Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm High School’s Dylen Carreon rushes past Belle Plaine’s Seth Rucks (27) on the way to a 51-yard TD run at NUHS on Friday night.

NEW ULM — He did everything except sell popcorn during the game and direct the band.

Dylen Carreon scored three touchdown runs, added a trio of two-point conversions and recorded a safety as the New Ulm Eagles won their second game of the day and the season with a 26-20 win over Belle Plaine at New Ulm High School.

Earlier in the day, the Eagles were awarded a forfeit win over Tri-City United because of an ineligible player the Titans used in that game.

For the game, Carreon carried the ball 31 times for 201 yards.

“He did an excellent job — he is an incredible workhorse,” assistant coach Larry Wellmann said. “We had great line play as well.

“I am super-excited for the kids,” Wellmann added. “They did a fantastic job tonight overcoming adversity early on.”

That adversity started in pre-game warm-ups when starting tight end Garrett Foley injured his ankle and was taken away by ambulance.

“We are just all proud of the kids,” Wellmann said.

It was a game where the Eagles, now 2-5 on the season, battled back from deficits of 7-0, 13-8 and 20-10 to earn the win.

New Ulm, who hosts Worthington at 7 p.m. Wednesday night saw the Tigers take the opening kickoff and convert two fourth-down plays as they marched 60 yards in 17 plays to take a 7-0 lead on a 2-yard run from Preston Kes at the 3:41 mark. A Bryce Kuhn kick made it 7-0.

The Eagles came back to take an 8-7 lead at the 9:45 mark of the second quarter when Carreon broke lose for a 51-yard touchdown run.

Carreon converted the two-point conversion.

After Belle Plaine regained the lead at 13-8 midway through the second quarter, Carreon came up with a tackle in the end zone on a Tigers punt to cut the lead to 13-10 at halftime.

New Ulm saw that deficit grow to 20-10 when Tigers quarterback Gunnar Geisler hit Andrew Siegle for a 15-yard touchdown pass at the 7:44 mark of the third quarter.

“We talked to the kids about not giving up,” Wellmann said. “We told them we have to work until the work is done. We faced adversity and we handled it very well.”

New Ulm started the come back responding to the score with a 13-play, 65-yard drive capped off by a 3-yard run by Carreon and then a two-point conversion to pull to within 20-18 with 1:46 left in the third quarter.

Carreon continued his destruction of the Belle Plaine defense when he scored on a 1-yard run and then added another two-point conversion for a 26-20 lead with 9:35 left in the game.

New Ulm sealed the deal when they took over on downs with less than a minute to go in the game.

“This is a very big win for us,” Carreon said as he also added eight tackles and two sacks to his game resume. “This gives us confidence. And my yards tonight were because of my linemen — they blocked really well and on every pass play they kept them out. It was a good game for us.”

Jaden Drill had 12 tackles, with Marqavion Haeffner adding 11 tackles.