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SEU survives shootout with MCW, wins 36-30

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Sleepy Eye United’s Talan Helget (9) lunges for a first down during a South District, West-South Subdistrict football game against Martin County West Friday at Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s High School.

SLEEPY EYE — Sleepy Eye United and Martin County West put in a contender for game of the year as United came away with a 36-30 win Friday night in the South District, West-South Subdistrict football game at Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s High School.

While both teams came away with big play after big play, it was Tucker Haala and Sleepy Eye United who made the final big play, with Haala sealing the game on a tip-drill interception with under two minutes to go.

“I think it was a little bit of luck in the moment,” Haala said. “But I found myself in the right spot and somehow came away with it. That was pretty good. I think that’s what won us the game.”

Carson Uecker had 174 yards and a touchdown through the air for SEU, while Gavin Fischer had 11 attempts for 61 yards and a score on the ground. Cody Schultz had 13 carries for 52 yards and a score, while Talan Helget had six receptions for 141 yards and a touchdown while adding two rushes for 34 yards and a TD on the ground.

Defensively for SEU, Nick Tauer had 11 total tackles on the day, while Schultz had eight tackles and a sack. Wyatt Pollard had three tackles and a sack, and Haala had four tackles and an interception.

“I think we discussed having a lot of energy every game,” Haala said. “Because we struggle with that sometimes. But we just pushed it as hard as we could.”

The game featured plenty of offense from both teams, with SEU generating 335 yards and MCW gaining 306. Most of the Mavericks’ production came through the air, with the team racking up 294 yards passing on the arm of quarterback Maddex Faber, excluding one trick play where Lucas Larson threw the ball to Faber for 13 yards. Faber also had four touchdown passes, three to Jacob Wilmes, who had a dominant day receiving with 100 yards. Wilmes added 45 yards rushing and a touchdown on the ground, while Lucas Larson had six receptions for 94 yards. Cameron Kascht had the other receiving touchdown for MCW.

Wilmes led the MCW defense with nine tackles, while Pierce Rohman had seven tackles. Josh Roben totaled six tackles in the game.

“You get into the start of the game, and each team is looking for creases, openings that they can exploit,” MCW head coach Tom Elliott said. “They did a good job of it, we did a good job of it at times. They were just able to execute a few more times and get a few more points on the board. But it was a really good game between two teams that are evenly matched. You hate to lose a game like this, but somebody’s got to win, somebody’s got to lose. It was just a good game by both ball teams.”

SEU had the first chance to score in the game after a botched snap on a punt gave United the ball at MCW’s 20-yard line. Fischer was able to pund it in from 5 yards out, and Uecker converted on the 2-point conversion to make it 8-0. MCW responded on its very next offensive play, with a slant to Wilmes going 60 yards for a score, though the Mavericks failed to convert the 2-point try to keep the score at 8-6.

United put together a long drive on its next possession, marching 55 yards downfield, mostly on runs by Helget and Schultz, with Schultz finishing it off with a 2-yard touchdown run. Schultz tacked on another 2 points to make it a 16-6 game. MCW responded with another quick strike, this time from Faber to Kascht, to go 59 yards for a touchdown. This time Rohman got the 2 points to make it a 16-14 game.

Both teams turned it over on downs on their next possessions, but SEU fumbled the ball with under a minute to play in the first half to give MCW the ball at the United 25-yard line. Three plays later, Faber tossed a fade to Wilmes for a 10-yard touchdown, with Brenan Ringnell punching in the 2-point conversion to give MCW its first lead of the day, 22-16 right before the half.

“They were giving us the matchups we wanted, so we were able to hit some of those big plays,” SEU head coach Brent Kucera said. “But defensively we just had a lot of miscues. We had some blown coverages. We have to fix those things in coverage with the blown assignments.”

SEU came out sharp in the second half, going 64 yards in a drive that ended with a 9-yard end around by Helget to score and tie the game at 22. Schultz blasted through the line to sack Faber on fourth down in MCW’s first drive of the half, and the teams traded punts on the next two drives. SEU got back on track with a one-play, 67-yard touchdown on a post to Helget, who broke a tackle 30 yards downfield and outraced the rest of the defenders for the score and the lead. Schultz got the 2-point conversion, putting the pressure on MCW.

The Mavericks responded, driving 65 yards in five plays with a 25-yard pass to Larson and a 10-yard pass to Wilmes for the touchdown. Kane Sharp caught a tough fade in the back right corner of the end zone on the 2-point try to tie the game at 30.

SEU’s offense in the second half couldn’t be stopped, however, as United drove 64 yards to score again on a fourth-and-one quarterback sneak by Uecker to take the lead once more.

“Scheme-wise, not much changed,” Kucera said of the second-half offense. “It was just the guys, finally for the first time this year, they were behind and they had to dig deep to finish the game. That’s really what it was. It wasn’t anything with scheme, they just had to fight to finish the game. And they finally did it.”

The Mavericks looked like they were going to respond in kind, but SEU’s Kameron Kosak deflected a pass, which bounced around in the air a few times before falling into the waiting arms of Haala. SEU was able to get one first down, owing to a 7-yard keeper by Uecker and a quarterback sneak by Pollard, draining MCW’s timeouts and the remaining 1:56 on the clock for the win.

Uecker did sustain an injury on his 7-yard scamper but appeared to be walking under his own power after the game.

SEU (4-2, 3-2) travels to Windom Area on Friday. MCW (3-3, 2-3) hosts Springfield on Thursday.

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