Prep football: Cards over and out

ROGERS - A season full of promise came to calamitous ending on the western edge of the Metro.
Rogers leveled the Willmar Cardinals 63-0 on Tuesday night in the quarters of the Section 6AAAAA playoffs.
After a 3-1 start, Willmar lost its fifth straight.
The Royals, No. 3-ranked by MaxPreps.com and No. 2 in the final AP poll, made it look easy leading 28-0 after one and 49-0 at the split.
The Royals’ superiority in speed, numbers and athleticism was clear immediately.
On offense, Willmar mustered one first down the first period and drew five penalties.
Rogers, who fell to No. 3 in the seeding after a 22-21 loss to Interstate 94 neighbor St. Michael-Albertville last Wednesday, scored four times with a short field in the first: star running back Gunner Bloom on runs of 5 and 2 yards and Blayne Caspers on carries of 31 and 34.
Adam Heyer spurted 60-yards after picking off a Zach Radermacher pass for a 35-0 lead early in the second. Two more Willmar turnovers were quickly converted to points by the Royals.
Rogers coach Marc Franz sent in the second-string halfway through the second.
At halftime, Willmar had run 40 plays for a net 39 yards. Auggie Hahn, who was injured late in the first period and did not return, and Radermacher were a combined 4 of 22 for 45 yards passing.
It was the final game for 18 Willmar seniors, who played on a 6-3 team last fall that also lost in the first round, to Buffalo 43-20, and is now 1-3 in Section 6 games.
Rogers (8-1), which listed 33 seniors, will play at No. 2 seed Elk River (6-2) on Saturday. No. 4 Monticello creamed Buffalo 30-7.
The reserves added a couple of TDs in the second half. It was Willmar’s most lopsided outcome since losing 62-7 at Moorhead in 2001.
Elsewhere, Rocori ousted Fergus Falls 34-2, Alexandria bounced St. Cloud Tech 33-22, St. Cloud Apollo smashed Sauk Rapids 45-13.
“Rogers is an excellent football team; hats off to them,” Willmar coach Jon Konold said. “We knew we had to have some success early. We thought we could throw the ball on them a little bit, but they are pretty athletic on the outside and very stout on the inside.
“Our kids played hard all year … They lost some close games and just kind of ran out of gas.”
Bruce Strand contributed to this story.
Rogers 63, Willmar 0
Willmar (3-6) 0 0 0 0- 0
Rogers (8-1) 28 21 7 7-63
R – Gunnar Bloom 5 run (Justin Bohnsack kick)
R – Blayne Kaspers 31 run (Bohnsack kick)
R – Bloom 2 run (Bohnsack kick)
R – Kaspers 34 run (Bohnsack kick)
R – Adam Heyer 60 interception return (Bohnsack kick)
R – Heyer 7 run (Bohnsack kick)
R – Nick Camarote 2 run (Bohnsack kick)
R – Cole Hyde 51 run (Bohnsack kick)
R – Austin Greiner 86 run (Matt Becker kick)
Willmar
Rushing: 29-8 … Passing (com-att-yds-int.): 8-31-179-2 … Fumbles lost: 1
Rushing: Michael Heitzman 10-1, Auggie Hahn 2-5, Zach Radermacher 10-(-12), Colten Carlson 1-0, Vaughn Johnson 3-4, Levi Sankey 1-1, Tyler Johnson 2-(-1) … Passing: Hahn 2-6-28-0, Radermacher 5-24-44-2 ... Receiving: Austin Grove 4-58, Carlson 1-11, Grant Duininck 1-7, V. Johnson 2-3 …Fumble recoveries: Travis Deegan … Tackles: not available
Rogers
Rushing: 44-363 … Passing (com-att-yds-int.): 2-6-43-0 … Fumbles lost: 1
Rushing: Gunnar Bloom 10-47, Adam Heyer 1-7, Blayne Kaspers 5-77, Cole Hyde 6-69, Austin Greiner 1-86 … Passing: Andy Boschart 2-6-43-0... Interceptions: Adam Heyer, Caleb Reese