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Eagles bounce back for Homecoming thriller

By Ari Selvey 4 min read

NEW ULM -- With just 1:13 to play in New Ulm's Homecoming football game against Belle Plaine on Friday, the Eagles defense suffered a blow, allowing a 40-yard touchdown from quarterback Reed Creighton to wideout Evan Cahalan to cut the New Ulm lead to 14-12.

But just as they had done throughout the night, the Eagles bounced back the very next play, with Jayden Broste intercepting the 2-point conversion to maintain the lead.

An onside kick recovery and two kneel-downs later and New Ulm was able to celebrate its Homecoming victory.

"It feels amazing," Broste said. "Especially senior year, couldn't ask for anything better."

Broste had two other interceptions on the day, playing a big part in allowing just 12 points to Creighton, who is drawing interest from schools like North Dakota State University, South Dakota State University and South Dakota University, and the rest of the Belle Plaine offense.

"It was for my team," Broste said. "They trust me in guarding these good receivers out here, and I just had to execute."

New Ulm head coach Derek Lieser said there was a lot of excitement to go around.

"The guys were really excited about this win," he said. "Belle Plaine is a phenomenal team, they're well coached, well prepared, and tonight was a testament to our kids playing each play. Not focusing on the previous play or the next one, just trying to go 1-0 each play. There were a couple of moments where a bad play happened, and I thought our kids did a fantastic job, best we've done all season, of moving on to the next play.

"Had a turnover on a reverse called, our kids responded. Gave up a touchdown on third and long, our kids got the stop on the 2-point conversion. The kids were really resilient tonight and I was really proud of their effort for 40 minutes."

Owen Castleman had one passing touchdown to Jeffery Kral, while George Gag had a rushing touchdown for New Ulm. Defensively. Parker Ranweiler had 2.5 sacks, with Tanner Backer adding half a sack.

Belle Plaine scored on its opening drive of the game, with Creighton connecting with Caleb Smith for a 4-yard touchdown. New Ulm responded on its opening drive as a scrambling Owen Castleman found Kral for a 21-yard touchdown to tie the game at 6. From that point on, defenses took over as the teams traded punts. Broste got his first interception on Belle Plaine's next drive, returning it 31 yards to the Tigers 46-yard line. With the short field, New Ulm was able to score again, taking big runs from Kral and Ranweiler to set up a 4-yard touchdown run by Gag. Owen Castleman connected with Miles Castleman to put the Eagles up 14-6. The teams traded punts again before the half expired.

New Ulm was able to get into the red zone on its first second-half drive, but an interception ended the threat. The defense forced a three-and-out, and once again New Ulm got deep into Tigers territory. However, a missed field goal meant the Eagles came up empty once again. But the New Ulm defense continued to hold strong, turning Belle Plaine over on downs.

"I thought our kids really prepared at a high level, and I think that helped our kids be successful tonight," Lieser said. "Football is such a high-level game of preparation and work throughout the week, and I thought our kids did a really good job of locking in after a tough loss last week [26-20 to Albert Lea] … I was really excited to see how our kids responded tonight and I was proud of their efforts."

New Ulm's next drive again ended with a red zone turnover as Belle Plaine disrupted a reverse play and returned the fumble to New Ulm's 24-yard line. But Broste got the ball right back with his second interception of the game with just 2:40 to play in the game. New Ulm drained three Belle Plaine timeouts, but were unable to get a first down in three tries as the Eagles punted it away with 2:17 on the clock. Creighton and the Tigers offense were able to gain a few first downs through the air before Creighton connected with Cahalan on a 40-yard post for a touchdown. But Broste all but ended the game with his 2-point-conversion-stopping interception as New Ulm took home the win.

"We talk about it all the time," Broste said. "One play at a time. Win the rep that you're playing right now, and that's what we did all game and that's why we won."

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