Baxter football cruises past Twin Cedars

BAXTER — In the past eight seasons, the Baxter football team has largely been known for how many points it scored, how many yards it put up and how many times they reached paydirt.

While the Bolts recorded three shutout wins in 2021, what they did on Friday had never happened since starting an 8-man program back in 2017.

The Bolts defeated Twin Cedars 52-0 in Class 8-man District 7 play but didn’t register a single sack, had only six tackles for loss and forced just one turnover.

But Baxter posted its second straight shutout for the first time in program history and moved its record to .500 for the season.

“We knew we would have the opportunity to do that,” Baxter head football coach Zach Hasselbrink said about a defensive shutout. “I love to see our defense flying around, but we need to prove we can do it against better teams.”

The Bolts led 30-0 after one quarter, scored twice in the second and added a touchdown in the fourth to grab another blowout win at Jerry Lee Robinson Field. The offense also scored 50 or more points in back-to-back games.

“We’re trying to figure out who we are and how we can get the ball to our best players,” Hasselbrink said. “The run game will always go through Stadan (Vansice), but we don’t want to give him 25 carries if we don’t have to. It was nice to make plays offensively tonight with Cael (Wishman) not out there.”

Cael Wishman suffered an ankle injury recently. Hasselbrink expects him to miss more time, but his long-term status is unknown as they await results from the MRI.

The Bolts (2-2, 2-1 in the district) needed just two plays to crack the scoreboard against Twin Cedars.

Stadan Vansice gained 16 yards on Baxter’s first play from scrimmage, and then he hooked up with Eli Dee for a 27-yard touchdown.

After the defense forced their first three-and-out of the game, the Bolts scored again to go up 16-0. That four-play drive covered 61 yards and ended with a 37-yard TD pass from Vansice to Colten Damman.

The Sabers (1-3, 0-3) gained zero yards in three plays on their next possession. They punted the ball back to Baxter, which then marched 55 yards in nine plays.

Ruger Kincaid, who is filling in for Wishman at running back, gained 5 yards on the first play of the possession. A pair of short completions to Dee and Hayden Burdess gave the Bolts a first down and then Kincaid rumbled 10 yards to move the chains again.

The Bolts got to the end zone five plays later. All five snaps were running plays and Vansice capped the drive with a 2-yard TD run.

Twin Cedars’ only turnover of the game came on its next possession. Miles McCord recovered a fumbled snap, and the Bolts began their next drive inside the red zone.

A 10-yard run by Vansice on third and one moved the sticks and then Vansice connected with Burdess on a 1-yard TD pass play.

The two-point conversion pass failed, but Baxter led 30-0 with 28 seconds to play in the first.

Baxter’s defense forced a three-and-out on Twin Cedars’ next two possessions.

The offense then went 45 yards in five plays. They lost five yards due to a penalty on the first play from scrimmage, but a runs of 8 and 12 yards by Vansice and Kincaid, respectively, gave the Bolts a first down.

Three plays later, Vansice connected with Dee on a 19-yard touchdown pass. The hook up came on third and nine and Damman grabbed the 2-point conversion pass from Vansice to push the margin to 38-0.

Baxter started its next drive from its own 14-yard line. A 26-yard pass play from Vansice to Dee on third and 11 kept the drive going, but a 10-yard holding penalty backed it up.

Kincaid followed with a 10-yard run, Dee gained 14 yards on the next play and Vansice ran for 18 yards on the following two plays before completing an 8-yard touchdown pass to Dee with 48 seconds to go in the half.

Holden Roberts got loose on the only play Twin Cedars ran on its next possession. But the 34-yard gain ended before the Sabers could call timeout. It was the first first down of the game for the visitors.

The best Twin Cedars drive came on its first possession of the second half. The drive was aided by two separate Baxter penalties, and Roberts connected with Gavin Clark for a 16-yard gain.

The possession ended in the red zone though. The Sabers drove inside the Baxter 10-yard line, but a pair of penalties backed them up. The Bolts’ defense held strong when they forced an incompletion on fourth down.

“We moved some defensive pieces around because Twin Cedars is more of a spread offense,” Hasselbrink said. “The personnel will change each week based on who we play. But the guys did a nice job.”

The only points of the second half came on a 16-yard touchdown run by Vansice in the fourth quarter.

Vansice finished 10-of-13 through the air for 148 yards and five touchdowns. He added 131 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.

Dee hauled in six passes for 101 yards and three scores and rushed for 23 yards on two carries. Ruger Kincaid gained 56 yards on eight carries, Derek Rominger ran for 20 yards on six carries and Damman added 17 yards on two carries.

Damman grabbed two passes for 41 yards and scored one TD and Burdess had two catches for 6 yards and one TD.

Burdess also led the defense with 7.5 tackles and two tackles for loss. Kincaid and Damman each totaled four tackles and McCord recovered a fumble. Liam Trent, Trevor Hamilton and Cody Spurgeon all had 2.5 tackles.

Spurgeon also caught a 2-point conversion from Vansice and Vansice added a pair of 2-point conversion runs.

The Bolts have won two straight games since starting the season 0-2. They could have went through the motions in practice last week knowing they were playing a Twin Cedars team which lost 52-40 to a Melcher-Dallas squad Baxter defeated 60-0 in Week 3.

“There’s lots of season left,” Hasselbrink said. “Every practice is important. We can’t take a week off just because we think we should beat them. We still have to prepare, show up and take care of business.”