Wolverines improve to 2-0 in shootout victory

In a game that saw the two teams combine for 112 points and nearly 900 yards of total offense, East Mills got the big plays in its passing game they needed in a 62-50 shootout victory over Lamoni Friday in Eight-person football.

“We were a little more consistent this week than last,” said Schafer, whose team won their opener 42-0. “Our running game was almost non-existent but we hit some big pass plays. We didn’t get our running game going but we have a lot good receivers who are capable of stepping up.”

Four different receivers caught passes for the Wolverines (2-0) with Nic Duysen leading the way with 10 catches for 257 yards and four touchdowns from Wolverine quarterback Michael Schafer. Anthony Rainey hauled in four passes for 77 yards and a touchdown.

Michael Schafer completed 20-of-37 passes for 371 yards and five TD tosses.

While the Wolverine ground game was limited to just 37 total yards on 23 carries, Nate Richardson recorded three rushing touchdowns.

As happy as Coach Schafer was with his offense, the Wolverines defense wasn’t nearly as sharp. The Demons finished with 453 total yards of their own.

“I was disappointed in our tackling,” Schafer said. “We gave up big plays that should have gone for seven or eight yards but ended up being much bigger plays. In eight-man, if you don’t tackle well, those plays become big plays. We’re going to have to get better at that.”

All night East Mills struggled with it’s tackling as Lamoni quarterback Patrick Savage racked up 433 yards (227 passing, 206 rushing) and seven TDs.

“He was impressive,” Schafer said of Lamoni’s junior signal-caller. “Stanton did a pretty good job on him and we didn’t. I thought maybe we were as good as Stanton defensively so unless we improve, we aren’t. You hate to get into shootouts every week. We’re going to have to do a better job there. They out-hit us and ran the ball well on us. There’s no doubt about it, we’re going to have to play better.”

Duysen paced the Wolverine defense with 11 tackles, three for losses, and a fumble recovery.