The Luxemburg-Casco Spartans opened their 2024 campaign with a tough 20-14 road loss to the Seymour Thunder in non-conference action Friday night.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Spartans struck first on a 54-yard touchdown gallop by Andrew Klass with 8:39 left in the second quarter.  Jacob Waltons kicked the extra point to make it 7-0.

 

Seymour then scored right before halftime, driving downfield and converting on a 27-yard connection from quarterback Cayden Staffeldt to Brandon Neppl with under 30 seconds left in the half.  After an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, the Thunder converted on a two-point conversion when Staffeldt hit his brother Carson Staffeldt with a pass to make the score 8-7 Seymour at halftime.

 

Both teams struggled to move the ball in the third quarter, but Seymour exploded with a 47-yard run by Cayden Staffeldt on the first play of the fourth quarter to take a 14-7 lead.

 

Klass would score from five yards out with 7:03 left to tie up the game after Walton’s extra point.

 

Seymour would make some big plays down the stretch and scored on a five-yard run by Xavier Salzman with just 36.2 seconds left to make the score 20-14.

 

Luxemburg-Casco had one more chance when a 44-yard pass from Landon Derenne to Mason Trimberger set the Spartans up inside the Thunder's 15-yard line with just 10 seconds to play.

 

 

 

After two incompletions, Derenne hit Jacob Coisman at the five-yard line, but he was tackled short of the end zone.   

 

The Spartans (0-1) will now battle the Xavier Hawks at home at 7 p.m. next Friday, with the pregame show starting at 7:15 p.m. with Paul Schmitt on 104.1 WRLU and streamed NewRadioSportsNetwork.com.

 

 

 

(photo courtesy of Ron LeCloux)