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Gaels travel to meet Warriors

—Messenger photo by Britt Kudla St. edmond's Quinten McCarville goes up for a catch inside Dodger Stadium. The Gaels travel to Alta-Aurelia on Friday night.

ALTA — St. Edmond head football coach Matt Dillon is grateful for having two games left to prepare for the upcoming postseason run.

The Gaels (4-1 overall, 2-1 in Class A, District 2) take on Alta-Aurelia (2-3, 1-1) here Friday night. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

After losing a handful of players two weeks ago, St. Edmond is expected to be back at full-strength — and riding the momentum of a thrilling 39-37 double-overtime victory vs. Manson Northwest Webster last week.

“It’s great to have everybody back and working them in again,” Dillon said. “We’ve got two games to make sure we are clicking in all areas.”

There is also the prospect of likely clinching the runner-up spot in the district race with a win for the Gaels, who have scored 106 games against league rivals No. 6 West Hancock, North Union and the Cougars.

Drew Schaeffer continues to lead the SEHS offense, having passed for 1,199 yards this season with 11 touchdowns and just one interception. The senior currently ranks first in the entire state in yards per completion (25.5) and quarterback rating (171.8), and sixth in total yards.

Schaeffer has taken advantage of the numerous weapons presented before him on offense led by senior wide receiver Parker Oswald. Oswald has 20 receptions for 483 yards with three touchdowns while classmates Anthony Lacina (7-279-3) and Kase Baker (5-202-3) help spread the field.

Oswald ranks 11th in the state in yards receiving and third in Class A.

Tyler Rossmanith leads a balanced ground attack with 405 yards, scoring four times. Sean Flattery has 317 yards and a team-high six TDs while Baker has 295 and three scores. Schaeffer has also found the end zone twice.

“We’ve had a lot of success this season on offense and hopefully that will continue,” Dillon said. “Drew’s done a great job of getting the ball to the right person and we’ve been able to take advantage of the athletes that we have.”

In the win over Manson NW, the St. Edmond defense found a way late to stop the Cougars. However, they allowed 348 yards rushing and have surrendered 1,076 yards over the past three weeks.

“We aren’t a very big team at all,” Dillon said. “We’ve had to kind of figure things out as the season has progressed to overcome that.”

Rossmanith has a team-high 39.5 tackles with Oswald, Lacina, Flattery and Brock Stanek all sitting at over 20. Oswald has five tackles for loss, Stanek three and Rossmanith, Flattery and Peyton Scott two each.

After opening with losses to fourth-ranked (2A) Central Lyon/George-Little Rock and Lawton-Bronson, Alta-Aurelia reeled off back-to-back victories over Shenandoah and Bishop Garrigan. They fell to West Hancock last week, 54-26.

Quarterback Cade Rowher leads the Warriors, having passed for 257 yards and rushed for another 222. He has a team-high six touchdowns, with five coming on the ground.

Preston McCoy has 209 yards rushing and 93 yards receiving, with Kaden Stiles adding 135 yards rushing.

As a collective unit, Alta-Aurelia has 940 yards and 11 touchdowns on offense. McCoy does have a punt return for a touchdown, and the Warrior defense has forced eight turnovers.

“They’ve got some good, talented kids and we know they’ll be ready to go,” Dillon said.

Game notes: Alta-Aurelia leads the all-time series, 2-0, including a 33-7 victory last year. … Drew Schaeffer currently ranks third on the school’s single-season passing yards list behind only Tad Lindner (1,318) and John Engler (1,247). … Schaeffer’s 1,942 career passing yards places him fourth behind Lindner (2,460), Tom Miklo (2,041) and Engler (2,040). … Parker Oswald is tied for ninth with Joey Flattery and Chris Tappe with 43 career receptions. … Oswald’s yardage total places him eighth for single-season and ninth for career (761). … St. Edmond ranks second in all of Class A in scoring per game at 39.4 points.

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