GLIDDEN — The St. Edmond football team got a little taste of what is to come here Friday night.

Locked in a battle with Glidden-Ralston, the Gaels scored the final 12 points of the game to secure a winning season, 26-12.

St. Edmond (5-3 overall, 5-1 in the district) now awaits its postseason destiny. The Gaels will be on the road at a fellow district runner-up next Friday night in their first-ever 8-player postseason contest.

“These guys have done everything that we’ve asked of them — and we’ve pushed them hard,” SEHS head coach Matt Dillon said. “They did a great job of battling through adversity because there was plenty of that (last night).

“The first half was not pretty for our offense, and we looked for answers (during the intermission). We didn’t find many (the rest of the way), but I told them as their coach, I’m proud of them for fighting their way through.”

Aaron Hindt, fresh off a 310-yard rushing performance last week, scored three touchdowns with 87 yards rushing against an attacking Wildcat (3-5, 2-4) defense. Grant Galles hauled in a 33-yard score from Ethan Swisher for the other touchdown.

“Our defense really came through for us,” Dillon said. “Coach (Mark) McDermott and the staff put together a great plan and the kids executed. They have been lights-out this year and made play after play after play against a very good player in Colby Wallace, who absolutely ran all over us last year.

“(Glidden-Ralston) had two big plays but we held them in check outside of that.”

St. Edmond jumped on things early with Hindt punching in a score on the third play from scrimmage for the Gaels. The sophomore would add the conversion but that would be the only points from either side in the half as both teams combined for just 152 yards of total offense and seven first downs.

Glidden-Ralston answered late in the third on a Lucas Christian touchdown but failed to convert the try. St. Edmond pushed its lead back up to eight with when Swisher hit Galles.

After a short Wallace TD run made it 14-12, Hindt broke free for the first time all night with a 45-yard sprint to the end zone. The Gael defense forced a turnover on downs on the next possession and Hindt again hit paydirt.

“You have to give (Glidden-Ralston) a lot of credit because they came out and played hard despite not having a shot at the playoffs,” Dillon said. “We thought maybe after that first score that we were in cruise control but that was not the case and you have to congratulate them for that.”

Senior Adam Walker picked off a pass in the fourth to help seal the win while also recording a sack. Quintin Jaeschke had two sacks and Klay Baker one.

Since a pair of back-to-back losses to Audubon and GTRA, St. Edmond has won three straight, scoring 124 points during that time while allowing just 40. The five wins are the most since the 2020 team went 5-3 and just the third time since 2015 they have won at least five games.

SE GR

First Downs 10 11

Rushes-Yards 34-145 41-138

Passing 126 118

Comp-Att-Int 9-17-0 6-20-1

Total Offense 271 256

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 4-0

Punts-Avg. 2-42.5 5-25.8

Penalties-Yards 4-40 5-35

St. Edmond 8 0 0 18– 26

Glidden-Ralston 0 0 6 6 –12

Scoring Summary

St. Edmond — Aaron Hindt (7-yard run), 9:11 left in first. Hindt run.

Glidden-Ralston — Lucas Christian (51-yard run), 2:10 left in third. Conversion failed.

St. Edmond — Grant Galles (33-yard pass from Ethan Swisher), 11:53 left in fourth. Kick failed.

Glidden-Ralston — Colby Wallace (11-yard run), 5:08 left in fourth. Conversion failed.

St. Edmond — Hindt (45-yard run), 3:25 left in fourth. Kicak failed.

St. Edmond — Hindt (10-yard run), 1:32 left in fourth. Conversion failed.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — St. Edmond: Aaron Hindt 21-87, Ethan Swisher 4-41, Klay Baker 8-28, Team 1-(minus-11). Glidden-Ralston — Lucas Christians 4-66, Colby Wallace 23-65, Alex Daniel 7-21, Waylon Hein 4-7, Team 3-(minus-21).

Passing — St. Edmond: Ethan Swisher 9-17-0-126. Glidden-Ralston: Colby Wallace 6-20-1-118.

Receiving — St. Edmond: Grant Galles 4-56, Klay Baker 2-38, Jakob Koopman 1-20, Dominic McClain 1-8, Aaron Hindt 1-4. Glidden-Ralston: Lucas Christian 2-67, Dawson Majerus 2-35, Alex Daniel 2-17.