Chargers senior fullback Caleb Hunter led the way on the ground with 12 carries for 120 yards and two touchdowns.

“[The win] was great,” Hunter said. “A lot of the guys, we just came together this week and we’re ready to make a push into playoffs. The season didn’t go as good as we wanted, but no better time to make a push.”

Chargers sophomore quarterback Eli Schauland ran for 60 yards and two touchdowns on three carries and threw for a touchdown. Chase Tweit added 15 carries for 61 yards for the Chargers, now 1-7 to finish the regular season.

Chargers head coach Jim Buboltz commended his team’s turnaround in the second half after holding a narrow 12-6 lead at halftime.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Minnesota Valley Lutheran receiver Blake Sexton runs to the back of the end zone after hauling in an 18-yard TD grab during a prep football game with Sibley East Wednesday night in Arlington.

“[The team] really fed off of Caleb,” Buboltz said. “I thought Kyan Kube played defense in the middle and we shut down middle runs and got the balled turned over, and I thought our offensive line really took control of the game.

“But I think this is the best game I’ve seen my quarterback all year throwing the ball and running the ball, making great decisions and putting the ball where it needed to be.”

Schauland also completed 4 of 5 passes in the game, one being an 18-yard TD throw to the end zone to Blake Sexton for a 6-0 lead in the first quarter. Schauland made it a 12-0 game with 9:21 left in the second quarter on a keeper right that he took right for 21 yards.

Sibley East, now 0-8 on the year, answered following Schauland’s TD run when senior quarterback Samuel Renneke hit 6-3 receiver Aidan McCue in stride for a 22-yard TD pass.

MVL did fumble the ball away twice, one fumble coming on the Chargers’ first play of the second half, but the Chargers prevented those turnovers from turning into points for the Wolverines. MVL did have a takeaway of its own in the game when Pierson Brau intercepted a pass in the end zone to close out the first half.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Sibley East’s Trysten Enter runs the ball during Wednesday night’s game against Minnesota Valley Lutheran in Arlington. The Chargers ended up winning 32-6.

“This is a long time coming,” Buboltz said. “We were in the game with Lake Crystal, we were in the game with Pipestone. Obviously the record doesn’t necessarily show how we’re capable of playing. I thought that here at the end, especially to get the option going going the way that we got, that’s what will help us in the playoffs.”

Hunter didn’t just come up big for the Chargers on the ground, he also made a share of big plays for the defense. After the Chargers’ second-half fumble, he had a pass deflection on fourth down to force the Wolverines to turn the ball over on downs. That ended up allowing the Chargers to move down the field with runs, the final being a 2-yard TD run from Hunter, with the PAT kick from Micah Horak making it a 19-6 game late in the third.

Hunter finished with 11 tackles, one being a touchdown-saving tackle for a loss on fourth down when the Wolverines were a yard from scoring. That tackle allowed the Chargers to ultimately break off a 14-yard run for a first down by Wyatt Feucht and then kneel out the remaining clock.

“We kept everything in front,” Buboltz said of his team’s defense. “We told the D-backs to let nothing behind them. They completed some passes in front of our games, which we said were fine. But we were gonna bend, not break … because the touchdown came on a broken coverage when they got behind us. So we didn’t want that happening again.

“I’m just proud we took away their big plays, the counter and the veer to the fullback and I they set it up that way, and that’s what I thought between that defense and our offensive line, that was the difference for us.”

Early in the fourth quarter, Schauland took a run right to the outside, broke a tackle and turned it into a 39-yard TD run for a 25-6 lead.

The Wolverines countered that with a 29-yard completion to Trysten Enter to get into MVL territory. The Chargers’ defense came through after that, however, with a sack on third down by Ethan Johnson, set up by Calen Norrick’s pressure which forced Renneke to tuck the ball and try to run. An incomplete pass on fourth down then kept the Wolverines from doing any more damage.

Johnson finished the game with 10 tackles and two sacks, while Eric Sorensen added 11 tackles also for the MVL defense.

Following Sibley East’s turnover on downs, the Chargers got a 2-yard run from Tweit to set up a 49-yard TD run by Hunter to the right side for a 32-6 lead after Horak’s PAT kick.

“It’s just great scheming,” Hunter said. “We’ve got a great running back in Chase, so they want to tackle him and then our wideouts are good, too, so you’ve got to cover them. And Eli had a great run, so they had to look for him, too. Great blocks up front by Kyan and Calen Norrick and Nolan Henderson, they were just tearing it up.”

Sibley East and MVL await playoff seedings next week.