SHEPHERD -- Loden Idler scored four total touchdowns and Glasgow enacted a running clock in the third quarter as the Scotties shut out Shepherd on the road for a 36-0 Class B football win on Saturday afternoon in the season opener for both schools.
Idler's first touchdown of the game came on a 41-yard burst on a designed quarterback run with less than two minutes left in the first quarter. The converted wide receiver showed off his explosiveness throughout the game, as the Mustangs' defense struggled to contain him on the ground. He scored his second touchdown on another designed keeper: an 8-yard plunge up the middle.
"He made some small mistakes, but we'll correct those," Glasgow head coach Patrick Barnett said of Idler. "He's a lot faster than the guy last year, but he's got to work on his arm. Alec (Boland) was a good quarterback, but Loden is stepping up in that role. We expected that if (Boland) went down last year that (Idler) would do it just as well."
Barnett wants to be a run-first team, but Idler showed flashes of his potential with his arm. He had a pair of scoring tosses, but the first would have wowed a crowd had it been in attendance. Idler escaped the pocket to his left before setting his feet and firing a strike to Beau Malnaa, who had slipped behind the defense for a 32-yard touchdown to put the Scotties up 20-0 in the second quarter. Idler recovered a fumble late in the half to set up a 2-yard touchdown pass to Dylan Nieskens with just two seconds remaining to give Glasgow a 28-0 lead at halftime.
Freshman Tatum Hansen scored the game's final touchdown on a 20-yard run, but it was his overall performance that Barnett came away pleased with. A stable of backs carried the ball for the Scotties, which will be a strength of the team moving forward.
"We love our power running game. If I had a choice we wouldn't pass. We just love our power running game. Our offensive coordinator Josh McCrossin does a great job. We just would rather run the ball the whole time," Barnett said. "We've got a lot of guys in a lot of spots. We're a pretty even-based team from top to bottom, big to small. We have a lot of guys, lot of depth, so we can do a lot of different things to keep guys fresh throughout the season."
"It's just exhausting for the defense," Idler said. "When we're on defense and teams are pounding it down our throats, it's draining. It's exhausting. You don't like that."
Glasgow is slated to host Conrad next Friday night, while Shepherd will play Huntley Project on Sept. 11.
