On the rainy night of Sept. 18, the Orono Spartans continued their winning ways by trouncing the Chanhassen Storm 56-14 to start the season 5-0 to celebrate Homecoming. The Spartans dominated through the air and on the ground, and they held Chanhassen to 0 points in the last 3 quarters.

Senior Hank Seward completed 8 of 11 passes for 165 yards and 4 touchdowns as well as 9 rushing attempts for 18 yards, recording a QB rating of 154.4. His primary target was senior receiver Will Perry, as he hit Perry 5 times for 138 yards and 3 touchdowns.

The duo was clicking all night, and though they scrambled to stop them, Chanhassen couldn’t do nearly enough. Seward was quick to credit his teammates for enabling his dominance through the air. He said the “offensive line has been playing extremely well, …. [and I] had plenty of time to make plays downfield.”

The offensive assault didn’t stop there. With a constant drizzle of rain falling throughout the game, the Spartans pummeled the Storm on the ground. Senior David McCuskey ran 19 times for 212 yards and 2 touchdowns. McCuskey got the ball early and often, but it’s nothing he was not ready for. He said “going into the Chanhassen game … we were confident we could hit them hard with the run game.” That they did.

Senior Blake Leischow also recorded 2 touchdowns (1 rushing, 1 receiving) and 34 total yards. Tallying 27 points in the second quarter alone, the offense was unstoppable.

McCuskey credits this to their opponent’s focus on their run game, saying “a lot of teams make the mistake of stacking the middle to try and stop our run game.”

By doing this, he said, they left  “Leischow and Perry open on the edges and Hank rarely misses them.”

The defense was not without its highlights. After conceding 14 points right away in the first quarter, the unit held fast. They shut Chanhassen out the rest of the game, and allowed only 194 total yards compared to Orono’s 465 offensive yards.

The unit was led by senior cornerback Riley Vieth who intercepted a deep throw by Chanhassen quarterback Luke Salem. Vieth spoke highly of the defense as a unit, as well as his fellow defensive backs. “The defense has been able to shut down both the run and pass game,” Vieth said, “and this is due to our speed as well as the experience we have.”
These three players spoke very highly of their teammates, and stressed the importance of the team in these victories. “I feel no pressure because I know my teammates have my back,” said Vieth. This bodes well for the Spartans, who currently stand at 5-0, as they head down the stretch of their season.