Trending
The last time that a Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers football team beat Pipestone was 20 years ago in 2006 when they clipped the Arrows 26-7.
MVL's losing streak to Pipestone ended this past Friday night in a dominating fashion with a 20-0 road shutout for the Chargers' second straight win.
"It has been a while since we beat them there," Chargers head coach Jim Buboltz said. "That is a tough place to play -- it is a long ways away. I was really happy with our players again."
And it was a game that the Chargers totally dominated on both sides of the ball -- especially in the first half where MVL grabbed a 20-0 lead.
"We got a good drive together right away and Chase [Tweit] had a 6-yard touchdown run," Buboltz said. "Our offensive line really looked good -- Chase busted one big one -- and then in the second quarter we hit two touchdown passes. Blake Sexton just continues to have a huge season. He made a remarkable catch on his touchdown and just broke it for 67 yards."
Tweit finished with 92 yards rushing and his touchdown, while Sexton had four catches for 121 yards, which included a 67-yard TD reception.
Brecken Smith added a second Chargers touchdown on a 29-yard pass from quarterback Eli Schauland.
"He caught a pass in the corner of the end zone on a beautiful pass from Eli -- he went up and showed how talented he is," Buboltz said. "We have a couple of kids who can really bring the ball down."
But Buboltz said the story of the game was the Chargers defense.
Four times in the game the MVL defense forced the Arrows to turn the ball over on downs.
"I thought that our defensive game plan coming into the game was rock solid from having everything taken care of," Buboltz said. "And our players followed the game plan through."
Buboltz praised the play of both Nolan Henderson -- three quarterback sacks -- and Emanuel Edwards, who had big games at linebacker.
"That opened things up for our defensive ends -- Jamis Stewart got home a couple of times -- and what do you say about our pass defense with three interceptions," Buboltz said. "They are really coming around. That [20-14] win against Le Sueur-Henderson last week got us in the mindset of beating teams that have been beating us lately."
And one of the biggest plays by the Chargers defense came in the third quarter when the Arrows had the ball first-and-goal at the MVL 3-yard line.
The Chargers defense kept them out of the end zone and forced them to again turn the ball over on downs.
"That was the statement of the night," Buboltz said as Pipestone eventually ended up on the 15-yard line where their drive stalled. "They had 12 yards of lost yardage -- our guys were talking about not just winning the game, but they did not want them in the end zone. We have not put our foot down like that for a couple of years.
"Again we came off of the bus again and they are grabbing a hold of that we need to be ready to go from the get-go and again they were. These are lessons for young kids who have struggled to put Ws on the board and now the are seeing the Ws come and they are recognizing how and why it is happening."
Buboltz said that the win was big for the Chargers' confidence.
"There were some MVL alumni there and they were excited and confidence builds confidence," he said.
The Chargers travel to Windom next Friday.
TURNOVERS, SPECIAL TEAMS LEAD TO 4-POINT LOSS FOR EAGLES
New Ulm High School head football coach Derek Lieser felt that his team came our a little bit flat in the first half of their road game at Albert Lea this past Saturday afternoon in a close 26-22 loss to the Tigers.
"We spotted them a 13-0 lead early in the second quarter and then we got a score on offense to cut it to 13-7, but then we gave a touchdown on the kickoff for a touchdown," Lieser said. "We did cut it to 10 points on a safety and then we got a big pass 78-yard play from Owen Castleman to Eli Zobel for a touchdown to cut the lead to three points.
"But then we had too many self-inflicted mistakes. We fumbled at our own 10-yard line -- we had three turnovers on the day -- and had a kick return for a touchdown. It is hard to win when you make those critical mistakes. The things that we did well against Fairmont last week we struggled with [Saturday]. We did not put our best foot forward."
Lieser said that the Eagles still had their chances late in the game to pull off a win.
"But we threw an interception late in the fourth quarter when we had a chance to win the game, so we had a chance," he said. "It is good to know that even if you do not play your best football that you still have a chance to win.
"But it hurts to know that if we would have taken care of a couple of those mistakes that were self-inflicted that we may be on the other end of the scoreboard."
Lieser said that the Eagles were not able to establish the run like they had hoped and he wishes his team had a few more takeaways.
"We wanted a couple more turnovers on the defensive side that we couldn't get, but we had some bright spots on Saturday."
The Eagles host Belle Plaine for Homecoming on Friday.