Gardiner’s offense explodes as it rolls over Edward Little with 50-0 victory.
By Kevin Mills
Staff Writer

GARDINER – After being starved for points a week ago, the Gardiner football team feasted Friday night.

The Tigers bounced back from their 6-4 upset to Mt. Ararat with a resounding 50-0 win over Edward Little. If the 50 points didn’t satisfy their hunger, their third shutout meant donuts for the whole team.

“Around here we talk about championship teams and how they respond after setbacks,” said Gardiner coach Matt Brown. “We’re proud of our kids. We’ve got a mission in mind, and we needed to come back and play like that this week.”

Gardiner dominated EL from start to finish, totaling 468 yards. The Tigers had a 25-0 lead at the half and never looked back. After managing just a pair of safeties last week, the Tigers produced six touchdowns from the offense and two off interception returns. EL was held to 173 yards overall, 121 of that came on the ground. The Red Eddies were plagued by four interceptions and one fumble.

“Defensively, we’re solid,” said Brown. “That’s the basis for everything we do here. We just try to build off that.”

EL coach Jim Hersom declined to comment following the game.

Gardiner (4-1) scored on its first drive, marching the ball 80 yards. Nate Munzing capped it off by slashing through the line untouched for a 9-yard run. EL (1-4) followed with its best drive of the game. It covered 46 yards but stalled at the 19. Chris LeClair was the workhorse for the Red Eddies with 83 yards on 20 carries. EL tried to manufacture a passing attack, switching between quarterbacks Matt Bennett and Steve Simpson, but EL managed just five completions for total of 52 yards.

The Tigers stormed downfield 86 yards on their second possession and took a 12-0 lead when Craig Toulouse plowed over a few defenders during a 6-yard run with 9:37 left in the half. After a Kris Ramsay interception, the Tigers went to the air for another score with 6:27 left. Seth Wilkins found Seth Antognoni uncovered in the end zone for a 22-yard scoring play. Wilkins connected for another touchdown pass with 5:06 left in the half. He lofted a 63-yard heave to Ramsay for a 25-0 lead at the half.

“We’ve been trying to add a little bit,” said Brown. “Jim Palmer is our offensive coordinator and he’s trying to add more to the package as we go. So if we get into the playoffs, we’ll have something to go with.”

Justin Lebourdais, who led Gardiner with 180 yards on 16 carries, scored from the 4 in the third. He also had a 43-yard run in between interception returns by Toulouse and Matt Holman.