MANKATO — Norwood Young America’s smothering defense held St. Clair/Mankato Loyola to negative 11 yards Friday night as the Raiders rolled to a 53-0 season-opening win at Loyola Field.
Not only did the physical Raiders dominate the trenches, they also came up with a pair of safeties and two kick returns for touchdowns. NYA led 39-0 at halftime before closing things out with another third quarter score.
“We’re a year or two away while those guys are primed and ready for a big season,” Spartans’ coach Dustin Bosshart said. “They have 19 seniors on their team and their physicality presents a lot of problems. They’ve got some kids who are going to play at the next level next year. We have to make sure our kids are getting their footwork right. … We were just overpowered today.”
One of those Raiders — 6-foot-6, 225 pound senior tight end/defensive end Carter Storms — caused havoc the entire contest, ending up with five sacks and a blocked punt while also catching a 9-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Kyson Evenski. NYA, who totaled 220 total yards, traveled 61 yards in seven plays to go ahead 7-0 on senior quarterback Jack Strickaden’s 1-yard TD sneak.
After Storm’s score pushed the advantage to 14-0, a safety and Ben Molnau’s 55-yard free-kick return expanded the margin to 23-0. Storms, who has committed to Augustana, then blocked a punt out of the end zone on the final play of the opening segment. Strickaden’s 12-yard scoring strike to Bradyn Daugs along with Brayden Dent’s 77-yard punt return capped the first-half barrage.
“If you have speed like they have you’re going to win every time,” Bosshart said. “They were able to get outside and outrun us.”
SC/L moved the ball into Raiders territory twice but just couldn’t sustain either drive. Daugs caught a 9-yard touchdown late in the third quarter before Hunter Studheimer’s 2-yard score produced the final.
“Our defense was playing great as did our offense and special teams,” Storms said. “We’ve been giving it our all in the offseason to prepare for this and it was awesome. We were able to pass and run the ball at times, but field position was the key. Everyone was flying around on defense and everyone has bought in.”
Senior linebacker Danny Nicolai led the Spartans with six tackles while senior linebacker Chase Bade registered five stops.
“I think our lack of experience showed in all parts of the game,” Nicolai said. “We’ve got a lot of guys playing new positions so that didn’t help at all. They’re a physical team and that gave us trouble. We need to get bigger and stronger.”
SC/L plays Friday at Mayer Lutheran.