GLENVILLE— The Glenville-Emmons football team looked to start the season off on the right foot as they hosted Grand Meadow on Thursday in Glenville.

Grand Meadow quarterback Caleb Leichtnam made sure that didn’t happen.

Leichtnam put on a show as he scored five rushing touchdowns on the Wolverines defense to lead Grand Meadow past Glenville-Emmons 41-8.

“We came out and we didn’t execute,” Glenville-Emmons coach Ryan Kelly said. “They had their way with us. We came out tight in the first half and were worried about things we shouldn’t have been worried about. We weren’t playing our responsibilities.”

While the Glenville-Emmons defense had trouble containing Leichtnam, the Glenville offense had trouble hanging onto the ball.

The Wolverines had five turnovers in the game that lead to four Grand Meadow touchdowns.

“We had some fumbles in the first half that I haven’t seen from the kids all preseason.” Kelly said. “We can’t win with that many turnovers, we have to clean that up.”

The Superlarks set the tempo right from the start with their opening drive.

They rushed six straight times and ended with a Leichtnam three yard touchdown that put the Superlarks ahead 6-0.

Leichtnam was far from done.

After a Glenville-Emmons fumble, Grand Meadow found itself at the 50 yard line when Caleb Leichtnam found a hole and sprinted 50 yards for another touchdown to put the Superlarks ahead 12-0 with 2:40 left in the first quarter.

With a 12-0 lead, Leichtnam scored two more touchdowns in the second quarter, while Perry Stejskal also punched in a touchdown to give Grand Meadow a 34-0 lead at halftime.

“We had guys who were doing too much,” Kelly said of the defense in the first half. “They weren’t doing their jobs and were trying to do other people’s jobs. We got ourselves out of position and the cutbacks happen and then their is nobody home.”

While the first half was not very kind for the Wolverines, Glenville-Emmons did manage to pick up their play in the second half.

The Wolverines got on the board in the third quarter after a Grand Meadow fumble, when quarterback Zach Williamson found receiver Peter Hansen in the end zone for a six yard touchdown and Glenville-Emmons added a two-point conversion to cut into the Grand Meadow lead at 34-8 with 5:38 left in the third quarter.

The score would stay 34-8 until the fourth quarter, when Leichtnam scored the games final touchdown, his fifth rushing touchdown of the game with 6:22 left in the fourth to put Grand Meadow ahead 41-8.

After allowing 34 first half points, the Glenville-Emmons defense limited the Superlarks to only one touchdown in the second half.

“We had to get back to basics and to what we do,” Kelly said of the teams second half. “The kids came around. They made a couple of plays and gained some confidence.”

Grand Meadow 41, Glenville-Emmons 8

Grand Meadow 12 22 0 8 – 41

Glenville-Emmons 0 0 8 0 – 8

Scoring

First Quarter

GM- Caleb Leichtnam 3 yard run (2 point conversion no good)

GM- Caleb Leichtnam 50 yard run (2 point conversion no good)

Second Quarter

GM- Caleb Leichtnam 25 yard run (2 point conversion good)

GM- Perry Stejskal 8 yard run (PAT good)

GM- Caleb Leichtnam 68 yard run (PAT good)

Third Quarter

GE— Zach Williamson 6 yard pass to Peter Hansen (2 point conversion good)

Fourth Quarter

GM- Caleb Leichtnam 5 yard run (PAT good)