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No. 5 Crusaders breeze by overmatched Trojans

COON RAPIDS – John Seiser has seen his fair share of 8-man football powerhouses over the past decade and he knows the real deal when he sees it on the field.

Coon Rapids-Bayard easily passed his litmus test.

Simply overmatched on both sides of the ball, particularly at the line of scrimmage, Northeast Hamilton was unable to offer up much resistance in a 62-8 beating at the hands of the fifth-ranked Crusaders in District 7 action Friday night.

Coon Rapids-Bayard (5-0, 3-0) remained unbeaten and at the top of the district standings alongside No. 7-ranked Glidden-Ralston. The two teams are on a collision course to meet in Week 7, presumably for the district championship.

The Crusaders scored 33 points over the game’s first 12 minutes and put the running clock in motion by the 9:36 mark of the second quarter.

“They’re a very good team … the best team I’ve sen on tape this year and I’ve seen a lot of games,” Seiser said of the Crusaders, who have won four games by 30-plus points. “I will be shocked if they’re not at least in the final four at the (UNI) dome.

“I thought our effort was really good, we just couldn’t physically match up with them.”

CR-B sophomore quarterback Brandon Riley threw three touchdown passes and ran for another. The Crusaders amped up their passing game against the Trojans, who brought everyone up to the line of scrimmage in an unsuccessful effort to slow down the ground attack.

“We made a commitment to stop the run, so we brought everybody up and they took advantage of it,” Seiser said. “They were working on things, too, just trying to diversify their offense.”

Riley hit Logan Namanny with a 36-yard touchdown strike just 51 seconds into the contest and added a 41-yard scoring burst later in the period. Running back Zach Evans broke off three touchdown runs that covered 47, 54 and 5 yards in the first half.

Northeast Hamilton’s only glaring mistake came early in the third quarter on a fumble that the Crusaders’ Reno Doty returned 23 yards to the end zone. Doty also had a 16-yard TD reception from Riley.

“I really didn’t come away disappointed with the way we played,” Seiser said. “They’re just that good.”

Andy Pate accounted for the Trojans’ points on a 61-yard sprint to the house in the third quarter. He tacked on the two-point run.

Pate churned out 103 rushing yards and he also completed 3 of 9 passes for 47 yards. Wes Weinkoop made a 32-yard grab.

Kyle Pruismann (12 tackles) and Austin Smith (nine tackles) led the NEH defense.

The Trojans will be back at home to host East Union on Friday.

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