34 total yards on the night unofficially, as they coasted to the 52-point win.

With the win, Ell-Saline moves to 4-3 on the season and 3-0 in district play and will be back in Brookville for senior night next Friday against the Lincoln Leopards to finish out the regular season. The Cardinals have a chance to capture their fourth straight district championship next Friday as they host the #1 ranked team in class 8M-I. The Cardinals will also look to avenge a season ending heartbreaking loss to the Leopards a season ago 46-44 in the sectional round of the playoffs. Rock Hills falls to 0-7 on the season and 0-3 in district play and will be on the road next Friday against the Bennington Bulldogs to finish out the regular season.

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