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Sibley East’s gridders struggled to hang on to the football Friday in a 34-7 season opening loss at Winthrop.

The Wolverine offense was stymied by six fumbles, five of which were recovered by an opportunistic Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop squad. The Thunderbirds meanwhile did not have a turnover on the night.

Sibley East fumbled four times in the first quarter and the ballhandling miscues gave Thunderbirds dandy field position.

GFW needed to travel but 33 yards for its first touchdown of the game. Thunderbirds running back Luke Youngblom capped the five play drive with a 14-yard touchdown run. It was the start of a 100-plus yard rushing night for Youngblom

Another Sibley East fumble set up a Thunderbirds touchdown later in the opening stanza. This time GFW needed but two plays and 27 yards to turn the Wolverine miscue into points. A 19-yard completion from quarterback Sam Van Hon to Reed Sallstrom gave GFW a 12-0 advantage.

A longer field to work with didn’t stop the Thunderbirds from making stretching their lead in the second quarter. GFW covered 55 yards in ten plays enroute to its third TD of the night. Elias Webster’s one yard run and an extra point kick enabled the home team to go into halftime with a 19-0 advantage.

Shaky ballhandling returned for Sibley East in the third quarter as the black and gold fumbled twice in a short span.

GFW turned one of the fumbles into another touchdown. This time the Thunderbirds went 19 yards in five plays to take a 27-0 lead. The touchdown came on an 8-yard run by Jay Rogotzke. GFW followed the TD with a successful two-point conversion.

Sibley East managed to produce a bit of offense in the fourth quarter. The Wolverines scored on a 12-play, 80-yard drive. Junior Sean Dietz recorded Sibley East’s first touchdown of the season scoring on a ten yard run. Dietz racked up 30 rushing yards on the drive while quarterback Erik Goetsch completed three passes for 30 yards.

Sibley East cheers following the touchdown were quickly chased as GFW’s Rogotzke returned the ensuing kickoff 84 yards for a touchdown. The Thunderbirds’ successful extra point kick completed the scoring.

GFW finished the night with 241 rushing yards. Youngblom led the way for the Thunderbirds with 106 yards on 19 carries. Rogotzke and Webster added 48 yards apiece for the winners.

Sibley East meanwhile tallied 96 rushing yards on the night. Senior Brett Pioske picked up 30 yards on nine carries. Dietz also finished the night with 30 rushing yards.

Goetsch, Sibley East’s junior quarterback, completed 3 of 10 passes for 30 yards. Pioske, William Paine and Marshall Bjorklund were on the receiving end of those passes.

Pioske led all Sibley East defenders with 15 tackles, ten of which were of the solo variety. Senior Todd Pauly added eleven tackles for the Wolverines while Lincoln Bjorklund and Marshall Bjorklund added eight apiece.

Sibley East, 0-1, will kick off its Minnesota River Conference (MRC) schedule on Friday. The Wolverines will play Belle Plaine at Arlington. Game time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.