St. Joseph Christian and Elwood ran to the field to start the second half, only to see that Mother Nature had taken over by engulfing the entire field with fog that limited visibility to almost zero.

But the Lions were able to build up enough of a first-half lead that they coasted to a fog-ridden 66-34 victory.

“It’s a Christian school. And I don’t know what they did at half time, but I would like to eat and drink what they were drinking,” Elwood head coach Harry Elder said. “This fog came in and pretty much took care of our throwing.”

The game, however, was competitive in the first half after Elwood’s Keyton Harrington made a one-handed catch for 18 yards with just under four minutes to go in the second quarter. The catch set up a 5-yard touchdown pass from Blain Wilson to Harrington, pulling Elwood within 38-26 after a failed 2-point conversion.

It was the closest the Panthers got to Christian. Behind third-string quarterback Alex Maudlin, the Lions marched down the field. Maudlin concluded the drive when he threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to senior David Welchert, finishing out the half 46-26.

“After David Welchert hurt his knee and Luke Mathes went down, we had to call up sophomore Alex Maudlin, who is our third option at quarterback,” Christian coach Mark Juhl said. “I really think he rose to the challenge tonight and followed his blockers like he was suppose to.”

The Lions came out for the third quarter fired up as Welchert, a senior, busted for a 33-yard touchdown and finished the game with four rushing touchdowns and one receiving with a wrap on his knee. The Lions rode their rushing attack to close out the second half.

“We were planning on running the ball in the second half anyway because of our big lead,” Juhl said. “The fog really didn’t factor into my play calling.”

The Panthers, on the other hand, are more of a pass-oriented offense, Elder said, and they were affected by the fog. They only scored once in the second half after a 1-yard run from Wilson ended the game in the 66-34 loss.