Baxter football opens district play with road loss to Southeast Warren

LIBERTY CENTER — A big third quarter lifted Southeast Warren past the Baxter football team on Friday night.

The Bolts led the Class 8-man District 7 contest at halftime, but the Warhawks scored a come-from-behind 62-34 win at home.

The game was tied at 8-all after the first quarter, and Baxter led 20-14 at halftime. But Southeast Warren won the third 24-0 and outscored the Bolts 48-14 in the second half.

Baxter has started 0-2 for the first time since 2020. The Bolts finished that season 4-5.

Stadan Vansice threw for a career-best 218 yards on 16-of-26 through the air. He tossed a career-best three touchdowns, had one interception and rushed 23 times for 87 yards and two scores in the loss.

Eli Dee grabbed hauled in eight catches for a career-high 140 yards and a career-most three TDs. Colten Damman also had the best game of his career with five catches for 58 yards.

Cael Wishman, who rushed for 13 yards on two carries, led the Baxter defense with 10.5 tackles, one sack and 2.5 tackles for loss.

Hayden Burdess had two catches for 19 yards and registered a career-high 11.5 tackles.

Trevor Hamilton added nine tackles, Cody Spurgeon chipped in five tackles and Miles McCord contributed three tackles.

Baxter (0-2, 0-1 in the district) gave up 344 rushing yards to the Warhawks, who have outscored their first two opponents 130-46.

Southeast Warren (2-0, 1-0) was led by Jamison Ewing, who ran for 310 yards and four TDs on 43 carries. He also completed 6-of-9 through the air for 113 yards and two scores.

Ewing ranks second in 8-man with 461 rushing yards after two games.

Bridger Cox rushed for two touchdowns, Breckin Morrison caught two passes for 60 yards and one TD and Lucas Dirkx totaled 9.5 tackles.