Olds High School receiver Dwayne Neustaeter recorded four touchdowns on Oct. 8 as the Spartans routed the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs 51-28 at Normie Kwong Park, improving their record to 5-2.
The Spartans opened scoring on their first drive of the game, starting from the Bulldogs' 54-yard line.
A run by Tylen Smith took them to the Bulldogs' 35 and a pass from quarterback Connor Jorgensen to Baylen Unger advanced the Spartans into the red zone.
On the Spartans' third play of the game, Neustaeter ran the ball in for his first touchdown of the game.
He would get two more before the end of the first half.
On his third touchdown of the game, Neustaeter sprinted the ball along the sideline from the OHS 30-yard line to the end zone, giving the Spartans a 41-6 lead at the break.
“A lot of guys don't get that in a season, let alone in a game, so he was definitely on fire,” said Spartans head coach George Grant. “He got some great blocks from everybody, which allowed him to get to the outside with his speed, gave him perfect opportunity to go down and score for us.”
Grant said despite the win, his team eased up in the second half and could have finished better.
“We played a really great first half and unfortunately we kind of took our foot off the gas pedal and allowed them the opportunity to get back in,” he said.
After the game, Neustaeter was quick to praise his teammates' contribution to the victory.
“Everybody's doing their job and that means the one person that gets that ball, they're going to look like an all-star so all the credit goes to the team,” Neustaeter said.
For the week of October 13 to 17, the Spartans have a bye, though Grant said he was hoping to find an opponent to play.
On Oct. 23, the team will be in Calgary to play the Ernest Manning High School Griffins.
After that, Grant said his team will play a qualifying game for provincials, adding that there will be four teams vying for two berths: Highwood High School, Canmore Wolverines, Bow Valley Bobcats and OHS.
“It's going to be tough. We played High River last week so we know what we're up against with them. Canmore and Bow Valley, we haven't seen at all,” he said. “So it's always a bit of an unknown, but we can't take anybody lightly because at that stage of the game, you win, you're in.”
“You lose and you pack up your stuff and go home and we definitely don't want to be ending our season at the end of October.”
