Season ends with tough Wausa loss

RANDOLPH - With an outside chance of making the playoffs if it could pull off a win over rivals Wausa, the Randolph Cardinals couldn’t afford a slow start.

Well, the visiting Vikings made sure what the Cardinals hoped for would not be as Wausa broke out to a 22-0 lead after the first quarter and would cruise to a 38-14 victory to end Randolph’s season at 1-7.

Gage Jensen ran 12 times for 64 yards and scored two touchdowns while usual weapon Bryson Eledge was held in check with 23 yards on 19 carries.

“Wausa scored on two long runs from scrimmage in the first quarter and never looked back,” Randolph head coach Mark Lech said. “We played better defense to finish the game but had little offense and came out on the losing end.

It was the third straight year Randolph would miss the playoffs and the optimism born from an opening week win would ultimately be the high point.

“It felt like they were in more games than last year,” Lech said, noting the 0-8 record of 2021. “We would especially like to thank our seniors as they played a lot of football for us over the last four years and were fun to coach and real leaders for the rest of the team. We have good numbers going forward and look forward to start preparing for next year by working hard in the off season.”