GFW had some strong moments in the game, including a goal line stand to turn Springfield over on downs to close out the first half, but ultimately came up short.

“I’m really proud of our guys,” GFW head coach Pat Hentges said. “We knew they had a lot more guys than we did. We gave them some easy ones, but they deserve it, they blocked well. Obviously they had some passes — their quarterback does a great job when he’s not pressured. I love how our guys continued to battle back. We talk about it all the time, we talk about ignoring the scoreboard. They definitely did that and just enjoyed playing football and playing with each other. I’ll take my guys any day.”

Paytin Johnson went explosive early for Springfield, breaking off a 70-yard run and a 68-yard run in the first half to help the Tigers to a 20-0 lead.

“It’s a pretty great feeling,” Johnson said. “It’s not me though, it’s all the guys up front, they’re making the blocks. It’s all them. Following them, they’re my leaders.”

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop’s Cayson Gosewisch (7) tumbles for a first down during a nondistrict football game against Springfield Wednesday at Riverside Park in Springfield.

Johnson finished with 157 yards and two touchdowns on just five carries in the game, while Parker Kuehn was 11 for 15 with 317 yards and four touchdowns. Braxton Brown had three receptions for 94 yards and a score, Kayden Anderson had three catches for 78 yards, Madden Lendt had three catches for 50 yards and two touchdowns and Isaac Fredin had one catch for 61 yards and a touchdown. Aiden Moriarty added a reception for 34 yards. Defensively, Moriarty and Adiel Trevino each had 13 tackles, while Tayte Hall recovered a fumble that Lendt forced and Zander Knutson had an interception.

For GFW, Garrett Stegeman had 18 rushes for 86 yards, while Matthew Lee had 15 rushes for 84 yards. Cayson Gosewisch had 14 rushes for 54 yards, and Owen Swenson was 6 for 11 with 65 yards and a score through the air and had 11 rushes for 29 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Swenson completed four of his passes to Lee for 53 yards, while one completion went to Bernardo Davilla for 10 yards and a score. Defensively, Stegeman had two tackles for loss and a sack.

The two offenses could not have looked more different in style, as GFW marched down the field taking up large chunks of clock on its possessions, while Springfield struck quickly with big plays. But the Springfield defense was able to make plays when it mattered, forcing two fumbles, an interception and a turnover on downs.

After GFW took the opening drive down to the Springfield 30-yard line before Lendt punched out a fumble to be recovered by Hall in a drive that took 5:36 off the clock. In response, Johnson ripped off his 70-yard touchdown run on the first offensive snap by the Tigers for a 6-0 lead. The Firebirds went three-and-out, and Springfield put together a four-play drive, including a 30-yard completion from Kuehn to Anderson, that ended in a 28-yard touchdown pass from Kuehn to Lendt on a go route for a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

GFW took five more minutes off the clock on its next drive on 14 plays, but a stop on fourth down by the Springfield defense ended the drive. Once again, Johnson needed just one play to go 69 yards to the end zone for a 20-0 lead.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Springfield’s Madden Lendt (5) makes a catch during a nondistrict football game against Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop Wednesday at Riverside Park in Springfield.

The Firebirds soaked up the next 5:50 of play on their next drive, with Lee taking a 20-yard rush to help set up a 10-yard pass from Swenson to Davilla for a touchdown to cut the lead to 20-6 with 1:12 to play. Springfield quickly got the ball down to the 2-yard line with 21-yard connections from Kuehn to Lendt and Kuehn to Anderson, but the GFW defense held strong on the goal line, turning the Tigers over on downs before the half.

“To do that against the number one or number two team in the state, our sideline was going nuts supporting our guys,” Hentges said. “And the guys went out there and executed. Early on in the year we had problems with that. We knew what we had to do, but we didn’t execute properly. It’s been really fun to see them come together and really develop that bond, whether it’s offense, defense, off the field. They did a great job.”

The Firebirds were unable to carry the momentum into the second half defensively, as Springfield marched down to score a 1-yard touchdown on a drag route to Lendt to open the second half. GFW took up nearly 10 minutes on its next drive, with Swenson punching it in from 6 yards out to keep the score at 28-14, but Springfield got a 72-yard touchdown from Kuehn to Brown for a 35-14 lead. GFW fumbled again on a promising next drive, and in three plays, Springfield scored on a 61-yard touchdown from Kuehn to Fredin for a 42-14 lead. One final interception by Knutson ended the game with a Tigers win.

Springfield finishes the regular season 8-0 and awaits seeding in the Section 3A Football Tournament, where they hope to take home its fourth consecutive championship.

“We’re just going to have to be a team,” Johnson said. “We have to trust each other. We have to play our best ball all the time and everybody firing right from the get go.”

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Springfield’s Paytin Johnson (1) celebrates with Parker Kuehn (12) during a nondistrict football game against Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop Wednesday at Riverside Park in Springfield.

GFW, meanwhile, enters the Section 2A Tournament with a 4-4 record. Hentges said that a key to having success in the playoffs was health.

“I think we’re pretty good,” he said. “Obviously some bumps and bruises here, we’ll get healthy. We have one of our favorite practices of the year coming up — we go rake leaves and then we go eat donuts and drink chocolate milk. Then we give them a couple of days off, and we practice on Monday. Then going back to the basics. We’ve got to be able to tackle better, we’ll continue to communicate like we did tonight, really proud of that, and just keep moving our feet on contact.”