CULVER - The battle in the trenches has always been a key to a successful offense or defense. But when both lines from the same team can accomplish the task on the same night, it makes the opponent's game plan much more difficult. LaVille used a solid performance on both sides of the ball and earned a 35-0 victory over Culver Community in the IHSAA 1A Sectional #41 quarterfinal at Cavalier Field. The O-line opened holes and space for the Lancer running game to rack up nearly 300 yards on the ground. Cole Stafford rushed 15 times for 153 yards and three touchdowns. Meanwhile, the D-line plugged the gaps, limited the Cavaliers to just 36 yards rushing and less than 90 total yards of offense. "We felt the D-line did a great job all night and set the tone on that side of the ball with (Riley) Filley, (Brock) Gest and (Keenan) Richhart," said LaVille coach Jeff Kaiser. "O-line it took a bit to get going but once we did play the way we are capable of, we were able to see some solid drive blocks." The LHS offensive line came out strong, with Stafford getting four carries for 51 yards and closed the eight play drive with a 33-yard touchdown run. After a total of three punts by the Cavs in the first quarter, LaVille closed the quarter when quarterback Brayden Schwitz found Stafford wide open down the seam for a 25-yard scoring strike. LHS forced two more punts in the second quarter to go with an interception by Dylan Miller to keep Culver off the board. Stafford helped LaVille close out the second quarter by going behind Braedyn Foster and Brock Gest 10 yards to paydirt. "Once we figured a few things out and made adjustments, I felt the O Line was able to play to their ability," explained Kaiser. "Those guys were giving us some solid feedback which allowed us to make some blocking adjustments. Cole Stafford has been running the ball very well for us the second half of the season and on Friday he was able to have some really solid runs which resulted in 3 scores for us." Kaiser's crew put the game away with a pair of early third quarter TDs. Stafford packed bags for a rushing touchdown from 35 yards out, then on the next series, Schwitz kept an option look to the house from 9 yards away. We had a chance to ask Kaiser what impressed him the most about his club. "What impressed me is we were able to make adjustments as needed based on feedback from the players, which resulted in us fixing an issue we were having and then seeing the guys execute it," noted the Lancer coach. "Two weeks in a row now we have put ourselves in a position that has allowed for every player that pads up, to see some playing time under the lights on a Friday night. Total team effort throughout the week has put us in that position these last 2 weeks." The Lance Blue Crew defense finished with six tackles for loss, the interception by Miller, a fumble recovery by Noah Menis, and the third shutout of the season. "Defensively we played very disciplined football and were aggressive doing so," concluded Kaiser. "Anytime you get a shutout, it means your defense understood the scheme and played assignment football. Many guys were able to make multiple tackles for us." Schwitz completed 5 of 13 passes for 87 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He also ran eight times for 68 yards. LaVille improved to 6-4 overall and will face 1A #7 North Judson-San Pierre in the semifinal round of the 1A Sectional 41 football tournament. Kick is scheduled for 7:30pm October 31 at Liberty Field. LAVILLE 35 CULVER COMMUNITY 0 At Culver Score By Quarters LaVille 14 7 14 0 - 35 Culver 0 0 0 0 - 0 Scoring Summary LV - Cole Stafford 33 run; Caleb Skiles kick LV - Stafford 27 pass from Brayden Schwitz; Skiles kick LV - Stafford 11 run; Skiles kick LV - Stafford 35 run; Skiles kick LV - Schwitz 9 run; Skiles kick LV C First Downs 19 3 Yards Rushing 276 36 Comp-Att-Int. 5-13-1 4-10-1 Yards Passing 87 46 Fumbles 1 2 Punts-Avg 1-31 7-20 Penalties-Avg 8-65 6-32 IHSAA 1A Sectional 41 Football Playoffs October 24 Quarterfinals LaVille 35 Culver Community 0 North Judson-San Pierre 59 South Central (Union MIlls) 6 West Central 74 South Newton 12 Bowman Academy 36 North Newton 30 October 31 Games Semifinals LaVille at North Judson-San Pierre, 730pm Bowman Academy at West Central, 730pm