Audubon passes test from Stanton-Essex

October 23rd, 2021 by admin

The Audubon Wheelers fought their way to a win in the first round of the 8-Man playoffs on Friday night over the Stanton-Essex Vikings 55-20.

The Vikings hit on some big plays early to quiet the crowd for a while at Chis Jones Field. Audubon won the toss and elected to receive the ball. The Wheelers drove down to the Viking 17 yard line and faced a fourth and 7. The Wheelers elected to go for it and the Vikings came up with a big stop, knocking down a pass that could of been a first down play. Three plays later the Vikings struck the scoreboard first with a 59 yard touchdown pass from Josh Martin to Carter Johnson. They added a two point conversion to Quentin Thornburg to go up 8-0. The Wheelers answered quickly on a 58-yard touchdown run to get within 8-7. Both teams then mounted long drives to eventually tie the game at 14 each.

That’s when a big defensive play turned the momentum in Audubon’s favor. Stanton-Essex elected to go for a fourth down attempt at their own 29-yard-line and Garrett Christensen and Cooper Nielsen tracked down Carter Johnson for a 16 yard sack. The Wheelers took over at the 13 yard line and Gavin Smith raced for a touchdown on the next play to put Audubon out front for the first time in the game, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the way. After the game Garrett Christensen talked about the thrill of coming up with some big sacks.

Audubon Head Coach Sean Birks thought the entire defense worked together well to force the Vikings into some tough situations. He said they just keep finding guys to step up each week, like Christensen did this week.

Matthew Beisswenger hit on a 42-yard field goal late in the half and the Wheelers led 24-14 at the break. Stanton-Essex didn’t go quietly though as they opened the second half with a 43-yard touchdown run from Carter Johnson to get within 4. The Wheelers would then take over the game with five straight scoring drives and pull away for the win. Gavin Smith added two more touchdown runs to his five score night during that final stretch. Braden Wessel and Carter Andreasen also had touchdown runs, and Beisswenger connected on a another field goal from 31 yards.

Audubon improves to 8-1 on the year and will advance to the round of 16. Stanton-Essex ends their season with a record of 6-3. Coach Birks said they will take the night to enjoy the win before starting to look at that next opponent tomorrow.

The second half did include a scary moment where Audubon’s Jackson Deist was injured on a first down catch and run. He was put on a stretcher and taken off the field by ambulance with around 3 minutes left in the third quarter. Audubon Head Coach Sean Birks said he was responsive and moving his extremities as he left the field so they were hopeful for a positive outcome.

Listen to the full postgame interviews below.