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MCC overpowers Indians

Staff photo by Steve Muscatello Sleepy Eye’s Landon Strong braces for impact as he makes his way into the end zone for a 2-point conversion Friday in Sleepy Eye.

By Jeremy Reinarts

Journal Sports Writer

SLEEPY EYE — Murray County Central left Sleepy Eye with a big district win when they defeated the Indians 36-22 in a Southwest District, East Subdistrict football game on Friday night.

Turnovers became crucial as the Indians coughed up the football in some key spots of the game, with the Rebels taking advantage of the possessions.

Sleepy Eye gained a huge momentum shift by putting up 8 points in the final minutes of the first half but still trailed 20-14 to begin the third quarter.

The final scoring drive for the Indians in the second half started when the rebels were forced to step back to the kickoff line twice, each time moving back 5 yards after an offsides and an out-of-bounds kick.

Sleepy Eye’s Ethan Fischer took the kickoff and found a hole in the middle of the field and ran to MCC’s 26-yard line to begin the drive with just under three minutes left to play in the second quarter.

Sleepy Eye’s sophomore quarterback Keegan Heiderscheidt, facing a third-and-4 from the MCC 20-yard line, found Blake Tauer in the back of the end zone for the 6 points with two minutes left to play in the half.

“I am glad to see Blake [Tauer] get a chance, he has worked hard and he made the most out of the opportunity, which was a good spark for us and kept us in the game,” coach Corey Haala said.

The quick drive became crucial after the Indians converted on the 2-point conversion to trail in the second half. MCC’s offense had driven well the entire first half, yet if the Indians could get a stop and regain possession, the clock would become a factor.

Tauer’s touchdown catch came when he was able to shake a defender and head for the end zone and create room with the pass from Heiderscheidt being where it had to be thrown with the 20-yard completion.

Sleepy Eye’s drive came after MCC’s Justin Benda came up with a huge catch along the Rebel sideline to put the Rebels at first-and-goal from the seven on their first play of the drive. The Rebels scored on a third-and-goal when Mason Woldt kept the snap and tucked it in for the keeper. Sleepy Eye came up with a huge stop on the 2-point conversion.

The Indians scored on their first drive of the game when Landon Strong received the pitch from Heiderscheidt to score from the MCC 2-yard line. Strong then took the handoff and barreled in for the 2-point conversion to bring the Indians up 8-0 in the first quarter.

Sleepy Eye’s first scoring drive was kept alive when Heiderscheidt’s pass found the hands of Nathan Walter with the Indians facing a third-and-31 from the 42-yard line.

The Rebels defense pulled down their second interception of the game in the third quarter. On the next play, the Indians defense struck big when Jacob Berg came out of the pile with the football for a fumble recovery to give Sleepy Eye great field position.

Heiderscheidt put the ball in the hands of Strong who ran around the outside untouched for the 45-yard touchdown as the Indians led 22-20 with 2:24 left in the third quarter.

Strong led the Indians on the ground with 97 yards rushing and two touchdowns, Heiderscheidt had six completions for 60 yards and Walter was the leading receiver with four receptions for 44 yards.

Defensively, Isaac Velasquez led the Indians with eight tackles and Strong tallied six tackles.

The Indians will be on the road at 4 p.m. on Friday in Adrian.

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