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Southland rolls all over MVL Chargers

Staff photo by Steve Muscatello Southland’s John Hegge tries to bring down Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Matt Stein (8) as Carlos Ramirez looks on Friday at Johnson Field in New Ulm. For more photos of this event go to cu.nujournal.com

NEW ULM — When Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Carlos Ramirez broke loose for a 58-yard touchdown run with just over three minutes left in the third quarter, it pulled the Chargers to within 13-6 with an entire quarter yet to play.

But Southland countered with a 63-yard, 12-play drive and then used a bad snap on an MVL punt to put together a short drive to score another touchdown to come away with a 27-6 win over the Chargers.

Carter Schmitz scored twice for the Rebels on a 6-yard run and a 20-yard from Carl Mueller and Ethan Forthun kicked field goals of 34 and 25 yards.

Jared Landherr scored on a 14 yard pass from Mueller for the Rebels, now 2-2.

For the game, MVL totaled 144 yards rushing and 31 passing while the Rebels ended with 187 yards rushing and 110 passing.

“We made a nice little push in the third quarter and Carlos gave us a nice run,” said MVL coach Jim Buboltz who saw his team fall to 0-3 on the season. “But again we did not have a consistent effort — that is what I am looking for — and we are not there yet. We gave two good quarters tonight and hopefully we can give four next week.”

And MVL’s inconsistency and mistakes played a big part in the Chargers loss.

Southland took the opening kickoff and strolled from its own 37-yard line to the Chargers 15 where it stalled. From there, Ethan Forthun kicked the first of his two field goals –this one from 34 yards out, for a 3-0 lead at the 8:48 mark.

Early in the second quarter, MVL faced a fourth down and a yard from its own 38. Trying to catch the Southland defense napping, MVL went for the first down but came up short and the Rebels took over.

A running play gained two yards before a Chargers personal foul on a horse collar tackle moved the ball to the MVL 22. An eight-yard run preceeded a 14-yard touchdown pass from Mueller to Jared Landherr for a 10-0 lead less than two minutes into the second quarter.

“That has been our season right now,” Buboltz said. “We are making mistakes at crucial times. It is too bad.”

Forthun’s second field goal late in the second quarter, this one coming from 25 yards out, had the Rebels up 13-0.

It was a first half that saw MVL total 73 total yards of offense.

Ramirez’s touchdown run cut the lead to 13-6 before Southland countered his run with two scores of its own in the final quarter.

The first one came on a 12-play, 63-yard drive ending when Carter Schmitz bulled his way in from six yards out at the 9:50 mark.

Then another mistake hurt MVL and led to another Rebels touchdown.

Back to his own 35-yard line, Matt Stein dropped the snap and Southland took over at the MVL 20. On its first play, Mueller found Carter Schmitz for a 20-yard touchdown pass and a 27-6 lead at the 8:33 mark.

“We have to get our offensive line better and when they get better then our offense will get better,” Buboltz said. “They were pretty well dominated tonight — we have to get better there.”

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