Photo by Samantha Davis Sleepy Eye United’s Merrick Mathiowetz (25) attempts to break through the defense on a rush in the second quarter against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Friday night in Tracy. 

By Samantha Davis

sports@nujournal.com

TRACY — The Sleepy Eye United football team suffered a 42-26 Mid-South District Conference loss to Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Friday night in Tracy behind a late push from the Panthers. The loss marks three straight for SEU.

SEU and TMB fought off one another through a majority of the first two quarters, on both ends of the field. But, the Panthers’ offense began to heat up toward the end of the second, and continued through the night, flustering SEU’s defense in finding stops.

TMB was led by junior quarterback Aiden Sanow, while SEU junior Brayden Heiderscheidt was at the helm.

Heiderscheidt had 12 complete passes on 19 attempts for 201 passing yards, with a pair of touchdown passes and one interception.

Tyler Mathiowetz had a team-high 103 receiving yards on two catches for two touchdowns. Merrick Mathiowetz led with 59 rushing yards on 13 carries, also for a pair of touchdowns.

Overall, TMB had 380 rushing yards to SEU’s 132.

Both TMB and SEU entered the night 1-2 on the early start to the season, looking to break a two-game losing streak.

Heiderscheidt, along with Tyler and Merrick Mathiowetz and Jacob Fulmer, were key contributors for SEU’s offense throughout the night.

Both TMB and SEU did not complete their first drives of the night, but the Panthers found the end zone on their second attempt along with a good 2-point play to earn an 8-0 lead with just under three minutes to go in the first quarter.

Sanow made a long pass to a running Griffin Zick to bring TMB to its 27-yard line. A pair of carries from David Schuh brought the Panthers into the red zone at the 11-yard line, and Jackson Kruse made a leaping catch over an SEU defender on the next play to complete the drive.

On the defensive end for SEU, David Suess and Tyler Mathiowetz led with seven and five tackles, respectively. Adam Steffensmeier followed with four.

Following the Panthers’ touchdown, a pair of Fulmer carries brought SEU to its 25-yard line, and another carry from Merrick Mathiowetz broke Sleepy Eye into the red zone at the 13-yard line as the first quarter came to a close.

Merrick Mathiowetz rushed again, to set up Keeyan Netzke for a run into the end zone for a touchdown off a 5-yard carry on the next play to get SEU on the board, down 8-6. The 2-point attempt was unsuccessful.

TMB added in two more touchdowns throughout the second quarter, beginning to pull away.

The Panthers marched down the field between a Schuh and Sanow carry, and a catch by Zick to get onto the 9-yard line.

On the next play, Schuh ran into the end zone for a 14-6 lead, with an unsuccessful 2-point attempt.

Schuh had four touchdowns for the Panthers.

Yet, SEU didn’t take much time to tie the game up with just over three minutes to go before halftime.

Heiderscheidt threw a strong 39-yard touchdown pass to find an open Tyler Mathiowetz in the end zone, along with a good 2-point play to tie the game up 14-14.

SEU’s Davin Suess recovered a TMB fumble on defense when the Panthers’ were 10 yards out from another potential touchdown, yet Zick returned the favor with an interception a minute later to give the Panthers the ball back.

Sanow eventually found Zick in the end zone with an 11-yard catch as the half came to a close, putting TMB up 20-14 at halftime.

Continuing its momentum, TMB interrupted a pass on fourth down in SEU’s opening second-half drive to begin taking control of the game.

A 30-yard carry from Schuh put the Panthers on the 14-yard line, as Zick carried for five yards to close in on the end zone.

Schuh finished off the drive with a 9-yard rush, along with a 2-point conversion to give TMB its 28-14 advantage with three minutes in the third to go.

A fourth-quarter pick-off from Schuh eventually led to another Panthers’ touchdown, ran in by Schuh on the 1-yard line, putting the dagger on TMB’s win.

SEU continued to fight, with Merrick Mathiowetz finding the end zone with 4:04 of game to go, but the deficit was eventually too much to fully overcome.

Schuh ended the night with a 61-yard rushing touchdown as the game was coming to a close, sprinting down the field past SEU’s entire defensive line and gave TMB the 42-20 lead.

The final touchdown of the night came from SEU’s Heiderscheidt finding Tyler Mathiowetz once again in the end zone, to cut into a 42-26 deficit with two minutes to go.

SEU (1-3) will next return home to host Mayer Lutheran (2-1) next Friday at 7 p.m. Its final home game of the season is slated for the following week on Oct. 3, when it hosts No. 2 Springfield before ending the regular season on a two-game road trip.