Football (11/10)

Football: Cougars Blank Lions 16-0 For First State Berth Since 1981

The year was 1981.  Ronald Reagan was president.  Dallas was a popular television show.  “Raiders of the Lost Ark” introduced the world to Indiana Jones.  The Oakland Raiders won the Super Bowl.  Changing the channel on a television required turning a knob on the device.  Current Mabel-Canton volleyball coach Lonnie Morken, ye of nearly 900 career wins, was over a decade away from win #1.  And Cougar football went to state.  Karl Urbaniak was not even the coach yet.  Flash forward 44 years.  Breaking a long drought, the Cougars have again won a section title.  In a 9-Man championship, #3 Mabel-Canton (1-seed, 10-0) did not allow Spring Grove (2-seed, 8-2) to cross midfield.   SG was always up against field position, starting inside their own 20 five times, inside the 10 thrice.  SG had one second half first down.  M-C amassed 16 first downs and totaled 259 total yards, but did not ice the game until the final minute.  The only score up until that point came in the second quarter.  M-C’s second drive of the game covered 66 yards.  Isaac Underbakke hit Darian Hershberger for a 5-yard TD pass on 4th and goal.  Underbakke added the two-point run to put the Cougars up 8-0.  M-C’s first drive, a 15-play series, also threatened, but was turned over on downs at SG’s four-yard line.  The closest thing the Lions got to a score came in the third quarter.  Ricardo Reynolds returned a punt 80 yards for a would-be touchdown.  But an illegal blindside block penalty behind the play, plus an unsportsmanlike conduct, negated the score.  Instead of possibly tying the game, SG punted on the series, one of six for the game, three in the second half.  With 5:00 left, the Lions got a fantastic interception from Reynolds, stopping a Cougar drive.  SG’s hopes were then dashed three plays later when a Dylan Halverson pass was intercepted by Cougar Nolan Garness.  Five plays later, after converting a 4th and 8 with an Underbakke to Kale Eiken 15-yard screen pass, Underbakke found paydirt for an 11-yard TD (0:50).  It clinched it. Cheered on by a large faithful of fans at Austin’s Wescott Field, the Cougars downed the Lions 16-0 for their first ever 9-man section title!  Underbakke (22-73, TD rushing; 7 of 9, 95 yards, TD, INT passing) did the biggest work.  Kale Tollefsrud (9-34 rushing; 3-39 receiving), Eiken (13-52 rushing; 2-24 receiving), and Brevyn Tollefsrud (3-22 rushing; 27-yard reception) helped.  SG completed just one pass for four yards and had 65 yards rushing, 69 total yards.  Reynolds (11-48 rushing; 3 ½ tackles for loss) led their effort.   M-C ran 60 plays, SG 32.  The Lions had penalties totaling 66 yards.  The disciplined Cougars were not penalized.  The Lions finish at 8-3.  Third-ranked M-C (11-0) is the South’s 3-seed, will play 2-seed #5 Hillcrest Lutheran (10-0).   The most recent state berths of the other 10 Journal-covered teams are Caledonia and FC in 2025, Chatfield and L-O/L/P in 2024, Kingsland in 2023, SG in 2022, R-P in 2021, Lanesboro in 2020 (COVID year) or 2010, GM in 2019, and Houston in 2008.  

Football: #4 Falcons Pound it Past Cardinals to Third State Berth in Four Years

Third-ranked Fillmore Central (1-seed, 9-0) dominated Lewiston-Altura (2-seed, 6-3) most of the first half to the tone of a 13 to 2 first down discrepancy.  FC used its large interior line and a big effort from senior running back Kane Larson to score the game’s first three touchdowns and lead 18-0.  FC also fumbled on the one-yard line after a long game-opening drive.  Yet for all the domination, FC then had to sweat some later.  Down 18-0, L-A scored in the final 0:52 seconds of the first half, as Seth Lubinski broke off a 52-yard run.  A few plays later, Jayden Hansen hit Cole Kennedy on a 15-yard TD pass with 0:15 left.   The plays were L-A’s only two first downs of the stanza.  The score made it 18-7 Falcons at the half.  With the FC’s first second half possession, a bad snap on a punt yielded a 37-yard loss all the way to the one-yard line.  With the shortest field possible, L-A capitalized, as Bennett Bonow snuck his way in for six.  Despite 16 first downs at that point to L-A’s four, FC clung to a 19-14 lead with 4:56 left in the third.  But Chris Mensink’s group quickly replied, going 71 yards in seven plays.  Larson had runs of 30 and 17 to set up a Bridon Bahl one-yard TD run.  The Falcons regained a two-score lead, 26-14.  L-A then went for it at their own 35 to start the fourth and was stopped.  FC canvassed 35 yards in seven plays, a Grant Daniels 6-yard TD run capping things.  Up 34-14 with 6:31, it was academic.  L-A added a non-consequential score.  After 29 years of not making state, the Falcons grabbed their third berth in four seasons via a 34-21 victory.  L-A defenders will be glad to never again play the current Falcon #12.  The senior Larson ran for 231 yards on 37 carries with three TDs.  He had just one negative-yardage carry.  All his work was done up the middle behind big interior lineman Brody Niemeyer (6’1” 250), Ryan Schroeder (5’11” 255), and Joseph Otto (6’3” 270).  Larson was also huge on the ground earlier this year (31-155, 2 TDs) and in last year’s meeting (31-140, 2 TDs).  Quinci Kaase (8-105 rushing), Daniels (5-33, TD rushing), and Bahl (4-21, TD rushing) helped FC rush for 349 yards.  FC attempted just two passes.  They played without key players Cody Serfling (sick) and Rylan Ristau (injury).  Lubinski (8-140 rushing, 3-yard TD reception) led L-A with big runs of 52 and then 65, the latter on the Cards’ first drive of the second half that came up empty in the red zone.   FC (10-0) is the South’s 2-seed, will play Murray County Central (8-2).  

Football: Defense Lifts Warriors to Section Title Over Lourdes

Caledonia’s speedy defense was again on showcase at Paul Giel Field in Winona for the Section 1AA final.  The only points that Rochester-Lourdes (4-seed, 7-3) could muster on the Warriors (3-seed, 8-2) was a late first-half field goal.  Of the Caledonia defensive highlights; four sacks, three fumbles forced and recovered, holding the Eagles to 44 yards in the second half, and just 129 total yards for the game.  Offensively, the Warriors’ first two scores were touchdown passes from Will Allen to Coby Hammell.  A 3-yard fade-route in the second quarter utilized Hammell’s 6’3” frame to get the Warriors on the board, 7-0 (3:51).  Lourdes’ only drive to reach the red zone resulted in their only points late in the first half.  Freshman Ben Seger kicked a 33-yard field goal to make the halftime score 7-3.  But late in the third quarter, Allen and Hammell connected again, this time from 29yards away.  Up 13-3 with its defense, it was Caledonia checkmate.  After a couple chunk Allen runs, Noah Schroeder added a third Warrior touchdown on a one-yard run early in the fourth.  Lourdes had just two first downs in the second half and one came in the final minute.  Warrior football added another notch to its extensive state belt. By 19-3 final, they won their second section title in three years and secured their 17th state berth overall.  Backs Hunter Frank (13-66 rushing) and Bodie Knutson (11-59 rushing) plus Allen (8-39 rushing) led the Warriors on the ground.  Allen was also 6 of 10 for 77 yards passing and the two TDs to Hammell, his only two receptions.  Zeke Gengler (3-44 receiving) was the Warriors leading ball-catcher.  Hammell, Schroeder and Knutson recovered fumbles.  Hammell and W-Allen forced fumbles.  Sack-wise, Knutson had two, Hammell one, Maddox Walk and Anthony Von Arx split one.  Sophomore standout Cooper Allen had a team-high 11 tackles.  Lucas Brooks (10-37 rushing) was Lourdes’ top rusher while QB Chase Carroll (4 of 14, 34 yards passing) was 0-for-8 in the second half.  The Warriors (9-2) move on to face South 1-seed #1 in AA Jackson County Central (10-0), the defending state champ.