Football (10/13)

Football: #4 M-C Maintains South-East Lead with 26-20 Win Over #10 SG

Neighborly rivals Mabel-Canton and Spring Grove have played each other yearly on the gridiron forever.  Few, if any, of those previous games were as big as a week six showdown.  In a huge contest to the South-East race, the #4 in 9-Man Cougars (5-0, 5-0) did what they do not often do versus #10 Spring Grove (4-1, 4-1).   And that put them in rare waters with two weeks of the season left.  The game featured an 18-0 scoring run and a 20-0 scoring run.  M-C’s defense helped its offense to get off to a fast start.  The Cougars had a couple of key tackles-for-loss, and a big turnover, to stymie the Lions’ first three possessions.  It allowed Paul Tollefsrud’s group to score the first 18 points.  M-C’s opening drive went 59 yards.  Set up by an Isaac Underbakke to Kale Tollefsrud 31-yard pass play, Underbakke capped the sequence with a 4-yard TD run for a 6-0 lead.  After a Lion punt, Brevyn Tollefsrud (37 yards) and Kale Eiken (32-yards) had gashing runs, the latter for six and a 12-0 lead.  Early in the second quarter, K-Tollefsrud ripped out a fumble and recovered it.  One play later, Underbakke scampered and stiff-armed his way to a 34-yard TD run making it 18-0 Cougars.  But this is 9-Man football.  Points can accrue quickly and big comebacks are not impossible.  SG’s next series saw 6’2” 225-pound Ricardo Reynolds rip a 49-yard TD run.  The impromptu two-point pass succeeded making it 18-8.  After a false start penalty on 4th and 1 made it 4th and 6, M-C turned the ball over on downs. SG went back to work.  Dylan Halverson’s scrambling 40-yard pass play to a leaping Caden Gerard got the home team close.  Jacob Solum scored one play later (4-yard TD run).  The conversion failed, leaving M-C up 18-14, which stood as the halftime score.  To start the second half, Reynolds intercepted Underbakke deep in the M-C end.  Halverson scampered in from 14-yards out on the next play, giving SG its first lead at 20-18.  They had all the momentum.  But the teams then exchanged punts.  A 24-yard Lion boot gave M-C the ball at the SG 43.   A six-play Cougar drive was highlighted by an Underbakke to K-Tollefsrud 21-yard pass.  Underbakke capped the series with a five-yard plunge, and the two-point conversion.  Just 1:50 into the fourth quarter, M-C was back ahead 26-20, as tensions rose amidst a large crowd in Spring Grove.  Kody Moore’s Lions subsequently drove.  Big runs by Halverson (28 yards) and Reynolds (19 yards) were key.  The Lions had 1st and goal at the five.  But a delay penalty made it 1st and goal from the 10.  The series ultimately faced a 4th and goal from the 10 with quarterback Halverson on the sideline for one play per an injury.  The Cougars forced and recovered a fumble on a fourth down run.   SG got the ball back one more time with 4:04 left, but on a jump-ball pass, Cougar defender Josh Whitney wrestled away a massive interception from Gerard.   The Cougars then got two first downs.  Underbakke ran 12 yards on 2nd and 10 from the five.  On 3rd and 7 from the 21, he hit K-Tollefsrud for the game-securing 22-yard reception.  SG was out of timeouts.  M-C knelt out the clock.  Via a dramatic 26-20 win, the Cougars (6-0, 6-0) moved to 6-0 for the first time since 2004, and stayed atop the South-East over Kingsland (5-1, 5-1), the Lions (4-2, 4-2), Houston (4-2, 4-2, and Alden-Conger/G-E (4-2, 4-2).  Underbakke (17-112, 3 TDs rushing, 5 of 9, 78 yards, INT passing) carried the biggest load.  K-Tollefsrud (4-80 receiving, 16-42 rushing) was best in the passing game.  Eiken (9-72, TD rushing) and B-Tollefsrud (5-56 rushing) also did work on the ground.  Reynolds (14-162, TD rushing), Halverson (14-79, TD rushing; 7 of 19, 67 yards, INT passing), and Gerard (3-53 receiving) led SG.  After running for over 200 yards in the first half, M-C was under 75 yards in the second.  But after passing for 67 yards in the first half, SG passed for zero in the second half.  The Lions had seven penalties for 50 yards, M-C 2 for 10.  Included was an illegal blind-side block on SG’s opening second half series, turning a first-and-10 from in the red zone into a 1st and 25 from the 47.  They then did not score.  A couple injuries were notable, as M-C two-way lineman Milton Hutchinson missed the second half and Reynolds did not play SG’s last offensive series.  It was only M-C’s second win versus SG since 2010.  SG entered having won 21 of 22 in that span with the only other loss coming in 2023.  

Football: Warriors Blank Rockets for Third Straight Win

After a 1-2 start, Caledonia won its third straight game and moved to 4-2 overall courtesy of a 34-0 win at Randolph.  The Warrior defense left its mark.  With a 14-0 lead already, Tyson Ginther’s 53-yard interception return TD late in the first half was deflating for the home Rockets. It was one of three turnovers harvested by the Warriors, as Bodie Knutson also had a pick to go with his 10 total tackles while Jacob Klug recovered a muffed punt.  Said miscue led to Caledonia’s first score, via just a 12-yard drive.  A bit later, and just two plays after fumbling but converting a 4th and 1, Ginther tush-pushed to a 2-yard touchdown. Will Allen hit Grant King on a 31-yard TD strike to make it 14-0.  Carl Fruechte’s group thus led 21-0 at halftime.  They did not allow a Randolph first down in the second half until it was 34-0. The Warriors initial second half scoring drive was all on the ground, featuring runs of 21 and 18 yards by Noah Schroeder, a 35-yard TD run by Allen.  A 62-yard Schroeder reception then helped set up Allen to King for a 19-yard TD pass to start the fourth quarter.  Allen (10 of 17, 210 yards, 2 TDs, INT passing; 9-62, TD rushing) to King (6-78, 2 TD receiving) was the big connection.  Zeke Gengler added a couple catches including a 59-yarder.   Cooper Allen led Caledonia with 11 tackles.  Randolph had just 34 rushing yards and QB Colton Ford had a tough night (12 of 30, 93 yards, 2 INTs passing).  The Rockets had 11 first downs, but four came by Warrior penalty.  It was the second straight week their defense scored and second shutout of the season.  Caledonia (3-2, 4-2) is in third place in the Southeast-Central “Yellow” behind Chatfield (5-0, 6-0) and Triton (4-1, 4-2).  

Football: Cardinals Get Back Even With Win Over Burros

The final score was LeRoy-Ostrander/Lyle/Pacelli 27, Lanesboro 14.  But the home Cardinals were in control from the start in a week six South-East contest.  L-O/L/P put up the first score barely a minute into the game, as Reid Hungerholt bolted in from 25-yards out.  On Lanesboro’s first series, Hungerholt intercepted Burro quarterback Teague Tessum and returned it 38-yards to the house.  Very early in and Trevor Carrier’s Cardinals led 14-0.  The Burros had a huge play in the first half called back.  Mason Gilbertson intercepted a Hungerholt pass and returned it 69-yard for the score, but a blindside block well behind the play negated the effort.  Lanesboro did not score on the series, did not score in the half, and L-O/L/P led 14-0.  The Cards then took advantage of a Burro fumble to start the second half.  Hungerholt hit Logan Diemer for one of two second half TD connections, the first an 18-yard effort, the second, early in the fourth quarter, a 14-yard effort. The passes gave the Cardinals leads of 21-0 and 27-8.  Lanesboro scored very late to make the final 27-14.  Hungerholt (17-147, TD rushing; 6 of 14, 71 yards, 2 TDs, INT passing; 38-yard INT return TD) accounted for four Card scores.  Carson Roe added 50 yards on 14 carries plus a team-high 15 total tackles.  Talan Lewison (53-yard reception), Diemer (3-36, 2 TDs receiving) and Hunter Wollenberg (2-32 receiving) added numbers through the air.   Lewison caught his bomb from Wollenberg in the final seconds of the first half but came up 10 yards short of paydirt.  Gilbertson (32-124, TD rushing; 3 of 11, 48 yards, TD passing), a senior, was a workhorse on the ground while accounting for both Burro scores.  Quadyn Kettner (2-35 receiving) caught a TD pass and had an interception.  Henry Semmen (2-50 receiving) was the Burros top pass catcher.  L-O/L/P improved to 3-3 in the South-East and overall.  Lanesboro is 1-5, 1-5. 

Football: Trojans Fall Short at Lourdes

In maybe the schools’ first ever meeting in football, Rushford-Peterson went from “it looks very bleak” to “we have a chance” within minutes versus Rochester-Lourdes at Rochester Regional Sports Stadium.  Late in the third quarter, with the Eagles leading 28-8, Gabriel Quinones intercepted a Trojan pass.  Lourdes thus had the ball up 20 with basically a quarter left to play.  But two plays later, a botched pitch ended up in Trojan Owen Lange’s hands and he scooped-and-scored from 43-yards to make it 28-14.  The Eagles’ next possession went from 1st and 10, to 4th and 34!  Using a short field, R-P went 42 yards in six plays.  A 16-yard TD-pass from Creighton Hoiness to Jaxon Johnson on 4th and 6 got R-P within one score, 28-20, with 6:18 left to play.  R-P’s defense then got another stop with 4:06 left.  But the offense was stopped on 4th and three at midfield.  It was the fourth time the Trojans were stopped on 4th down.  They were 1 for 5 in the game.  The other three failures were each 4th and 1’s (including once in the red zone in the first half).  Meanwhile, in the final 2:30, Lourdes converted a 4th and 2 by maybe inches.  R-P was out of timeouts.  The Eagles held on for the 28-20 win.  Quarterback Chase Carroll (16-145, 2 TDs rushing) led the victors.  Ed Lovely added 55 tough yards on 16 carries.  Jaxson Meldahl (18-63, TD rushing), Johnson (7-34 rushing, 16-yard TD reception), and Creighton Hoiness (4 of 8, 46 yards, TD, 2 INT’s passing; 9-42 rushing) led the R-P.  Lange added 1 ½ sacks to his defensive score.  R-P fell to 1-4 in the sub-district, 2-4 overall. 

South-East Sub-District Football (10/3)

Kingsland 42, Wabasha-Kellogg 26 (K: Ka. Reiland 17-214, 3 TDs rushing, 7 of 10, 66 yards, TD passing; Bently Wiersma 7-104, TD rushing; Michael Johnson 3-53, TD receiving; Trent Aarsvold 3-yard TD run.  Kingsland led 14-6 at halftime but 26-6 in the third quarter and 34-14 heading to the fourth.  Reiland had a highlight reel, oddest of odd, rarely-seen touchdown to open the scoring.  W-K blocked his punt but right back to him, and he proceeded to trek 66-yards to paydirt, semi-hurdling a guy midway, and then diving across the goal-line for the score.) 

Grand Meadow 50, Houston 6 (H: L. Klunder 19-240, 4 TDs rushing; Axel Vix 7-47, TD rushing; Hector Steinfeldt 52-yard TD pass to Vix through Klunder (hook and lateral); Mason VanGundy 9-yard TD run.  GM: Carter Glynn 7 of 13, 139 yards, TD, INT passing; Logan Grafe 2-80, TD receiving; Keaton Gehling 2-30 receiving.  With sacks and lost yardage, GM was held under 50 yards rushing.  GM fell to 1-5, 1-5) 

Southeast-Central Sub-District (10/3)

St. Charles 8, #2 in AA Chatfield 51 (C: D. Williams 15-198, 2 TDs rushing; Carter Ask 4 of 5, 112 yards, TD passing, two 1-yard TD runs; Kaisen Johnson 4-73, 2 TDs receiving; Brooks Lea 52-yard reception; Brandt McBroom 1 of 1, 13 yards, TD passing, 2-25, TD rushing; Ross Stoehr 24-yard field goal.  On the back of Stoehr’s field goal in the waning ticks of the first quarter, Chatfield led 23-8 at halftime, but out-scored the Saints 21-0 in the third quarter for a 44-8 lead.)   

Mid-South Sub-District Football (10/3)

#3 in A (tie) Fillmore Central 63, New Richland/Heartland/Ellendale/Geneva 6 (FC: K. Larson 20-129, 5 TDs rushing (all in first half); Bridon Bahl 11 of 17, 151 yards, 2 TDs passing; Cody Serfling 8-89 rushing, 3-37, TD receiving; Quinci Kaase 7-39 rushing, 4-53, TD receiving; Carson Bothun 5-51, TD rushing; Rylan Ristau 2-43 receiving; Josh Bakken 1-yard TD run.)