Lanesboro runs past Glenville-Emmons 52-8

LANESBORO — Note to the Nine-Man state tournament field: The Lanesboro Burros are fast.

The Burros ran over the Glenville-Emmons Wolverines Friday for 380 rushing yards and seven touchdowns en route to a 52-8 win the in Section 1 Nine-Man final in Lanesboro.

The Wolverines’ (5-6) loss ended an emotional postseason run, but the team brought home a section trophy for the first time in

school history.

It just wasn’t the one they wanted to.

“There’s a lot of pain right now,” Wolverines head coach Ryan Kelly said, of his players after the loss. “They didn’t want this to end. When they look back in the next couple of days they’re going to realize this is a big thing. They did some things nobody expected them to and people are going to be talking about these guys for a long time to come.”

The Wolverines opened the game with a nine play drive, that included a 22-yard run by quarterback Zack Williamson, but stalled on the Burros’ 28-yard line and turned the ball over on downs.

The Burros took over possession and scored three plays later on a 47-yard run by ninth-grader Niko Anderson to go ahead 6-0 after a failed two-point conversion attempt.

On the first play of the ensuing drive, Williams fed receiver Perry Kirsch on a screen pass near the Burros sideline.

Kirsch raced down the sideline and broke two tackles for a 73-yard touchdown — the only Wolverines score of the game.

A completed two-point conversion pass from Williamson to Tyler Woodside gave the Wolverines a brief 8-6 lead, but the Burros were able to shut down Kirsch — who led the team with 88 yards receiving — and the rest of the Wolverines’ offense for the remainder of the game.

The Burros built a 21-8 lead in the first quarter on consecutive drives that each featured 37-yard runs to set up scoring plays.

The Wolverines defense was able to keep the Burros from busting big plays in the second quarter, but Lanesboro extended their lead to 33-8 before halftime with long, methodical scoring drives.

The Burros scored in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the second half after a 25-yard pass to Justin Gudmundson from Lucas Johnson

set up a one-yard touchdown run.

Lanesboro then kicked and recovered an onside kick and scored four plays later to go ahead 46-8 with eight minutes left in the third quarter.

“They impose their will on you,” said Kelly, of the Burros. “They don’t do anything pretty and they don’t do anything fancy, they just do it well.”

The Wolverines defense buckled down for the rest of the game, and held the Burros scoreless until two minutes left in regulation.

“You’ve got the give all the credit in the world to these kids,” Kelly said, of his team. “They worked their tails off and they burned everything they’ve got. Unfortunately this one didn’t go our way.”

The Burros will face Edgerton/Ellsworth at 5 p.m. Friday at Southwest State University in Marshall, in the quarterfinals of the Nine-Man state football tournament.

Lanesboro 52, Glenville-Emmons 8

Wolverines 8 0 0 0 — 8

Burros 21 12 13 6 — 52

First Quarter

LHS — Anderson 9 run (Conversion failed)

G-E — Kirsch 73 pass from Williamson (Conversion good)

LHS — Johnson 37 run (Conversion good)

LHS — Johnson 3 run (Kick good)

Second Quarter

LHS — Anderson 2 run (Kick failed)

LHS — Hanson 10 pass from Johnson (Conversion failed)

Third Quarter

LHS — Reed 1 run (Kick failed)

LHS — Johnson 4 run (Kick good)

Fourth Quarter

LHS — Hongerholt 4 run (Conversion failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Glenville-Emmons, Hall 15-75, Hansen 1-14, Olson 3-13, Williamson 11-9. Lanesboro, Johnson 11-102, Anderson 12-98, Reed 14-95, Hongerholt 2-74, Decker 2-3, Hanson 1-3, Luck 1-2

PASSING — Glenville-Emmons, Williamson 7-12-1-105, Madson 1-7-0-5. Lanesboro, Johnson 3-4-1-73.

RECEIVING — Glenville-Emmons, Kirsch 3-88, Hansen 2-10, Lau 1-6, Constantino 1-5, Hall 1-1