Wheelers roll past East Mills in opener

Audubon blew open a 20-19 game with four straight touchdown drives in a 61-26 victory over East Mills in the Eight-man football season-opener for both teams Friday in Audubon.

The Wolverines traded leads twice with the Wheelers in the first quarter and half, taking a 20-19 lead on Michael Schafer’s third touchdown pass of the half. But Audubon added two quick TDs in the waning minutes of the half an two more coming out of halftime to take a commanding 47-20 lead midway through the third quarter.

“They changed up their defense late in the second quarter and were not deep enough in our receiver corps yet,” said East Mills coach Kevin Schafer. “We need to have another guy step up and not just one guy dominating our receptions.”

Schafer said overall his team played well for a first game, considering the game was a late zero week addition after Essex and Clarinda Academy both cancelled their seasons this summer. He considers Audubon “a top five team in the state.”

“We were really pleased with our first half,” Schafer said. “We were disappointed with our second half but they wore us down.”

Wheeler quarterback Skyler Schulte was a handful for the Wolverines. The senior ran for 275 yards and passed for 99 more while combining for five touchdowns.
Schafer thought his team handled the dual-threat QB early but his defense couldn’t keep up.

“We did a good job defensively making them work for it and run a lot of plays but they started to wear us down,” he said. “They’re bigger and stronger than us up front and you could see it in the second half. Those four and five yard runs in the first half were 15 and 20 yards plays in the second half.”

Michael Schafer finished 29-for-46 for 370 yards and four touchdowns on the night but the Wolverines struggled to sustain drives or run the ball. They finished with 38 yards rushing on 13 attempts.

Nic Duysen hauled in 14 passes for 265 yards and three scores. Jackson Wray grabbed nine passes for 64 yards and a TD. Wray also led the defense with seven solo tackles.

The Wolverines are back in action Friday hosting East Union. Kick is set for 7 p.m. in Malvern.
 

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