Breaking News
Local Sports

Crazy 80

Tigers hit record in season opener

By Travis Rosenau 5 min read

SPRINGFIELD -- The Springfield Tigers couldn't have asked for a better season opener on Thursday night.

And after scoring a single-game school record 80 points, it's not hard to see why.

Behind their record-setting night, the Tigers cruised to an 80-19 win over the Canby Lancers in a Mid-South District game at Riverside Park.

"You don't go into a game thinking you're going for that type of thing, but it was cool to see offense, defense, special teams all get their hand in it," Tigers head coach Adam Meyer said. "A lot of kids put some points on the board, so it was a pretty cool night for everybody."

The Tigers scored on all six of their first offensive drives in the first half and what was about to be their seventh of the half didn't happen after Madden Lendt took a punt return 58 yards for a score late in the half for a 52-6 lead after also kicking the extra point, something he did successfully six times in the game. He also recovered a fumbled snap on a PAT and managed to throw it to the corner of the end zone to Leo Hovland for a 2-point conversion.

"Big credit to our leadership," Meyer said. "Those guys did a really nice job all preseason of making sure we were ready going into Game 1. It's always interesting the first few plays what those jitters might do to you, but I thought our kids played very well from the beginning and continued to play hard throughout all four quarters. It's always fun when you get to see everybody on your roster get in the game and see some highs with that. All-around very pleased."

Lendt finished with 81 yards receiving and two TD grabs to go with his punt return score. Tigers senior quarterback Parker Kuehn threw for 207 yards and four TDs, all in the first half, before being subbed out for second- and third-string QBs Max Moriarty and Thomas Hesse in the second half. The Tigers subbed out all of their starters at the start of the second half up 58-6.

Braxton Brown finished with 96 yards receiving and a TD while also blocking a punt for a safety. Tyson Horkey had a sack and blocked an extra point also for the Tigers on defense, while Thomas Beers had an interception.

After forcing a Canby turnover on downs to start the game after a fumbled snap on a punt attempt, the Tigers took over at the Canby 8 and proceeded to promptly get the ball in the end zone when Kuehn threw an 8-yard TD pass to Ely Streich.

After Canby quarterback Owen Peterson was hit on a throw, Beers intercepted the pass and set the Tigers up from their own 37-yard line. A first-down catch by Lendt and a 16-yard catch by Streich set up a 35-yard TD run from Carter Jackson for a two-score Tigers lead.

The Tigers made it a 22-0 game after 1-yard TD plunge up the middle by Colton Sell. Brown blocked a punt that went out of the back of the Canby end zone late in the first quarter for a safety and 24-0 Springfield lead.

After getting the ball back after the safety, the second play of the next Tigers drive was a 36-yard pass to the end zone to Lendt for a 31-0 lead. The Lancers finally broke into the scoring column with nine minutes left in the half when Peterson found Brennan Giese open on a screen play that went 48 yards for a score. Horkey blocked the PAT and it was a 31-6 game.

On the next Springfield drive, Kuehn found Lendt wide open on the run to his left for a 32-yard touchdown with 8:09 left in the half. Brown got into the end zone next for the Tigers with a 75-yard catch and run down the left sideline to help make it 45-6 with 4:17 left in the half.

After Canby punted on its next drive, Lendt took the punt 58 yards for a 52-6 Springfield lead. The Tigers got one more score in the closing seconds of the half after another long punt return by Lendt, this time coming on a 10-yard TD rush by Aiden Moriarty to put the Tigers up 58-6 at halftime.

The Lancers got their second touchdown of the night early in the second half after a fumble recovery by Brett Stoks, who took the ball in for a score to make it 58-13 after the PAT. Max Moriarty got the next Tigers TD on an 18-yard keeper, but the Lancers answered with a 52-yard Peterson-to-Daven VanEngen TD pass.

Late in the third quarter, the Tigers got a 15-yard TD run from Cole Jensen to lead 72-19 after a 2-point conversion pass from Max Moriarty to Brett Jensen. Bryson Vogel scored the final touchdown of the night for the Tigers on a 3-yard run to the right and a 2-point run by Cole Jensen made it 80-19.

The Tigers (1-0) travel to Slayton to take on Murray County Central next in a 7 p.m. game on Friday, Sept. 11.

Starting at /week.