Bolts open season with rout of Springville

SPRINGVILLE — When new starting quarterback Perrin Sulzle needed a play, the smartest decision was to sling it to the Bolts’ most veteran receiver.

Treyton Travis opened his senior season with a big night on the gridiron and the Baxter football team cruised past Springville 52-23 at Allison Field on Friday night.

The Bolts led the Week 0 matchup 14-7 after one quarter but outscored the Orioles 30-14 in the second half.

“I felt like we had the big plays but couldn’t get any momentum going otherwise,” Baxter head football coach Rob Luther said. “We had to big play them to score. It’s not how we wanted to come out and dominate.”

But when you have a veteran receiver like Travis, the big plays seem to be something Sulzle can rely on.

Travis finished with career-highs in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns in the win. He grabbed 13 catches for 246 yards and four scores.

And when Sulzle needed a first down, Travis was the target.

The two hooked up on a 65-yard touchdown on the Bolts’ very first play of the game. It was just the start of a big night for Baxter’s QB1 and WR1.

“I was the returning guy, so I think there’s some trust there,” Travis said. “Perrin did amazing. That’s what we expected out of him. He scrambled well, found the open guys and had good running yards, too.”

Sulzle finished 19-of-28 through the air for 292 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. He also rushed 11 times for 61 yards and another score.

The Bolts (1-0) led 6-0 just 6 seconds into the game. The two-point conversion pass attempt was incomplete.

Neither team scored on their next possessions, but Springville (0-1) took its only lead of the game when it drove 48 yards in nine plays. Jordan Goad capped the drive with a 6-yard touchdown run. Springville was aided by a pair of penalties on the drive.

The Orioles’ lead was short-lived though. The Bolts marched 65 yards in seven plays.

Cainan Travis opened the drive with a 17-yard run and a roughing the passer penalty a few plays later kept the drive going.

Then, on fourth and 11, Sulzle connected with Treyton Travis on a 31-yard touchdown. Travis was well covered on the play, but he high-pointed the ball and brought it down in traffic.

“Even in practice, he’s just been phenomenal,” Sulzle said. “I know if we get to third and long I can just throw it up to him and he’ll come down with it most of the time.”

Baxter’s defense forced a punt on Springville’s next drive, but that punt was downed on the 1-yard line. Two plays later, Treyton Travis was tackled in the end zone for a safety.

The Bolts’ defense regained momentum with a three-and-out. And the offense went back to work.

This time, Baxter marched 54 yards in eight plays. On third and two, Sulzle found Treyton Travis for 4 yards. Then on third and 12, the duo hooked up for 18 yards. One play later, Travis hauled in a 6-yard TD catch and a Sulzle two-point conversion run made it 22-9 at halftime.

“If the other team can’t stay with him, we are going to throw him the ball,” Luther said. “But we relied on him too much, and I wish at times we wouldn’t have to. We need to be balanced, and we need to run the ball better, but we know he’s a huge weapon.”

Springville’s final possession of the first half featured three plays for -10 yards. Cael Wishman collected a tackle for loss and one of his three sacks on that drive.

The Orioles rushed for 125 yards in the game but only averaged 3.5 yards per carry.

“I was happy with our defense. I thought we tackled well and we played with some energy and juice,” Luther said. “It’s 8-man. You’re going to miss tackles, and we have to clean that up, but I liked how physical we were at the line of scrimmage and our DBs were flying around.”

The second half began with a stop by Baxter’s defense but also featured Sulzle’s interception. It was a pass that deflected off a Bolts’ receiver’s hands.

The turnover led to points for Springville. The Orioles went 47 yards in six plays. Mason Hoy hit Conlin Rouse for 32 yards and then the two hooked up again for an 8-yard touchdown pass. That closed the gap to 22-16.

The Bolts’ next drive started at their own 8-yard line. The 72-yard drive featured 56 receiving yards from Treyton Travis, including a 36-yard TD grab from Sulzle.

Sulzle gained eight yards on the ground and Cainan Travis ran for seven more on the drive, too.

“It was good to finally be the guy,” Sulzle said. “I learned a lot from Cody (Damman), but it’s good to finally play on the field and be the starter.”

Four straight incompletions on Springville’s next drive set up a punt, which was blocked by Callyn Bishop.

Runs of 16 and five yards by Sulzle set up a 7-yard touchdown run by Cainan Travis. That put the game away at 36-16.

The offense added one more score late in the third. A 38-yard drive was capped by Sulzle on a 7-yard TD run. He also connected with Treyton Travis on fourth and 11 for a 34-yard gain. Travis broke a tackle near the first-down marker to extend the drive.

“(Perrin) had a lot of poise. We have to be better in the run game, but if we can isolate Treyton 1-on-1, I like that matchup against anyone,” Luther said. “He was pressured a lot, but he stayed in there and stuck some nice passes and ran the ball well, too. For a first start out, everyone is happy with it.”

Baxter’s final points came on a 39-yard fumble recovery touchdown by Wishman.

The sophomore defensive end posted 10.5 tackles, five tackles for loss, three sacks and a defensive touchdown in his first career start.

“I just took off and was trying to run as fast as I could. I didn’t know what was happening,” Wishman said about the touchdown. “I was kind of nervous, and the start felt sluggish. I was just trying to beat them to the outside.”

Cainan Travis finished with four carries for 44 yards and a score and added two catches for 30 yards. He posted nine tackles and 1.5 tackles on defense.

Treyton Travis and Cody Samson each registered six tackles, while Cade Robinson finished with 16 rushing yards, 11 receiving yards and three tackles.

Jack Anderson chipped in five tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and one sack and Bishop and Eli Dee finished with 3.5 and 2.5 tackles, respectively. Stadan Vansice hauled in one catch for 5 yards and posted 2.5 tackles.

“They ran a four-front defense that gave us some problems. We didn’t want to use that many guys in the box, but we had to,” Luther said. “The second half started a little bit dicey. That pick made things interesting. I will give them credit. They have a bunch of young kids who got after it and they were scrappy. They put a lot of us stress on us defensively. You don’t usually see a swinging gate in Week 0. It’s hard to prepare for that.”

Hoy led the Orioles with 44 passing yards, 65 rushing yards, two total touchdowns and 8.5 tackles. Rouse added three catches for 73 yards and a score and 5.5 tackles.

Goad led the defense with 10 tackles and one interception.

The Bolts played the game without starting all-district offensive lineman Aiden McFadden. That forced Luther to play a few new faces on the line.

“They played four down linemen and no linebackers, and we had two guys in there who hadn’t played varsity football yet,” Luther said. “Aiden was out, which matters, and it showed early. But our offensive line got better as the night went on.”

Notes: Friday night’s game was the first Week 0 experience for all of the players and most of the coaches. School has not started yet, and it was important for the Bolts to not sit around all day. “It was different,” Treyton Travis said. “We didn’t want to just sit around and be too lazy, but we also didn’t want to overwork it. We went out to eat together. We went to I-Hop in Ankeny.” … Baxter doesn’t play in Week 1. The Bolts host Coon Rapids-Bayard on Sept. 1. “Winning is always good, but we didn’t come out with much energy. We gave up a touchdown right away,” Treyton Travis said. “That’s a pretty easy fix though.”