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TRACY — The No. 5 Sleepy Eye United football team is returning to the section semifinals after upsetting No. 4 Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 28-12 through a defensively competitive game in the Section 3A quarterfinals Tuesday night. Keeyan Netzke led with two touchdowns and a game-high 127 rushing yards.

“I’m proud of the guys,” SEU head coach Brent Kucera said. “We started the season really poor, and they’re fighting back in a three-game win streak. They’re playing with heart, and they’re playing with passion. That’s what we got going for us right now.”

SEU built a 20-6 halftime deficit, and ultimately held off TMB from finding an answer for a comeback with defensive pressure. Along with Netzke’s scores, Tyler Mathiowetz had a kick-return touchdown in the first quarter and Gavin Fischer had a touchdown in the second.

Photo by Samantha Davis Sleepy Eye United’s Merrick Mathiowetz rushes down the field in the second half against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Tuesday night in the Section 3A quarterfinals. SEU defeated the Panthers 28-12 and advance to the section semifinals.

“That’s just the way football goes. They played better than us overall today, and we just struggled in the first half. We got on the board first, then to give them that kick return, and that was such a momentum swing. We just didn’t react to that very well,” TMB head coach Ryan Kruse said. “I thought we came out and played a heck of a second half. We just had some plays that didn’t go our way when we had chances to really get back in it.”

Aiden Sanow led TMB’s offense in the first half, as Jackson Kruse took over as quarterback in the second. Sanow finished with six passes on 13 attempts for 105 passing yards, and Kruse followed with 74 yards on five passes of 14 attempts.

Brayden Heiderscheidt led the helm for SEU, with 36 passing yards on three complete passes of five attempts.

Overall, David Schuh and Sanow led the Panthers with 41 and 49 rushing yards, respectively. Griffin Zick led the receiving end with 71 yards on four catches. SEU’s Carson Uecker had 29 receiving yards on a pair of catches.

TMB received to start the night, scoring on its first drive less than three minutes into the opening quarter.

Sanow made a pass to Ty Yackley to bring the Panthers into SEU territory on the 34-yard line, and continued to march down the field until breaking through into the red zone on the 15-yard line.

On third down, Sanow kept the ball and carried into the end zone for a 15-yard rushing touchdown to put TMB on the board first. The Panthers failed on their 2-point play attempt.

Yet, only seconds passed before SEU immediately tied the game up, 6-6, with a Mathiowetz punt return touchdown, sprinting the length of the field up the left side. Sleepy Eye also did not convert its 2-point attempt.

“That’s always nice getting a special-team’s touchdown,” Kucera said. “That was a big energy boost.”

Sanow and David Schuh had carries on TMB’s next drive, but SEU’s defense came up big forcing a turnover on downs to pick the ball up on their own 47-yard line.

Netzke was the go-to player on SEU’s drive, who made four consecutive carries to eventually put Sleepy Eye on TMB’s 9-yard line.

An unsportsmanlike penalty was called on the Panthers to bring SEU to the 5-yard, and Netzke rushed on the next play on fourth down, along with a successful 2-point play, to put SEU ahead 14-6 with 33 seconds to go in the first.

“The way they were playing us, it was just hard to get the running game going the way they lined up on defense,” coach Kruse said. “So, we just had to go early to the passing game. There was times that worked, and then later on, we just were getting too much pressure to make some throws.”

Defensively, Ari Krzmarzick led with seven tackles along with a sack for SEU. Merrick Mathiowetz and Netzke followed with five tackles each. For TMB, Zick and Talon Brinkley both had a game-high 10 tackles, while Schuh had another seven.

TMB and SEU fed off one another defensively for a large portion of the second quarter, both teams forcing a string of turnovers on downs. SEU’s Nick Tauer and TMB’s Talon Brinkley also each had a sack in the quarter.

Yet, SEU brought in one more touchdown as the half came to a close in the final minute following a long catch by Netzke onto TMB’s 13-yard line.

An 8-yard Jacob Fulmer carry brought SEU to the 5-yard line, as Fischer caught Heiderscheidt’s pass on the next play in the right corner of the end zone for the 20-6 halftime edge.

The third quarter was scoreless, but again defensively competitive on both sides. SEU’s Elijah Hoffman had a fumble recovery, and TMB’s Emery Xiong also had an interception.

SEU made it a point to limit Schuh’s looks throughout the night, TMB’s leading rusher.

“We couldn’t get him [Schuh] out of the backfield very often, and then we finally in the second half. We had hit a couple throws, and then we got him a nice carry or two,” coach Kruse said. “The way they [SEU] were playing it, we just didn’t adjust very well.”

Yet, TMB and SEU continued to slow one another down on the offensive end until Connor Lanoue and Kruse connected for a long pass to get on SEU’s 35-yard line.

A 23-yard gain by Schuh and another Kruse carry set up Griffin Zick’s 13-yard receiving touchdown with 39 seconds in the third to go, cutting into a 20-12 deficit.

Sleepy Eye put the dagger on its win toward the end of the fourth, prevailing through TMB’s late push, with Netzke’s second touchdown of the night with three minutes to go on a 6-yard carry into the end zone for a 28-12 lead, becoming the final score.

“He [Netzke] is the heart and soul at offense,” Kucera said. “He brings energy to the team. He got a little dinged up, but he came back. He’s got a big heart and he plays hard.”

As the seconds wound down, the crowd broke out in “SEU” chants, feeling the semifinal energy.

The Panthers and SEU met once over the regular season on Sept. 19 in Tracy, where TMB came away with a 42-26 win, behind four touchdowns from Schuh and a second-half surge.

“We just told the guys, ‘It’s on you. You have to want it more and just push them back and fight in the end zone,'” Kucera said.

Both TMB and SEU entered the playoffs winning their final two regular season games. The Panthers evened up their record to 4-4 with wins over Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg and BOLD, while Sleepy Eye also ended on a strong note after defeating MACCRAY and Hayfield, coming to a 3-5 record.

In last year’s section tournament, TMB was eliminated by Murray County Central in the quarterfinals and finished the season 3-6 overall. SEU advanced to the semifinals after defeating Martin County West 9-8 in the quarterfinals, but fell to the eventual section champions in top-seeded Springfield and finished its season 6-4 overall.

Sleepy Eye will next face No. 1 Springfield in a rematch on Saturday at 3 p.m. on their field in the section semifinals, who earned a bye as the top seed.

“We want Springfield. We want to play them again, we love playing them,” Kucera said. “All the pressure is on them, all the risk is on Springfield. We’re going to come at it with everything we got.”