(Griswold, IA) — Callen Keiser returned an interception the length of the field early in the 3rd Quarter to break a 6-6 tie to lead Griswold past East Mills 20-6 in the 8 Man opener for both teams on Friday night.
The game was tied at halftime and the Tigers fumbled on their opening possession of the 2nd half. The Wolverines started near midfield and drove into Griswold territory. On 2nd and 10, East Mills QB Khayden Poorker was chased from the pocket and threw off his back foot toward the end zone. Keiser picked it off and went 79 yards for the Pick Six. Griswold got a 2 point conversion to make it 14-6. It was the 2nd TD of the game for Keiser.
Each team traded turnovers on their next possessions. The Wolverines could not take advantage of good field position and failed to convert on some key 4th downs. Griswold got the ball with 7:17 left in the 4th quarter and used a ton of clock, capping a long drive with a 4 yard TD run from Quentyn Ruchti-Wilson with 44 seconds left to put the game away.
Griswold won the toss and deferred and East Mills’ first possession ended in a Poorker INT by Colton Frieze. The Tigers took advantage with a 13 play drive that ended with QB Dain Laverty connecting with Callen Keiser for a 16 yard TD to make it 6-0.
East Mills would score just before the end of the first half on a 4 yard TD run from Poorker at the 2:00 minute mark of the 3rd Quarter.
Griswold
Callen Keiser 3 catches, 46 yards, 1 TD
Alex Rasmussen 16 carries, 70 yards
Dain Laverty 6-12 passing, 70 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT; 14 carries for 39 yards
Colton Frieze 2 catches for 23 yards
East Mills
Khayden Poorker 15 carries, 90 yards; 6-21 passing, 77 yards, 3 INT
East Mills (0-1) 0-6-0-0 — 6
Griswold (1-0) 6-0-8-6 — 20
