Local Sports

SEU holds of MCC, advances to section championship

SLEEPY EYE - Third-seeded Murray County Central gave second-seeded Sleepy Eye United a third-quarter scare on Halloween day with two unanswered touchdowns, but United was able to pull out two unanswered touchdowns of its own in the fourth quarter to take a 28-21 win in the Section 3A Football Tournament semifinals.

“It means a lot to be able to play another week,” SEU’s Nick Tauer said. “We had a long break, I feel like that kind of slowed us down in the beginning, but we love this team and we got a win in the end.”

With the win, SEU (6-3) advances to play top-seeded Springfield Friday at 4:30 p.m. at Southwest Minnesota State University in the section championship game.

“It’s great for the kids to be able to experience this, to play in a section final,” SEU head coach Joe Hoffmann said. “We’re really excited for them. We’re looking forward to the challenge.”

Landry Folkens put together three total touchdowns for United in the game, completing five of five passes for 85 yards and two touchdowns and adding five rushes for 13 yards and another touchdown.

“Carson [Uecker] helped me out a ton just getting that little bit of separation,” Folkens said. “That’s really all we need. And then once we get going, it’s pretty good. It really means a lot to help out a team that I thought I really let down a couple of games where we lost. Just ended up coming back and helping out my team big here.”

Also for SEU, Uecker caught four passes for 69 yards and two touchdowns, while Keeyan Netzke had 16 rushes for 77 yards and a score. Merrick Mathiowetz added nine rushes for 70 yards. Defensively, Tauer had 14 total tackles, while Netzke had eight total tackles. Karter Haala had an interception.

Sleepy Eye went up 14-7 after the first half, getting a touchdown pass from Landry to Uecker and another on the ground by Folkens. But MCC wasn’t done yet, coming out of the half as Finn Schneider connected with Brayden Gib on a 23-yard pas to set up a 25-yard touchdown run by Lewis to tie the game at 14. The Rebels defense forced a three-and-out from SEU, and MCC put together a 11-play drive, with Lewis gashing the defense for several big runs and finishing off the drive with a 3-yard touchdown and a 21-25 lead with 1:33 to play in the third quarter.

“MCC has been playing hot,” Hoffmann said. “Their last loss was us. They won six games in a row, and they’re playing with a lot of confidence. They played extremely well today. It took us just to be gritty. It was all grit. They kept battling and they believed in each other. They found a way.”

SEU’s offense got back on track as the game rolled into the fourth quarter, with Fischer gaining 12 and Mathiowetz picking up 18 on a pair of runs to set up Folkens with a 14-yard pass to Uecker on a slant for a touchdown. However, SEU missed the extra point, meaning MCC still held a 21-20 lead. But the SEU defense stood tall after allowing two consecutive touchdowns, with Haala intercepting a pass to give the ball back to United at the MCC 47. From there, Netzke pieced up a first down on a pitch despite the ball hitting the grass, then ran in a touchdown from 9 yards out for the go-ahead touchdown, adding the 2-point conversion for a 28-21 lead with 4:13 to play.

“I think all of us just got more calm, and we focused on if we wanted to keep playing or just give up,” Folkens said. “We have a lot of seniors on this team that love the game and want to keep playing, and we knew we couldn’t give up.”

Needing a stop to win the game, the SEU defense took to the field again.

“Just do or die,” Tauer said. “Leave everything out on the field. For my fellow seniors, I don’t want to be done as much as they don’t want to be done. Leave it all out there.”

MCC picked up a couple of first downs before calling its first timeout with 2:27 to play, but Tauer had a tackle for loss on third down to force another MCC timeout with 2:15 on the clock. Facing a third-and-eight, MCC ran a trick play, with quarterback Schneider going out for a pass after a handoff. But Braylon Nelson tracked down Schneider and got the tackle to turn the Rebels over on downs.

“Just come back to the realization that it could be our last game,” Tauer said. “We all needed to be on the same page, and everybody does their job. Stick to it.”

Netsuke ripped off a 15-yard run to gain a first down and seal the victory for United.

“It means a lot,” Folkens said. “When we fell down, we got down, but we wanted to keep going. We wanted to keep fighting. Our whole season has led up to this. We started off rough with that first loss of the season, then we bounced back, ended up winning a lot in a row. Came through a stretch with a couple tough losses, but we ended the regular season with a win. We came into this thinking we could beat them, and that’s what we did.”