Staff photo by Fritz Busch Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop’s Nick TenEyck carries the ball during a home game against New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva on Friday night in Winthrop.

Take 4-1 mark

Oct. 7

WINTHROP — Using deception and speed, Gibbon Fairfax Winthrop (GFW) blew open a 14-13 game with three unanswered second-quarter touchdowns in a 58-19 win over New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva Friday night in a Mid Southeast District football game.

Junior running back Garrett Schmidt’s 57-yard run put GFW up 6-0 with 9:32 left in the first period. A conversion pass from Dominic Rose to Rex Monson was good.

NHREG came right back with a 70-yard touchdown by Jaylin Raab. Noah Miranda’s PAT kick was good, making it 7-6.

Rex Monson’s 5-yard touchdown put GFW up 14-7. A PAT kick failed.

Alden Dobberstein’s 60-yard touchdown pass to Lucas Loverink and a PAT kick brought NHREG within 14-13.

The Thunderbirds blew the game open in the second quarter with short touchdown runs by Jacob Rose, Monson and Easton Taylor.

“We had a lot of guys out sick this week. Thursday was the first day we had everybody healthy,” GFW head coach Pat Hentges said. “Our line did a tremendous job. I thought our backs ran hard with great fakes. They did all the things we’ve been preaching for six years. New Richland’s a better team than their record. They’ve got some great athletes. I was proud the way our guys handled any adversity out there.”

Hentges said his line communicated well and kept the blitz out.

“We had a lot of mental practice this week. These guys really took it to the field,” he added.

Panthers head coach Marc Kruger said he knew what GFW would do, but he thought his team would play better defense.

“They really beat us in the trenches,” Kruger said. “We knew exactly what they were going to do. They’re just really good at it. They’re very deceptive. They spend so many hours doing that. We had our scout team doing that after five minutes of learning it. It’s practically impossible to practice for.”

GFW senior running back Jacob Rose said the team played well.

“I thought we played a really, really good game tonight. I wasn’t expecting this outcome at all,” Rose said. “We had a good game plan going. Coach knew what we could do.”

Senior running back Nick TenEyck complimented the line and disciplined defense.

“We all game together. The line did a really good job,” said TenEyck. “The line really showed what it was taught. The defense was really disciplined. We played a great game.”

The Thunderbirds rolled up 480 yards total offense, rushed for 454 yards, had no turnovers and did not punt. GFW had 28 first downs.

Garret Schmidt rushed for 166 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries to lead GFW. TenEyck had 132 yards and one touchdown. Monson had three touchdowns and 45 yards on eight carries. Taylor and Rose each had touchdowns.

Alex Johnson had four solo tackles for GFW. Jacob Rose had three solos, one assist and two tackles for losses.

NRHEG had 236 yards of offense.

(Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com).