Rebels stay balanced on offense in lopsided win over Hayfield – Austin Daily Herald

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Southland’s Cael Smith turns and runs after a catch in the second quarter against Hayfield Friday night in Adams. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

Hayfield’s Axel Meek runs after a catch in the second quarter against Southland Friday night in Adams. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

Hayfield’s Austin Dahle comes off the corner for Southland quaterback Henry Wiste during the second quarter Friday night in Adams. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

Southland’s Beau Sathre tries to bull out out of a tackle during the first quarter against Hayfield Friday night in Adams. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

Southland’s Tate Goergen finds running room in the first quarter against Hayfield Friday night in Adams. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

Southland’s Cael Smith tries to make the corner on a first-quarter carry against Hayfield Friday night in Adams. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

Hayfield’s Christian Mealy carries on a run in the first quarter against Southland Friday night in Adams. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com

ADAMS – The Rebels were able to move the ball on the ground and through the air as they won their third straight game by topping Hayfield 51-14 in a football game Friday night.

Southland junior quarterback Henry Wiste threw for 329 yards and five scores, and sophomore running back Cael Smith ran for 143 yards and two scores, while also racking up 104 receiving yards and two TDs. Southland’s balance has been in the works over the past few weeks, with everything clicking on Friday.

“We’ve been really challenging these guys to never be satisfied and always try to be better,” Southland head coach JJ Galle said. “In the last couple of weeks, we’ve put up around 500 yards of offense. A few weeks ago Henry had over 300 yards passing, then everyone has been dropping back and making us run. Tonight was a nice compliment of both.”

Hayfield’s defense took away Southland’s running attack in the first half, but Wiste found his rhythm in the passing game, throwing TD passes of 50-, 22- and 25-yards to put the Rebels up 30-7 at the break.

With Hayfield’s front line out-weighing the Rebels line by 50 to 100 pounds, Southland had to stay strong at the line of attack.

“They’re big boys,” said Southland senior lineman Lawson Jax. “They’re strong, physical, tall kids with long arms and it’s hard to move guys like that.”

Southland, which moved from nine-man to 11-man football this season, started the season against tough competition as it lost to Waterville-Elysian-Morristown 28-26 and fell to Fillmore Central 30-22 before winning four of five. Since then, the team has made improvements. 

“We’ve been able to communicate more,” said Southland junior lineman Cam Forthun. “Those first two games were against the hardest teams we’ve probably ever played. We played our butts off in both of those games, but we just lost. We had to show off in the second half season and it’s not over yet, we’ve still got one more.” 

Hayfield (1-6 overall) pulled to within 8-7 when Chase Escamilla plunged in for a five-yard TD in the second quarter, but it was all Rebels after that. Jax said that Southland has found itself in the past few weeks.

“We found a feel for what everybody can do on the team and what our soft spots and what we’re good at,” he said. “We’ve learned to work around it. We’ve gelled together a lot better.”

Southland (4-3 overall) will close out its regular season when it plays at Lewiston-Altura (4-3 overall) at 7 p.m Wednesday. The winner of that game will have the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Section 1A Tournament.

“Healing for a Wednesday game is a big thing, and luckily we came out without any major injuries tonight,” Galle said. “We’ll have some momentum and some confidence for what will be our biggest game so far. We’ll try to do what we do best, which is to play physical football.”

SCORING SUMMARY

Hayfield 0   7   0  7  –  14

Southland 8  22  14  7  –  51

First quarter

(S) Cael Smith 18 run (Smith run) (6 plays, 80 yards) :35

Second quarter

(H) Chase Escamilla 5 run (Alex Vargas kick) (6 plays, 67 yards) 9:34

(s) Smith 50 pass from Wiste (pass failed) (3 plays, 55 yards) 8:02

(S) Smith 22 pass from Wsite, (Wiste from Smith) (8 plays, 76 yards) 1:35

(S) Beau Sathre 25 pass from Wiste (Smith from Wiste)

Third quarter

(S) Royce Jax 32 pass from Wiste (run failed) (4 plays, 41 yards) 5:56

(S) Sathre 93 pass from Wiste (Wiste run) (1 play, 43 yards) 3:14

Fourth quarter

(S) Smith 71 run (Drake Payne kick) (3 plays, 70 yards) 10:54

(H) Axel Meek 24 pass from Escamilla (Vargas kick) (7 plays, 59 yards) 3:06

SOUTHLAND STATS

Rushing: Cael Smith 8-for-143, 2 TDs; Jack Sathre, 3-for-27; Beau Sathre, 2-for-10; Henry Wiste, 8-for-6; Preston Sayles, 2-for-3; Tate Goergen, 1-for-(-5)

Passing: Wiste, 12-for-16, 329, 5 TDs

Receiving: Sathre, 3-for-129, 2 TDs; Smith, 3-for-104, 2 TDs; Tate Goergen, 4-for-55; Royce Jax, 2-for-41, TD

Defense: Smith, 1 interception; Lawson Jax, 1 sack

HAYFIELD STATS

Rushing: Chase Escamilla, 17-for-46, TD; Drew Slaathaug, 6-for-31; Christian Mealy, 4-for-10; Easton Johnson, 2-for-(-3); Kaiden Wagner, 1-for-(-1)

Passing: Escamilla, 7-for-14, 97, TD, INT

Receiving: Axel Meek, 5-for-83, TD; Layne Nelson, 1-for-8; Mealy, 1-for-6

Defense: Chris Neiman, 2 sacks