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United rumbles to victory over section-champ Rebels

By Ari Selvey 5 min read

SLEEPY EYE -- Sleepy Eye United powered its way to 286 total rushing yards as United defeated the reigning section champion in Murray County Central 48-28 in a Mid-South District, Purple Subdistrict football game on Friday at Sleepy Eye St. Mary's High School.

"It was really good," SEU's Keeyan Netzke said. "Last year we lost to them, and it wasn't a good defeat. We lost at their field and didn't feel good at all. Kind of left something in our hearts. It was really good that we could come out with a win."

With the St. Mary's homecoming win, SEU improves to 3-1 on the season and will host Tracy-Milroy-Balaton next Friday at Sleepy Eye High School.

"It's a big win for us," SEU head coach Joe Hoffmann said. "They're a quality team. They are a defending section champ. They started the season against the season against two state-ranked teams, so we knew it was going to be a battle coming in. We knew it was going to be a tough, physical game, and they're similar to us -- they want to run the ball and be physical and they get off the line of scrimmage fast."

Netzke led the SEU rushing attack, taking 17 carries for 193 yards and two touchdowns.

"Really it's just our o-line really setting the zone," Netzke said. "They just set the zone for the game, they put pressure on the defense, weaken the defense, and then we get runs going. It's good for both sides of the ball."

Also for SEU, Merrick Mathiowetz had six total touches on offense but finished the day with three touchdowns.

"It feels good," Mathiowetz said. "I don't usually get the ball that much, but when I do I try to make the most of it."

Mathiowetz had five carries for 46 yards and a score, one reception for 36 yards and a TD and a kickoff return for a touchdown. Gavin Fisher added five carries for 43 yards and a touchdown.

"The kids are really buying in," Hoffmann said. "That's our identity, and they're taking ownership of that. The o-line is blocking awesome, the running backs are finishing their runs, and they're really taking ownership of that power run game."

Landry Folkens completed two passes for 52 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Defensively for SEU, Nick Tauer had 17 total tackles with a sack and a TFL, while Jony Flores had seven tackles and an interception. Netzke had nine tackles, one for loss, and Braylon Nelson had 10 total tackles.

Mathiowetz's first explosive came on the first play of the game as he returned the opening kickoff 82 yards for a score after a fake handoff to Carson Uecker and a 6-0 lead.

"It's nice to start the game off like that because it just builds momentum for the rest of the game," Mathiowetz said. "Shout-out to Carson, he had a nice fake there that left me wide open."

The team exchanged turnovers on the next three drives before Mathiowetz's second touch of the game went 25 yards for another touchdown, with Netzke diving for the 2-point conversion and a 14-0 lead. MCC scored on its next drive to cut the lead to 14-7, but the SEU offense was in full effect, as Netzke had runs of 10 and 35 to set up a 5-yard touchdown for himself and a 20-7 lead.

"It really just riles them up," Netzke said of his explosive runs. "You just get confidence every play, and you know these plays work. You just keep running the ball down their throat and you keep going."

MCC continued to hang around, however, scoring a kickoff return of its own to make it a 20-14 game with 3:34 to play. SEU still had time to score again, and after a 20-yard Netzke run, Folkens connected with Mathiowetz for his third score of the game, a 36-yard touchdown reception, then Folkens hit Uecker for 2 and a 28-14 lead before halftime.

The Rebels wouldn't go away, scoring on the opening drive of the second half to cut the lead to 28-21. SEU answered, with a 20-yard Mathiowetz and an 11-yard run from Fischer putting the ball at the 2-yard line. Folkens shed two separate waves of tacklers to punch in the touchdown and make it a 34-21 game. SEU stopped the back-and-forth scoring on the next drive as Flores intercepted a pass and returned it to the opposite 25-yard line.

"Getting that interception was huge," Hoffmann said. "That was our turning point in the game. It was back-and-forth, and we had problems trying to slow up our run game just like they had problems with ours. That was big to get that separation."

SEU capitalized with a 24-yard touchdown run from Fischer on the first play of the drive for a 41-21 lead.

MCC was able to score on its next drive to cut it to a 41-28 game, but needed a stop with just 4:18 to play. The Rebels couldn't even get one tackle as Netzke stiff-armed his way to a 62-yard touchdown run on the first play for a 48-28 advantage. MCC fumbled on the snap on its next drive, with JP Montemayor recovering as the game wound down with an SEU victory.

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