Saints boast 68-0 homecoming victory

By Kristi Nixon

ST. ANSGAR — Offense, defense and special teams were dominant for the St. Ansgar football team in a 68-0 homecoming romp over North Butler on Friday, Sept. 30.

It was the fourth shutout win for Coach Drew Clevenger’s Saints this season as they improved to 4-2 overall, 2-1 in Class A District 2.

“Our kids played well,” Clevenger said. “We were able to establish ourselves at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and that allowed us to be effective. Our linemen on both sides of the ball continue to improve on a weekly basis.”

Connor King, who rolled up 151 yards on the ground with three touchdowns, was part of a great team effort. Defensively, he was credited for 3.5 tackles, including two for loss and the only sack of Bearcat quarterback Corbin Lewis. He also hurried the senior quarterback, along with several others.

“I was pretty motivated,” King said. “All week going into it, I was preparing. Drinking as much water as I could, going hard at practice. The team came together, and we pulled it off. Lots of revenge.”

The Saints had their ears pinned back in avenging last year’s 30-0 loss, the only one against the Bearcats in recent history.

“Our defensive coach, (Luke) Nielsen, he does a pretty good job of figuring out the defense,” King said. “We studied up all week, and we run the plays in practice on scout team and just get to know them good.”

Clevenger added, “Our kids have worked hard to continue to improve over the course of the year and clean up some of our mistakes. It is fun to see kids continue to make refinements in their games and see it play out on Friday nights.”

Everything started with a huge kickoff return with a handoff from Tyke Remster to Tate Mayer, who returned the ball 67 yards to the North Butler 17. Two plays later Mayer scored from two yards out on his way to four touchdown runs against North Butler. Mayer toted the ball 15 times for 123 yards and a long TD of 20.

The two teams traded 3-and-outs before the Saints got a big 45-yard touchdown run from King. His kick made it 14-0, and then he attempted an onside kick that was recovered by the Saints and converted the score just three plays later by King. He was also 8-of-10 in PAT attempts as he is now tied for third in that category and in a four-way tie for fourth in PATs in Class A.

Leading 28-0 after the first quarter, the Saints didn’t take their foot off of the gas with two touchdowns by Mayer and another by King. On the last scoring drive by the Saints in the second half, quarterback Carsen Sparrow completed his only pass of the game in which Hunter Hillman carried North Butler’s Kolton Becker on his back for several yards in an eventual 30-yard gain.

With a continuous clock rolling in the second half, King picked off Lewis and returned it to the five-yard line, and after back-to-back penalties by the Saints, Mayer scored from 20 yards out.

The full story and more photos will be found in the Oct. 5 print and online editions of the Enterprise Journal.