Cardinals have trouble against Wynot
Alan Dale
Randolph Times
WYNOT — They may have wanted to see a bit better result, but a 64-16 defeat at rivals Wynot was still full of signs that the Randolph Cardinals football team will be trending in the right direction.
The Cardinals were led by Collyn Beal’s 96 yards rushing on 23 carries and two touchdowns. Dayton Winkelbauer and Dominic Wilcox combined for a highlight pass completion of 20 yards.
Randolph’s defense was led by Jacob Calder with eight tackles, Isaiah Salmon with seven tackles, and Aiden Gubbels with six.
It did not take long for the Blue Devils to get on the board as Colin Wieseler hauled in the opening kick, found an opening on the left side and bolted 65 yards for a return TD. Chase Schroeder kicked the PAT and Wynot led 7-0 with less than a minute off the board.
Wynot got the ball right back when Colin Wieseler pounced on a Cardinal fumble. Jack Kuchta converted two plays later on a 21-yard catch and run for the Blue Devils’ second touchdown. Chase Schroeder ran in the extra point as the Wynot lead increased to 15-0.
The Cardinals went three-and- out as the Devils’ offense was back on the field quickly. Wynot’s quick strike capabilities showed up again when Zack Foxhoven broke through the line, stiff armed a defender and galloped 51 yards to paydirt.
Wynot got one more chance to score in the first when Joseph Sudbeck picked off an errant Cardinal pass. Zack Foxhoven, two plays later, would sweep the right end for a 13-yard touchdown run. Dylan Heine hit Colin Wieseler for the conversion as the first quarter ended with Wynot leading 29-0.
After a three-and-out by the Cardinals to open the second quarter, the Devils’ Dylan Heine connected with his senior tight end Charlie Schroeder on a short pass in the left flat and Schroeder did the rest, as he broke a couple tackles on his way to a 55-yard TD romp. Schroeder also caught the conversion pass for a 37-0 Wynot advantage.
After a short kickoff by the Blue Devils, Randolph mounted a scoring drive of their own. Collyn Beal was the workhorse for the Cardinals’ offense.
First down runs of 10 and 9 yards helped Randolph push the ball up the field.
Beal would sweep the right end for the seven-yard touchdown run to cap the drive. Beal would also run in the two-point conversion to put the Cardinals on the scoreboard, but trailing 37-8.
Beal continued to run the ball hard as the Cards put together a drive fueled by Beal’s rushing. The Cardinal running back would be rewarded for his hard work as he picked up his second touchdown on the night on another seven-yard touchdown run. Carter Olson ran in the two-point conversion to make the score 44-16.
Bryson Eledge was a bright spot for the Cards, adding 37 yards on the ground and catching three passes.
“Bryson played a solid game on both sides of the ball,” Randolph head coach Mark Lech said. “Bryson along with Shaw Backer led the team in tackles. We got off to a slow start allowing Wynot a return touchdown on the opening kickoff.
“We were able to hold the Blue Devils down for a couple of possessions before their high-octane passing attack became too much.”
Eledge said that team’s ability to focus on the fundamentals took a big step forward after teammates noted in previous weeks the Cardinals needed to see improvement there.
“The game didn’t go as we expected, but I think nobody gave up and everybody played to the end,” Eledge said. “Everybody kept their heads up and playing no matter what happened. Everybody is getting better as the year goes on and on defense, they are staying with their man a lot better.
“We started tackling a lot better, they just made a lot of good catches over us. They are a lot taller than us so there is not a lot we could have done there.”
Eledge notes that the lack of experience is still key, but also that the Cardinals need to take advantage of their time on the field now and take the steps forward as the year progresses.
“As the year has gone on everybody has taken some big hits and you just get used to getting hit every play,” he said. “We are better conditioned and the more of that, we keep going hard every play. The more the young guys play – I am one of them – we get closer as a team and stick with it.
“No matter how old you are you should be working as hard as you can to stand out on the field. If you put in 110 percent effort you should be able to stick with anyone.”
Lech said that the team got more contributions from throughout the roster including the underclassmen who showed signs of growth.
“We were able to move the ball but struggled on scoring on a couple of promising drives,” Lech said.
Randolph finished with 181 total yards of offense.
Randolph will host Osmond Friday night for Parent’s Night.
“Osmond is off to a good start and will be a challenge for us,” Lech said. “Randolph has split the last couple of years with their nearest rival and it is always a big game. We hope to bounce back and put together a solid effort at home next week.”
Wynot 29 22 7 6 —64
Randolph 0 16 0 0 —16
Randolph Wynot
Rushing 43-157 27-126
passing 5-14-49 16-18-281
Total yds 207 407
Rushing
Wynot - Zack Foxhoven, 8-80; Andrew Haberman, 8-28; Randolph - Collyn Beal, 23-96; Bryson Eledge, 12-37; Carter Olson, 2-5; Isaiah Salmon, 4-4.
Passing
Wynot - Dylan Heine, 16-18-281. Randolph - Dayton Winkelbauer, 1-2-20; Isaiah Salmon, 4-11-19; Collyn Beal, 0-1-0.
Receiving
Randolph - Dominic Wilcox, 1-20; Collyn Beal, 1-10; Bryson Eledge, 3-9. Wynot - Charlie Schroeder, 3-103; Carson Wieseler, 4-53; Jack Kuchta, 2-39; Joe Sudbeck, 2-38.
Tackles
Randolph - Bryson Eledge, 9; Isaiah Salmon, 8; Tom Korth, 7; Shaw Backer, 7; Andy Hausmann, 5; Jacob Calder, 4; Collyn Beal, 4; Aiden Gubbels, 4; Carter Olson, 2; Dominic Wilcox, 2; Walt Hammond, 2; Dayton Winkelbauer, 1; Gavin Wortman, 1. Wynot - Chase Schroeder, 8; Tyler Nicke, 7; Tate Guenther, 7; Zack Foxhoven, 6.
