Meyerdirk fuels Fairmont’s win; Jaguars post victory

ST. PETER -- Landen Meyerdirk sprinted for two touchdowns, returned a kickoff for another score and intercepted a pass during Fairmont's 32-6 prep football victory over the St. Peter Saints at Floyd B. Johnson Field on Saturday afternoon.

The 6-foot, 160-pound senior speedster did just about everything from his running back and safety positions except for help mix the Cardinals' Gatorade in St. Peter.

"We won the turnover battle 5-to-1 today," Fairmont head coach Mat Mahoney said in reference to his 4-3 defense scooping up three of the Saints' seven fumbles and garnering two picks in the secondary. "I thought we actually dominated in all three phases of the game.

"Offensively, we executed on the ground and established a solid running game today."

After Elijah Johnson made a clutch tackle from his linebacker position to help force a St. Peter punt, the 5-9, 186-pound sophomore running back rumbled 40 yards to reach the Saints' 15-yard line with time winding down in the first quarter. James Johnson then followed his brother Elijah's blocking en route to a 15-yard TD for a 6-0 lead with 2:23 to go in the first frame.

The Cardinals' defense needed only two more snaps to contribute to the scoring column as end Hank Artz recovered a Saints' fumble at the 25 and steamrolled into the end zone for a TD return. St. Peter's Josh Bosacker blocked the PAT kick to keep Fairmont's lead at 12-0 with 1:40 left in opening quarter.

Linebacker Aden Welcome, who recorded a team-best nine tackles, and Fairmont's defense forced another St. Peter punt during the second quarter, and Meyerdirk and the Cardinal offense capitalized.

Brendan Schmidtke connected on a 7-yard pass to David Maakestad and later, a 12-yard slant to Maakestad, to reach midfield. Blaze Geiger and Elijah Johnson combined for 17 yards on the ground before Meyerdirk capped the drive by sprinting around left end and outracing the Saints' secondary to the goal line from 29 yards out for an 18-0 lead.

A personal foul on Fairmont during a fourth-and-10 situation later allowed St. Peter to keep possession of the football right before halftime.

Bosacker's 25-yard gain off an end-around toss play helped set up Cole Filand's 5-yard TD run over the left side to whittle the Saints' deficit to 18-6 with just 1:28 left before intermission.

An unsportsmanlike infraction on the Saints proved costly as Meyerdirk caught the following kickoff at his own 30 before cutting, weaving and sprinting the distance for his second TD of the contest. Owen Burmeister kicked the PAT for a 25-6 lead with just 1:10 left before intermission.

"It always good to receive points from our special teams and our defense in the same game," said Mahoney. "Defensively, our pursuit to the football was good and we wrapped up our tackles."

Meyerdirk halted St. Peter's first possession of the third quarter with an interception before Welcome's fumble recovery led to Fairmont's final points.

Schmidtke zipped a 16-yard pass to Maakestad, who juked his way to the Saints' 29 before Meyerdirk later sprinted around left end again for an 8-yard TD. Burmeister's kick widened the gap to 32-6 with 51 seconds to go in the third.

Levi Pooley later garnered an interception to slam the brakes on the Saints' last gasp to score during the fourth quarter.

Maakestad and St. Peter's Ashton Volk exchanged first-quarter fumble recoveries on the game.

Elijah Johnson gained a game-best 80 yards on just six totes to pace the Cardinals' 229 rushing yards, while Meyerdirk and James Johnson chipped in 41 and 34 more yards on the ground, respectively.

Schmidtke completed 7 of 10 passes for 58 yards, with Maakestad hauling in four receptions for 46 yards for the Cardinals.

Fairmont (1-1) plays host to Jordan Friday night at Mahoney Field, while St. Peter (0-2) hits the road to Worthington on Friday night.

FMT 12 13 7 0 -- 32

STP 0 6 0 0 -- 6

Scoring Plays

1st Quarter

FMT--James Johnson 15 run (kick failed), 2:23.

FMT--Hank Artz 25 fumble return (kick blocked), 1:40.

2nd Quarter

FMT--Landen Meyerdirk 29 run (run failed), 5:42.

STP--Cole Filand 5 run (run failed), 1:28.

FMT--Landen Meyerdirk 70 kickoff return (Owen Burmeister kick), 1:10.

3rd Quarter

FMT--Landen Meyerdirk 8 run (Owen Burmeister kick), 0:51.

4th Quarter

No scoring.

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs: Fairmont 12; St. Peter 10. Rushing: Fairmont 40-229; St. Peter 27-116. Passing: Fairmont 7-11-0-58; St. Peter 9-24-2-48. Fumbles-lost: St. Peter 7-3; Fairmont 2-1. Penalties: FHS 8-80; St. Peter 8-69.

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Offense: Rushing: Elijah Johnson (FMT) 6-80, Landen Meyerdirk (FMT) 3-41, James Johnson (FMT) 8-34; Cole Filand (STP) 14-40. Passing: Brendan Schmidtke (FMT) 7-10-0-58; Peyton Odland (STP) 9-24-2-48. Receiving: David Maakestad (FMT) 4-46, Levi Pooley (FMT) 2-14; Kaeden Guida (STP) 2-12.

Defense: Interceptions: Landen Meyerdirk (FMT), Levi Pooley (FMT). Fumble recoveries: Ashton Volk (STP), David Maakestad (FMT), Hank Artz (FMT), Aden Welcome (FMT).

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Hadan Toomer ran for one touchdown and passed for another score to steer Fairmont to a 13-12 win over Blue Earth Area during junior varsity action Thursday.

Toomer gained the end zone on a 13-yard run before throwing a 30-yard scoring strike to Harmon Schrunk. Toomer then kicked the decisive PAT.

Hunter Johnson made 11 tackles to top the Cardinals, Taylor Austin tallied seven stops and three quarterback sacks, while Jacob Wiemers recovered a fumble.

Fairmont (2-0) hosts St. Peter at 6 p.m. tonight at Mahoney Field.

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Granada-Huntley-East Chain/ Truman 20, Westbrook-Walnut Grove 6 -- Kaiden Musser played a role in every Jaguar point scored to help defuse the Chargers during prep football action Saturday in Westbrook.

Musser plowed his way into the end zone from 1 yard out to stake the Jaguars to a 6-0 lead with 8:49 left in the opening quarter.

Brady Ross countered for the Chargers with a 2-yard scoring run to knot the game at 6-all only 5:17 before halftime.

After a scoreless third period, Musser put the Jaguars ahead for good with a 1-yard TD run with 10:14 left in the fourth quarter.

Musser then connected on a pass to Peyton Franzen for a 21-yard insurance TD before Musser widened the gap to 20-6 by zipping a 2-point pass to Carter Brudelie with 5 minutes remaining.

Musser topped the Jaguars' offensive charts by rushing for 108 yards on 19 totes, in addition to completing 8 of 21 passes for 109 more yards.

Kayden Loeschen contributed 99 yards on 17 carries for the Jaguars, while Hunter Grathwohl caught three passes for 42 yards. Franzen and Luke Kester added two receptions each for 41 and 17 yards, respectively.

Grathwohl paced the defense by making 16 tackles, while Brudelie supplied nine stops and garnered one interception. Loeschen chipped in 7 1/2 tackles for the Jaguars.

Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman (1-1) travels to Nicollet on Friday night.

GHECT 6 0 0 14 -- 20

WWG 0 6 0 0 -- 6

Scoring Plays

1st Quarter

GHECT--Kaiden Musser 1 run (run failed), 8:49.

2nd Quarter

WWG--Brady Ross 2 run (pass failed), 5:17.

3rd Quarter

No scoring.

4th Quarter

GHECT--Kaiden Musser 1 run (pass failed), 10:14.

GHECT--Peyton Franzen 21 pass from Kaiden Musser (Carter Brudelie pass from Kaiden Musser), 5:00.