Wolverines win ‘zero week’ thriller

East Mills dug itself out of a 20-0 hole on its way to a 34-32, overtime win over Griswold in a non-district, zero-week football game Friday in Griswold.
Jiri Brodigan’s touchdown and two-point conversion in overtime and a Wolverine defensive stand on Griswold’s subsequent two-point conversion capped a dramatic come-from-behind win in the opener for both teams.
Little went right for the Wolverines early.
And Griswold took advantage of every opportunity.
Alex Rasmussen got the Tigers on the board on the opening drive on a two-yard touchdown run and then added a 31-yard scamper to make it 14-0 in the middle of the second quarter.
Later in the frame, Callen Keiser intercepted a Mason Camden pass and returned it for a touchdown and a 20-0 just before halftime.
East Mills coach Trenton Turney said neither he nor his team panicked at halftime.
The Wolverines forced a turnover and finally got on the board on the second possession of the third quarter when Camden connected with Landon Gibbs on a 20-yard scoring strike. Another defensive stop by the defense set up another score as Jiri Brodigan raced into the endzone from 19 yards out to cut the margin to seven late in the third quarter.
But the Wolverines weren’t done in the frame yet. Jaylen Reed’s three-yard TD scamper tied the game at 20-20 heading into the fourth quarter.
The score would remain that way until late in the fourth when Cavyn Turner put the Tigers back in front 26-20 with just over a minute to play in the game.
A big return by Brodigan on the ensuing kickoff had the Wolverines in business. Brodigan, playing wildcat quarterback much of the second half, engineered a drive inside the Tigers’ 20-yard line. His dart to Camden knotted the score at 26-26 and while the Wolverines failed to convert a two-point conversion to win the game in regulation,  they had all the momentum heading into the overtime.
Griswold won the toss, meaning the Wolverines would go first from the 10-yard line in the extra frame. Brodigan connected with Reed for nine yards and then called his own number on the next play, rumbling in from a yard out to give the Wolverines their first lead of the game. The 195-pound Brodigan then powered in from the left side on the two-point conversion to make it 34-26.
Rasmussen answered for the Tigers on their first place from scrimmage, racing in from 10 yards out, but the following pass for the two-point conversion fell incomplete to secure the Wolverines’ victory.
The move of Brodigan to quarterback surprised even Turney. They had worked on some packages for the senior but didn’t expect to deploy them in week zero.
“Yeah, we put him there since we had some success spreading out the field and letting him run and throw a bit,” Turney said of Brodigan, who ran for 72 yards and two TDs and connected on 2-of-3 passes for 29 yards and a TD. “We had a few packages for him, and we really wanted to save it for next week, but we felt we had to give him the ball since he’s a hard, physical runner.”
Brodigan also fought through severe cramps in the game while also kicking two point-after touchdowns and recording 10 tackles on defense.
“We wanted him in there at quarterback because he was the hot hand and we really had the momentum,” Turney added.
While the loss was a bitter pill to swallow for Griswold coach Seth Lembke, he saw a lot he liked from his team.
“We didn’t get the result we wanted but was pleased with several things,” he said. “We came out well, scoring right away and getting a 20-point lead. East Mills made some half time adjustments that got them back in the game. The boys fought hard. I thought our backs ran hard. We will work on cleaning up some blocking this week. Defensively, I thought we did better than we had. We tackled better. But now we are looking to be more consistent.”
The Wolverines finished with 270 total yards. Camden completed 10-of-23 passes for 128 yards and a TD in his first start under center.
Griswold tallied 251 yards of offense. Rasmussen led the way with 123 yards and three TDs on the ground.
The Wolverines are back on the road Friday at Exira-EHK. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in Elk Horn.