Wildcats take control early in win over Indees
Connor Kruse of Blair-Taylor tried to get around the edge during the first quarter of the team’s game against Independence/Gilmanton on Friday. (Times photograph by Andrew Dannehy)
Chase Back of Independence/Gilmanton released a pass just before being hit by Blair-Taylor’s Kole Trapp during their game on Friday. (Times photograph by Andrew Dannehy)
Blair-Taylor scored the first 30 points of the game and led by that margin at halftime of a 38-16 win at Independence/Gilmanton last week.
The win put B-T at 6-2 on the season and 5-1 in Dairyland Conference play with a chance to clinch a share of the conference title this week. B-T welcomes Melrose-Mindoro (3-5, 2-4), which is coming off a 48-0 win over Augusta.
I/G fell to 1-7 on the season and 1-5 in DC play. It will close the 2024 campaign against one of the three teams tied at the top of the DC standings on the road at Cochrane-Fountain City (7-1, 5-1). C-FC’s only loss this season came to B-T.
B-T 38 I/G 16
With two of the team’s top playmakers out, quarterback Tavian Shramek had to shoulder much of the load. A week after scoring seven touchdowns against Eleva-Strum, Shramek scored five against I/G.
B-T got the scoring started when Shramek hit Hunter Wagner with a 57-yard touchdown strike on the third play from scrimmage. The two-point pass to CJ Dummer made the score 8-0 less than a minute into the game.
The Indees moved the ball on its first possession, but an interception on fourth down gave it back to B-T.
Shramek busted off a long run early in the drive then finished it with a 24-yard touchdown run. He passed to Dummer again for the two-point conversion.
Shramek hit Dummer for a touchdown pass then ran in another as the B-T lead grew to 30-0 in the second quarter.
The Indees put together a drive capped by a one-yard Nathan Pyka touchdown run with 97 seconds remaining in the first half. Chase Back ran in the two-point conversion to make the score 30-8.
As they’ve done several times this season, B-T marched right back down the field. Shramek and Wagner connected on another touchdown, this time a 12-yard pass before Shramek ran in the two-point conversion to make the score 38-8 at halftime.
Shramek finished with 255 yards passing and 104 rushing, scoring three times through the air and twice on the ground. Dummer caught eight passes for 114 yards and Wagner had three catches for 73 yards.
B-T played without its top two running backs Collin Johnson and Ethan Kniseley — both average more than seven yards per carry. Kniseley leads the team with 770 yards from scrimmage.
The Indees scored on a four-yard run by Pyka with about 10:30 left in the game. Back ran in the two-point conversion again.
Pyka had 97 rushing yards to lead the I/G offense, which managed 156 on the ground in the game.
For the season, Shramek has 20 passing touchdowns — with four interceptions — and 14 rushing touchdowns.
Blair-Taylor —
Rushing (att./yds.) — Shramek 12/104 Kruse 2/12 Miller 1/3
Receiving (rec./yds.) — Dummer 8/114 Wagner 3/73 Kruse 3/31 Trapp 3/27 Boe 1/6 Woodard 1/4
Passing — Shramek 18/23/255
I/G —
Rushing (att./yds.) – Pyka 24/97 Back 12/28 Marsolek 4/25 Klimek 1/6
Receiving (rec./yds.) — Marsolek 4/36 Slaby 1/32 Pyka 1/20 Solberg 3/18 Klimek 1/-7
Passing (comp./att./yds.) — Back 10/17/69
Tackles (solo/total) — Back 4/4 Marsolek 1/1 Pyka 6/6 Klimek 6/6 Slaby 4/4 Carillo Taylor 1/1 Halverson 3/3 Turner 1/1
