BRODHEAD — Lincoln Keller scored four touchdowns, three on offense and one on defense to lift the Evansville Blue Devils to a 42-16 win over the Brodhead-Juda Cardinals in nonconference high school football Friday night, Aug. 29 at Brodhead. 

Keller scored his first touchdown on a two-yard run and Cordell Harris added the extra point to give the Blue Devils a 7-0 lead with 3:17 left in the first quarter. After the Cardinals had to punt to begin the second quarter, the Blue Devils struck quickly with a three-play, 60-yard drive capped off by Matthew Wickersham’s 44-yard touchdown pass to Karder Tway. The extra point was no good and the Blue Devils had a 13-0 lead with 10:10 before halftime.

The next drive by the Cardinals ended near midfield and Brodhead-Juda was forced to punt. Evansville took possession on their own 11 yard line. On the second play from scrimmage, Keller motored 89 yards for a touchdown and Harris added the extra point to give the Blue Devils a 20-0 lead with 6:31 left before halftime.

After that, the roof caved in on the Cardinals (0-2). Their next drive stalled and Grayson Arn’s punt was blocked with Evansville (2-0) recovering the ball at the 37-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Keller raced 37 yards for a Blue Devils touchdown and Keller added a two-point extra point to make it 28-0 with 2:31 to go before halftime.

After a touchback on the kickoff, Brodhead-Juda took over on their 20 yard line, but on the first play from scrimmage, Keller jumped the pass route intended for Braylon Strehlow and intercepted Logan Krupke’s pass and scored on a 20 yard interception return. Harris tacked on the extra point and the Blue Devils had a 35-0 lead with 2:17 remaining in the half. On the ensuing kickoff, the ball landed on the two-yard line and stayed put, forcing the Cardinals to recover the ball at the two-yard line. On the first play, the Cardinals fumbled and Evansville recovered. Harris scored on a two-yard touchdown run and Langdon Dobbs kicked the extra point, giving the Blue Devils a 42-0 lead. 

The second half was played with a running clock, but Brodhead-Juda did score their first two touchdowns on the season. With 1:35 remaining in the third quarter, Grayson Arn scored on a six-yard run and Jayden Brown ran for a two-point conversion to make the score 42-8. Arn scored again on a 52-yard run and Brown ran in for another two-point extra point with 3:30 left in the game to make the final 42-16.

Arn rushed 14 times for 128 yards and two touchdowns. Krupke was 4-9 passing for 57 yards and one interception. On defense, Wyatt Anderson had 17 tackles for the Cardinals.

Brodhead-Juda coach Tim Cerjak said it was the little things that were drive-killers and led to costly mistakes. 

“It kills what were trying to do and it’s stuff we have to clean up and I’ll take responsibility. We have to get that cleaned up going forward,” said Cerjak.

The Cardinals are home Friday, Sept. 5 to open SWC play against River Valley.