JACKSON— Saxony Lutheran got a statement win in the first ever edition of the “Harvest Bowl presented by Buchheit” at Bennett Memorial Stadium in Jackson Friday.
The Crusaders dominated on offense in a 52-20 victory over the Windsor Owls, a class four school out of Imperial.
Things seemed to be going the way of Windsor early, with the Owls scoring first and taking an 8-0 lead on a 49 yard touchdown run and 2 point conversion.
The Crusaders responded with a touchdown on the following drive on a three yard keeper from Junior Quarterback Kai McDowell, but the Owls were able to keep an 8-6 lead after blocking the extra point.
Saxony Lutheran took a 12-8 lead with a second quarter touchdown on a McDowell pass to senior Bryce Gaebler, and from there, the Crusaders would lead the rest of the way.
The Crusader offense scored five more touchdowns after taking the lead, including a 33-yard McDowell pass to Ozzie Turner, two rushing touchdowns from Alan Rudd, for 67 and 19 yards, and two McDowell quarterback keepers that went 30 and 32 yards.
Saxony Lutheran head coach OJ Turner said it was impressive to see how his offense played coming off a loss and a bye week.
“We did a really good job of really getting back and focusing on the small things and it was really nice to see the offense really start clicking,” Turner said. “Putting 54 points on the board to really allow the defense to continue what it’s been doing since the beginning of the year.”
The defense was much improved as well, allowing just 20 points from a tough team to defend in Windsor, coming off the loss in which they gave up 54.
“[Windsor] is a real power football program,” Turner said. “They really want to ram the ball down your throat. And it was really good for our defense to see how we were going to handle that. A couple of times to kind of let them lose. But overall, I think the defense did a really, really good job.”
Special teams has been a focus all year for Saxony Lutheran, in the win over Windsor the Crusader recovered multiple onside kicks, leading to excellent field percentage and more scoring opportunities.
Turner said sophomore AJ Sawyer works on onside kicks in practice often.
“It felt like this game that we were going to play was going to be a game of possessions, so the more that we can possess the ball, a higher chance for us to be able to to score,” Turner said. “We spent some good time with AJ on onside kicks. He’s really, really accurate with it. It’s important to us. We’ll use it. He also can kick the ball really long, which he’s done. But we’re really happy to have him be able to be so versatile and kicking it deep or onside.”
With the win, the Crusaders are back over .500 with a record of 2-1. They will travel to Mater Dei and Charleston before returning home to Jackson to host Vienna-Goreville on October 9.
“I think confidence wise the kids should be pretty juiced up for these next couple weeks,” Turner said following the 32-point win Friday night.
Turner said he wanted to give a special thanks to Buchheit for sponsoring the first annual “Harvest Bowl”. Something he hopes will continue for years to come.
“I am glad we could highlight our agriculture and FFA programs,” Turner said. “I got probably 7 to 10 kids on the team that are in our ag program. We were super excited to partner with Buchheit’s. The administration was super supportive and I felt like it was a really cool night for us to be able to do that.”
