Gehlen running game on display as District leaders rout South O’Brien


South O’Brien hung with Gehlen Catholic for awhile but the Jays’ offense ultimately proved to be too potent. The leaders in Class A District 1 ran past the Wolverines 56-21 October 11 at Paullina.
Gehlen, ranked eighth in Class 1A, rushed for 508 yards and averaged 13 yards a carry. The Jays are 5-0 in District play. MMCRU, which lost to Gehlen, is next at 4-1. South O’Brien dropped to 0-5 in the District and 0-7 on the season. Sibley-Ocheyedan is 4-2 in the District, Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn 3-2 and Alta-Aurelia and Akron-Westfield each 1-4.

“We really struggled tonight,” said Wolverine head coach Mark Fuhrman. “They have three good backs and a good group up front that put us in bad position defensively. You can watch their speed on film but it is a lot faster in person. Offensively, we were able to get a couple scores and Brody Van Beek had another kick return for a touchdown. Pretty sure that’s at least three now. Derrick Paulsen had a nice night catching the ball again. Jordan Jenness also had 56 yards rushing. He is starting to see the holes. Our offensive line needs to be more consistent.”
The Jays took a 12-0 lead before Jenness scored on a two-yard run and Paulsen kicked the extra point to make the score 12-7 after one quarter. A Gehlen score early in the second quarter was answered when Van Beek returned the kickoff 85 yards. The PAT was kicked through by Paulsen.
The Jays found the end zone three more times in the quarter and led 41-14 at halftime. They tacked on another touchdown in the third quarter, prior to Jaden Kreber hooking up with Paulsen on a 33 yard scoring aerial to make it 49-21. Gehlen tallied once more in the third. There was no scoring in the fourth quarter.
Kreber was 10-of-14 passing for 164 yards and the scoring toss to Paulsen. He threw two interceptions. Paulsen caught six passes for 113 yards and Van Beek latched on to three aerials for 43 yards. Billy Lange rushed six times for 22 yards.
Caden Wittrock was the Wolverines’ leading tackler with 13 assists. Jenness contributed two solo tackles and 10 assists. Jayven Miller and Brennan Billick each totaled five tackles.
South O’Brien closes out the season Friday night with a trip to Akron to take on Akron-Westfield. Last Friday the Westerners beat Alta-Aurelia 29-15 for their first win of the year. “Akron provides us with another opportunity to get a win this season,” said Fuhrman. “We need to continue to improve offensively and just need to do a better job defensively.”
Gehlen
12 29 15 0 – 56
S. O’Brien
7 7 7 0 – 21