Knights clip Red Hawks in league opener

The Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau football team more than held their own against the Luther Knights to start a new year of Coulee Conference play, finding some splash plays in their passing game and outgaining Luther on offense. However, the Red Hawks couldn’t finish enough drives after the opening quarter to turn an encouraging performance into a victory.

The Knights (3-0, 1-0) kept their unbeaten start going with a 20-6 win over G-E-T (0-3, 0-1) during the conference opener for both teams this past Friday in Galesville.

Luther got the scoring started with senior running back Logan Pierce’s touchdown run in the first quarter for an early 7-0 advantage, though the Red Hawks soon responded with sophomore Brady Hansen’s touchdown run to slice that deficit to 7-6.

G-E-T kept themselves within one possession until the final quarter, as a pair of field goals by senior Peter Sobolik were the only points scored in the second and third. However, Luther senior quarterback Jonathan Houlb’s touchdown pass to fellow senior Trent Berg in the fourth quarter made it a two-possession game and gave the Knights all the breathing room they needed to close out the victory.

In addition to his field goals, Sobolik also twice picked off Hansen.

Though those two interceptions loomed large, the Red Hawks found success through the air despite starting QB Sawyer Foust continuing to be sidelined due to an injury. Hansen completed 10 of 15 passes for 160 yards, including senior Brode Eiken hauling in five catches for a team-high 86 yards.

Senior Wyatt Nichols and Hansen rushed for 39 and 38 yards, respectively. Defensively for G-E-T, senior Kobee DeYoung and sophomore Lachlan Daffinson each recorded seven solo tackles, with Daffinson also coming down with an interception.

Pierce led the charge for the Knights with 132 yards on 28 carries out of the backfield.

G-E-T held a slight edge, 253 yards to 241, in total offense in the loss.

The Red Hawks take another crack at getting in the win column when they play the Westby Norsemen (1-2, 0-1) on Friday at 7 p.m. in Westby.

G-E-T fell painfully short against the Norsemen a year ago in an 8-6 loss in the final week of the regular season. Westby is coming off a 30-7 road loss to Black River Falls in their first Coulee contest of 2026.