By Jeff Meder

Journal Sports Writer

WINTHROP — Treay Taylor scored four touchdowns and he rushed 16 times for 309 yards to lead Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop past Lester Prairie 40-14 on Saturday in the semi-final round of the Section 2A football tournament.

The Thunderbirds (8-2) will now face No. 1-seeded Mayer Lutheran at 7 p.m. on Friday at New Prague High School for the Section 2A championship. GFW’s victory sets up an interesting scenario because the Thunderbirds edged Mayer Lutheran 32-27 in the season opener for both teams.

GFW used an effective running game featuring quarterback Brody Hentges, with Jacob Rose, Treay Taylor and Nick TenEyck. The Bulldogs could not come up with a solution for it. GFW’s defense made quality plays when it needed to which kept Lester Prairie off the scoreboard for most of the contest.

Lester Prairie punted the football in the end zone which put it on the Thunderbird 20-yard line. Rose took the football on the first play from scrimmage and he went 80 yards for GFW’s first touchdown with 3:51 remaining in the first quarter. Jack Panitzke tried to run for 2 extra points, but it was no good, making it 6-0 GFW.

In the second quarter, TenEyck ran the ball off-tackle for an important GFW first down. That play set up Hentges’ handoff to Jacob Rose who ran 21 yards for GFW’s second touchdown with 9:48 left in the second quarter. Hentges handed the ball off to TenEyck who tried to run the ball in for an extra two points. It was not good, and the Thunderbirds led 12-0.

The Thunderbird defense forced the Bulldogs to punt. The ball landed at the 20-yard line. Hentges handed the ball off to Treay Taylor on the first play from scrimmage and he raced 80 yards for another GFW touchdown. Hentges threw the ball to TenEyck for the two-point conversion and a 20-0 lead.

Lester Prairie suffered a setback late in the second quarter when quarterback Nick Guggemos took a hard hit. He did not return to the game. Freshman Caiden Herman stepped in.

Herman handed the ball to Gavin Eckstein, who scored Lester Prairie’s first down with :38 left in the first half. Herman handed the ball off to Eckstein who tried to run the ball in for the two-point conversion, but it was no good, and the score was 20-6 GFW at halftime.

Lester Prairie switched tactics when it opted to have Herman start throwing the ball more in the second half.

The Bulldog’s second series under Herman was successful. Herman got a key first down when he threw a 12-yard pass to Logan Lambrecht. On the next play, Jace Cacka ran the ball in for a 4-yard touchdown at the 5:36 mark of the third quarter. Lambrecht ran around the right end and into the end zone for the 2-point conversion. That brought the Bulldogs with 6 points at 20-14 for GFW.

Treay Taylor answered for GFW with a 55-yard touchdown run with 5:20 left in the third quarter. He cut inside and it was “off the races” for the score. Hentges tried to throw the ball to Ashton Buboltz, but it was not good. That gave the Thunderbirds a 26-14 cushion.

Lester Prairie’s Trever Schauer was going to punt the football back to GFW. The snap was high, Schauer bobbled the ball, and he threw it out of bounds. An intentional grounding penalty was called against the Bulldogs. That resulted in Treay Taylor’s fourth touchdown on a 41-yard run. Hentges tried to pass the ball to TenEyck for the two-point conversion, but it was no good and the Thunderbirds upped their lead to 32-14 with 2:52 left in the third quarter.

Treay Taylor picked off an errant Herman pass late in the third quarter. The Thunderbirds cashed in when TenEyck ran 70 yards for GFW’s final touchdown. TenEyck had strong blocking, including four fellow players blocking for him all the way into the end zone. Hentges tossed the ball to TenEyck for the two-point conversion, and it was 40-14 GFW.

Hentges completed 3 of 4 passes for 29 yards and an interception. TenEyck rushed 10 times for 114 yards and a touchdown and Jacob Rose had two rushes for 23 yards and a touchdown.

Hermann was 11-for-18 passing for 75 yards and two touchdowns. Guggemos was 5-for-8 passing for 98 yards for the Bulldogs.

Easton Taylor led the Thunderbirds defensively with seven tackles and one interception. TenEyck had six tackles and two assists. Taylor added six tackles, one assist and he had an interception.