Wild fourth quarter ends with comeback win for Luther over G-E-T

The final 12 minutes of last Friday’s Coulee Conference debut for the 2024 Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau High School football team was packed with defensive plays, momentum shifts and late touchdowns.

Luther got the better of those swings when a 27-yard touchdown throw from Jackson Kendall to Gabe Shepard on fourth down gave the hosts the lead with less than two minutes remaining in the game, a score that stood as the difference in a 13-8 victory for the Knights (3-0 overall, 1-0 Coulee) at Luther High School.

The Red Hawks (0-3, 0-1 Coulee) forced fourth down after a pass break-up by Jackson Burns. On fourth down, Kendall heaved a pass toward the end zone — a throw that appeared short — before Shepard adjusted back to the ball on the five-yard line, leaped for the catch and ran into the corner of the end zone.

“Our defense has always been stepping up, and part of that is how we scheme and our defensive staff is one of the best, but our guys came to play,” G-E-T coach Paul Anderson said. “Unfortunately, it’s that one fourth down that killed it at the end, but our defense played great.”

Luther’s defense forced a stop in G-E-T’s final possession, ending the game by kneeling time down.

The visitors were restricted on offense for much of the first half but began the second half on a better note. The Red Hawks got the ball minutes into the third quarter down 7-0 and chipped away nearly eight minutes of game time on a long drive.

The Red Hawks utilized runs from Gunnar Johnson and Kyle Seiling, defensive penalties by Luther and a three-yard spinning run from quarterback Ben Hansen on fourth-and-two to score their first touchdown of the game a minute into the fourth quarter.

A Seiling two-point conversion was called back on a penalty, but Omar Jimenez gave the visitors an 8-7 lead with 11 minutes left in the game on the redo.

Seiling led G-E-T with 57 yards rushing, and Johnson finished with 38.

“That’s G-E-T football,” Anderson said of the long drive, praising his team’s physicality. “It’s just too bad we couldn’t bring it all the other possessions and try to get that first down to try to win it here at the end.”

When Luther began driving to respond, G-E-T forced an interception on its own 13-yard line. The Red Hawks forced Kendall into two red zone interceptions in the second half.

Minutes later the G-E-T defense sacked Kendall to turn a 34-yard Luther look into a punt, but G-E-T’s offense was unable to get a first down three yards from their own end zone and gave the ball back to Luther with 3:17 remaining.

The Knights, which got its first touchdown on a 20-yard passing play in the second quarter, scored four plays later to claim the lead for good. The Luther defense then hauled down Hansen on third and fourth down for back-to-back sacks to end the game.

Johnson led G-E-T on defense with 10 tackles, while Jimenez had eight stops and an interception. Burns finished with seven tackles and an interception.

The Red Hawks now turn their attention to Aquinas, a team that beat Arcadia 55-22 last week (see story elsewhere in sports) and is the defending Division Five state champion.

Anderson said despite G-E-T starting the season 0-3, they have the talent to fight its way into the playoff conversation. That means correcting early season errors and finding more possession drives like its one touchdown look last week.

“We’ve got Aquinas coming up next week and we know what they’re all about,” Anderson said. “But every team is tough and every team has improved in the Coulee Conference, so we just have to take them one at a time and see what happens.”

G-E-T—

Rushing (att./yds.)—Seiling 21/57, Johnson 8/38, Remus 5/9, Hansen 4/7, Waxlax 1/3, Jimenez 1/2, Foust 1/-9.

Receiving (rec./yds.)—Waxlax 1/12, Seiling 1/7.

Passing (comp./att./yds.)—Hansen 2/11/19.

Tackles (solo/total)—Johnson 7/10, Jimenez 4/8, Burns 4/7, Seiling 6/6, Bishop 3/5, Remus 3/3, Hansen 3/3, Cantlon 1/2, Herman 1/1, Burken 0/1.