File photo by Travis Rosenau Sleepy Eye United’s Austin Uecker (5), Winsten Nienhaus (10) and Brandon Braulick (35) walk towards the sideline during SEU’s home playoff game with Adrian/Ellsworth on Oct. 28 at Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s High School.

SLEEPY EYE — It wasn’t the fairy tale ending Sleepy Eye United had hoped for during their first year as a football program, but SEU head coach Brent Kucera by no means considers the season a failure.

It would be hard to do that considering the team defeated two top 10-ranked teams in the state during the season and made it all the way to the Section 3A finals.

Ultimately, however, SEU had bigger goals in mind this past Friday night as they took to the Southwest Minnesota State University turf in Marshall for a rematch with Springfield.

SEU defeated state-ranked Tracy-Milroy-Balaton earlier in the regular season on Sept. 9 and then topped ranked Springfield on Sept. 29, both wins coming in Sleepy Eye.

But after SEU shut out Wabasso 36-0 and then downed Adrian/Ellsworth 40-14 in the Section 3A tournament to earn a rematch with Springfield this past Friday night, the Tigers ended up avenging their only loss this season with a 36-18 win to earn a trip to the state tournament for the second consecutive year.

Despite the loss, Sleepy Eye High School and Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s High School players lived up to their team name in their first season by uniting to form an all-around strong football team.

“I think for our first year, we had an amazing first year,” Kucera said. “We’re pretty happy with how we did. The seniors this year, they laid the foundation going forward and we’re pretty motivated now and we’ve got high goals going forward.”

Quarterback Caden Evers had the keys to the SEU offense at quarterback during his senior year. He was aided by 11 other foundation-laying seniors in Mark Anderson, Austin Uecker, Bryent Finstad, Winsten Nienhaus, Jon Petermann, Carter Swenstad, Gaige Bauer, Riley Rutscher, Hayden Zarn, Devin Kunkel and Evan Thompson.

After committing five turnovers, including three interceptions, in the Sept. 29 loss to SEU, the Tigers took to the ground more in the section title game. Springfield ended with just one turnover in the rematch and had 229 yards rushing to 190 yards passing.

“It didn’t surprise us [that they ran more],” Kucera said. “I think from our first game, [Springfield] learned that they had the advantage on the interior, they took advantage and they were just bigger and stronger on the inside. They had a good game plan and they have a lot of talented guys.”

Despite taking some big hits and facing pressure several times throughout the game, Evers still managed to make several big throws and finished the game completing 12 of 21 passes for 171 yards.

“He got hit a few times,” Kucera said. “He kept his composure and still put the ball in some good spots.”

While SEU got all three of their TDs on rushes, the biggest being junior Talan Helget’s 80-yard reverse TD run, Springfield’s physical defense up front limited SEU to 125 yards rushing on 26 carries.

SEU also had two fumbles.

“[Turnovers] hurt, they hurt quite a bit,” Kucera said. “We had some costly turnovers, but Springfield did, too. The game just really came down to Springfield being more physical, that’s really what it came down to.”

SEU’s graduating seniors will leave big shoes to fill, but Kucera said there are several talented young players coming up.

“We’ve got a lot of good, young players coming up,” Kucera said. “We’ve got a lot of numbers coming up. I think we have around 27 freshmen that’ll be sophomores next year, so our numbers keep getting better and better every year. The big thing is the guys hitting the weight room in the offseason.”

With several standout moments and wins this season, Kucera said there were multiple big moments.

But perhaps the the biggest win was seeing how SEU and the Sleepy Eye community came together.

“There’s multiple moments,” Kucera said. “Tracy and Springfield and Adrian, those are three big wins. Our Homecoming win — there’s a lot of moments — not one in particular. Overall, it’s just the team chemistry and the community coming together, that was really the win of the year.”