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Friday night in their game with the New Ulm Eagles, Belle Plaine took the opening drive of the game and used a 74-yard, 10-play scoring drive to take a fast 6-0 lead over the Eagles.
That ended up being their longest drive of the game until they went 13 plays late in the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter before turning the ball over on downs in a 14-12 New Ulm win.
And it was the Eagles defense that stopped a game-tying 2-point conversion with just over a minute to play in the game.
"We had some moments [early] when we let them get behind us in the back end," New Ulm head coach Derek Lieser said. "They have some players who are on the track team who are very fast athletes, so we had to adjust to that speed. We gave one up deep (41 yards) late, but I felt that our defense did a really good job settling in and we held an explosive offense to a pretty minimal offensive game -- we found our niche on defense."
Another key to the Eagles' third win of the season happened to start the second half with New Ulm holding a 14-6 lead at halftime and getting the opening second-half kickoff.
The Eagles took the ball and marched 12 plays and ate up clock time before turning the ball over.
New Ulm's defense held the Tigers to a three-and-out and then took over and used 13 plays before turning the ball over on downs deep in Belle Plaine territory. While the Eagles did not score, they kept the ball out of the hands of the Tigers, who ran just six offensive plays in the third quarter compared to New Ulm's 25.
"That was something that we really talked about as coaches is when you face a good offense one of the best ways you can mitigate that is to have sustained drives and keep the ball out of your opponent's hands," Lieser said. "We know that if we want to become a better football team we have to cash in on those opportunities when we get into the red zone -- we had two or three of them [Friday] where we turned the ball over or had a penalty. We left some points on the table. But our offense did a nice job of keeping the ball out of their hands."
BROSTE STEPS UP
Lieser said that last season, Jayden Broste was a junior making his first varsity appearance and gave up some big plays here or there as a cornerback.
But Lieser said that this year Broste has been phenomenal.
Friday night Broste intercepted Belle Plaine quarterback Reed Creighton three times, including the game-clincher.
"He has been lights out and he is really locked in and he was a player who got a lot of consideration for one of our captains," Lieser said. "He has taken a lot of steps in his maturity and growth. He has been a lights out cornerback for us and he has been a big part of why our defense has taken a big step in limiting big plays. His growth has been one of the more impressive on our team."
The Eagles, 3-1 on the year, are at Worthington Friday.
CHARGERS ON A ROLL
The Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers won their third straight game with a commanding 35-0 win over Windom Friday.
MVL led by that 35-0 score at halftime.
"Our guys really played well again," Chargers head football coach Jim Buboltz said as MVL also recorded their second straight shutout. "We got it going again and it was mainly on the ground -- we were able to pass the ball when we needed to -- our offensive line was opening up some really big holes."
Ben Riesgraf led the MVL ground game with seven carries for
169 yards and three touchdowns , with Chase Tweit carrying the ball nine times for 70 yards.
While the offense rolled, the Chargers defense was again rock solid.
"I cannot say enough about what they are doing," Buboltz said. "Our two linebackers, Emmanuel Edwards and Nolan Henderson, are creating havoc all over the place and Gavin Pribbenow really had a game Friday. The schemes are coming together and the players are buying into the system and it is showing up."
Buboltz said that even leading 35-0 at halftime, the intensity was there defensively.
"Our defense wanted to get [the shutout] to eight quarters and they have shut out teams in 11 of the last 12 quarters," Buboltz said. "We have only given up one touchdown on the defensive side in our last three games."
The Chargers host Jackson County Central next Friday.