The Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears are headed back to the UNI-Dome to continue their state title defense, after defeating Edgewood-Colesburg 51-36 in 8 player quarterfinal action Thursday night at Conway Field. The Vikings would strike on their very first drive of the game, with Jax Steger rushing for a 32 yard touchdown to provide the only scoring in the first quarter. After a Golden Bear punt on their first drive, the Vikings drove into Bishop Garrigan territory, threatening to take an early two score lead. However, a block in the back penalty wiped out a fourth down conversion, and the Golden Bears defense would come up with a stop to keep the score 6-0.
The Garrigan offense began to find their rhythm in the second quarter, as Ethan Marso capped off Bishop Garrigan’s second drive of the game with a 5 yard touchdown rush, as a two point conversion gave the Golden Bears an 8-6 lead with 11:20 left in the 2nd. Another stop on defense led to another touchdown after that, as a Tate Foertsch 37 yard rush set up an 8 yard touchdown run by Trayton Cink to cap off the drive, as another 2 point conversion made it 16-6 at the 8:40 mark of the 2nd quarter.
Edgewood-Colesburg brought the game back to a one possession affair with 2:08 left in the half, as Pryce Rochford found Christoper Lange along the boundary for a 7 yard touchdown strike, making the score 16-14 Bishop Garrigan.
The Golden Bears made the most of their final possession before halftime, using all but the final 11 seconds of the clock before Cink’s 2nd rushing score of the night made it 24-14 at intermission.
Bishop Garrigan received to start the second half and made an immediate statement, as Cink broke multiple tackles on his way to a 55 yard score, putting the Golden Bears up 30-14. Later, another Marso touchdown run for 2 yards gave the Golden Bears a 36-14 advantage headed to the fourth.
The teams traded touchdowns in the fourth quarter, with the Vikings never getting closer than 13 points, as the Golden Bears scored on Marso’s 3rd rushing touchdown of the night, this one from 3 yards out, and a 3 yard run by Foertsch, bringing the final tally to 51-36.
After a punt on their opening drive, Bishop Garrigan scored on every possession for the rest of the game besides kneeling out the clock on their final possession.
Edgewood-Colesburg ends the season at 10-1, as Bishop Garrigan avenges a 2018 quarterfinal round loss to the Vikings and moves to 11-0.
Up next, the state semifinal round at the UNI-Dome, as Bishop Garrigan takes the number 2 seed into a 2023 second round rematch against number 3 seed Remsen St. Mary’s at 10 am.
