Quantcast
skip navigation

St. Croix Lutheran runs over St. Anthony

By Aaron Paitich, Special to the Star Tribune, 10/14/11, 10:15PM CDT

Share

Jackson Goplen and Wesley Tucker combined for 7 touchdowns in a 54-14 rout.

 Stop the dive.

That’s what St. Anthony coach Todd Niklaus repeated all week leading to Friday’s game against run-heavy St. Croix Lutheran.

Crusaders quarterback Matt Olson and running backs Jackson Goplen and Wesley Tucker have destroyed defenses all season with their rushing attack. Now on the list: the Huskies, who couldn’t do much to stop them.

“We run a variety of things up front that may look similar, so it’s not as simple as it may look,” Crusaders coach Carl Lemke said after his team cruised to a 54-14 victory.

Junior Billy Johnson gave the Huskies a hopeful start, returning the opening kickoff 90 yards for a 7-0 lead before the first snap. Then the Crusaders offense took the field.
Dive left for a couple of yards, dive right for 2 more. An option play to Tucker for a 55-yard touchdown quickly regained momentum for the Crusaders.

Tucker added touchdown runs of 10 and 62 yards in the first half, along with a 29-yard scamper in the second. Goplen punched in 50-, 41- and 84-yard rushing touchdowns.

Safe to say the Crusaders are in a groove.

“Just keep running our drills, keep executing and hopefully run it down their throats,” Tucker said.

St. Croix Lutheran leaped to Class 3A’s No. 1 ranking this week. The team’s average of 43 points per game led the metro heading into Friday night.

Huskies quarterback Anthony Brama threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Chris Baker, cutting the score to 24-14 early in the second quarter.

St. Croix Lutheran moved to 7-0 with one game remaining to seal a perfect regular season before section play.

“This game was the big test for us … they’ve got the whole package,” Lemke said of the Huskies. “This means a lot to us tonight.”

Related Stories