PREP FOOTBALL ROUNDUP: Wildcats rally for thrilling 28-27 win over RCW

BREWSTER — In a well-played high school football game Wednesday night — which featured several lead changes and exciting moments — the Southwestern United Wildcats won for the second time this season, claiming a thrilling come-from-behind, 28-27, victory over Renville County West in Southern Confederacy Conference 9-man action.

The Wildcats (2-6) scored the decisive touchdown and two-point conversion with nine minutes and 29 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

SWU senior running back Kurt Schmitz — who scored all 28 of the Wildcats’ points (four touchdowns and a pair of two-point conversion runs) — followed the lead blocks of sophomore guard Austin Milbrath and senior fullback (lead blocker) Eric Haberman into the end zone on a sweep to the left on both the TD run and game-winning conversion.

A fumble recovery by SWU’s Erik Jass after a high snap by RCW set up the Wildcats’ final scoring opportunity inside the Jaguars’ 10-yard stripe.

A long punt by SWU’s Matt Soto had pinned RCW deep in its own territory before the fumble changed the complexion of the game.

Prior to that play, the Jaguars (0-8) had their share of shining moments, including a 20-yard touchdown pass from Hayden Johnson to Mitch Treml for the game’s first touchdown, a 26-yard fumble recovery TD return by Treml in the third quarter and an amazing 86-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Colin Thompson late in the third period.

RCW also put together a sustained touchdown drive in the second quarter to earn a 15-14 lead at halftime.

Schmitz carried the ball 42 times and accumulated 185 yards rushing, leading an effective ground game for the Wildcats who scored in every quarter.

Schmitz scored on a four-yard surge in the first quarter and added the two-point conversion run, giving the Wildcats an 8-7 lead.

After the Jass twins —Justin and Erik — connected on a 37-yard pass play, Schmitz bulled into the end zone for his second TD and SWU had a 14-8 lead.

Treml’s third-quarter touchdown — after the Wildcats fumbled on a fourth-and-one rushing attempt from their own 28-yard line — lifted RCW to a 21-14 advantage.

The Wildcats responded with a well-executed, time-consuming march, capped by Schmitz’s third TD run of the night.

But, Thompson — who, like Johnson, is just a freshman — ignited the Jaguars with a tackle-breaking touchdown dash on the ensuing kickoff and the visitors owned a 27-20 lead with 1:01 left in the third quarter.

After a couple of possession exchanges, Soto launched his long punt and two plays later Erik Jass (two catches for 48 yards) pounced on the loose football after Johnson was unable to control the high snap.

Following Schmitz’s final eight points, the SWU defense held solid and the Wildcats ran out the clock with their ball control offense.

Justin Jass (seven carries for 30 yards) and Soto (three rushes for 25 yards) also contributed to SWU’s 254 yards of rushing on the night.

Defensively, Justin Jass had a team-high 10 tackles, while Haberman and Schmitz each came up with nine and Erik Jass had six.

After playing 9-man all season, the Wildcats will play in the Section 3A 11-man playoffs, beginning Tuesday.

RCW 7 8 12 0 — 27

SWU 8 6 6 8 — 28

JCC 31, Windom 20

WINDOM —Sophomore running back Paden Moore carried the football 14 times for 149 yards, including touchdown runs of 20, one, two and 28 yards to lead Jackson County Central to a 31-6 lead on the host Windom Eagles in a Southwest Conference rivalry battle.

Windom, which scored its first touchdown of the season at Island Park in the second quarter, crossed the goal line two more times in the fourth quarter, slicing the final margin to just 11 points.

The Huskies (6-2, 4-2) racked up a total of 390 yards of offense and held the Eagles (0-8, 0-6) to 157 yards.

Keegan Moore, a freshman, rushed nine times for 68 yards and sophomore Zach Holm gained 65 yards on 14 carries.

Tanner Menke completed 10 of 15 passes for 113 yards with Shadrach Wacker catching four of those for 44 yards and Taylor Christopher coming up with three receptions for 33 yards.

Darnell Taylor-Breck, Mitchell Macek and Ryan Timko each intercepted a pass for the Huskies, who finished third in final SWC standings.

JCC opened the scoring when Paden Moore’s 20-yard scamper capped a 14-play, 77-yard drive in the first quarter. Moore, who scored 28 points in the game, also rushed for the two-point conversion.

The Huskies extended the lead to 16-0 in the second quarter when Paden Moore’s one-yard plunge completed a seven-play, 65-yard drive and brother Keegan surged across for the two-pointer.

The Eagles, who rushed 42 times for 103 yards, answered with a short-field 15-yard drive — five plays — following a fumble recovery by Andrew Larson.

Brandon Thongvivong, who intercepted a pass and rushed 11 times for 73 yards, scored the touchdown on a four-yard run.

In the third quarter, Paden Moore’s two-yard TD put the finishing touches on a six-play, 84-yard JCC drive and Christopher kicked the point after.

Following a fumble by the Eagles, Paden Moore scored his fourth touchdown — from two yards out — completing a 28-yard drive and then crossed the goal line for a sixth time with his second two-point conversion run of the game.

Windom quarterback Collin Lovell (four-of-eight passing for 54 yards) capped a four-play, 20-yard touchdown drive for the Eagles with a five-yard TD run and then passed to Thongvivong for the two-point conversion.

With 22 seconds left in the game, Windom’s Devin Nielsen, an outstanding all-around freshman athlete, scooped up a JCC fumble and returned the ball 25 yards for a touchdown, completing the game’s scoring.

Both teams will play in the Section 3AA playoffs Tuesday.

JCC 8 8 7 8 — 31

Windom 0 6 0 14 — 20

MLA 35, Fulda 6

FULDA — A 60-yard touchdown run by Trevor Ruesch gave the host Fulda Raiders an early lead on Mountain Lake Area in a Southern Conferacy Conference 9-man clash, but the Wolverines responded with 35 unanswered points — including 22 in the second period — and came up with a clutch goal-line stand in the third quarter.

Finishing its regular season with a 6-2 record, MLA churned out 291 yards on the ground (63 carries) and completed five passes (16 throws) for 67 yards, while picking up 19 first downs.

Fulda rushed for 36 times for 189 yards and gained 23 yards passing, but the Raiders lost six turnovers in the game — three on fumbles and three on interceptions.

Zach Holt had a huge game for the Raiders with a team-leading 16 tackles, while also carrying the ball 13 times for 98 yards, including a 72-yard burst in the third quarter before being tackled at the MLA two-yard line.

The Wolverines, however, kept the Raiders from scoring and continued to sustain drives of their own to stay in control of the contest.

Ryan Klassen had 95 yards rushing on 11 carries for the Wolverines, while Kirk netted 54 yards on 18 rushes.

Kirk scored three touchdowns and Andrew Hempeck crossed the goal line twice for six-pointers as the Wolverines sustained five scoring drives in the contest, capping two of them with two-point conversions —one on a pass from Kirk to Josiah Stoesz and another on a run by Kirk.

Ruesch gained 82 yards rushing on eight carries for Fulda and recovered a fumble.

Jared Smith also had a key fumble recovery for the Raiders (2-6), while John Getting and Joey Voss were in on eight and seven tackles, respectively.

Fulda will play Westbrook-Walnut Grove Tuesday night at Westbrook in the first round of the Section 3 9-man playoffs.

MLA 0 22 6 7 — 35

Fulda 6 0 0 0 — 6

Melrose 39, RRC 6

MELROSE — Red Rock Central traveled north to central Minnesota and tangled with the Class AAA Melrose Dutchmen in a non-conference clash.

The Falcons (4-4) scored their lone touchdown in the second quarter on a 78-yard screen pass from Brady Bierl to Jordan Schroepfer and trailed just 7-6.

But the Dutchmen (5-3) scored the next 32 points and kept the Falcons out of the end zone, limiting RRC to just 61 yards rushing in the game.

Bierl completed nine of 16 passes for 114 yards and Thomas Blomgren was 3-of-5 for 44 yards, as RRC gained 158 yard through the air.

Mitchell Schroepfer had three catches for a dozen yards and Tanner Pederson (20 yards), Jesse Rogotzke (18 yards) and Jeff DeCock (10 yards) each had a pair of receptions.

RRC 0 6 0 0 — 6

Melrose 7 13 13 6 — 39

Adrian 27, R-T-R 8

ADRIAN — After trailing 8-7 at halftime, the Adrian Dragons scored 20 unanswered points in the third quarter to defeat Russell-Tyler-Ruthton Wednesday.

Adrian’s Jake Tiede (2 TDs, 135 yards) broke a scoreless tie with 1:36 left in the first quarter, running in a touchdown from two yards out to put the Dragons up 7-0 (PAT good). R-T-R answered back to make it 8-7 at halftime.

The Dragons made it 15-8 early in the third quarter on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Logan Rogers to Adam Garms (2-point conversion good). Adrian scored again on a 20-yard touchdown run by Jordan Dingmann (21 carries, 105 yards) to put the Dragons up 21-8.

Adrian scored its final touchdown on a three-yard run by Tiede to seal the win.

Nate Loosbrock had two catches for 49 yards for the Dragons. Adrian put up a total of 360 yards of offense on the R-T-R defense.

With the win, Adrian earned a share of the Little Sioux Conference title.

The Dragons will most likely play Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman in the first round of the Section 3A tournament Tuesday.

R-T-R 8 0 0 0 — 8

Adrian 7 0 20 0 — 27

E/E 64, Cleveland 6

EDGERTON — Blake Jouwstra racked up 173 yards on the ground on 12 carries, including three touchdowns, in a strong win for the Edgerton/Ellsworth Flying Dutchmen over Cleveland Wednesday.

The Dutchmen put up 36 points in the first quarter then added 22 more in the second to take a 58-0 lead into halftime.

E/E only picked up six more points the rest of the game, all six coming in the third quarter.

Austin LaFollette carried the ball four times for 80 yards and two rushing touchdowns for the Dutchmen. Tyler Kurrasch had six carries for 36 yards and a touchdown.

LaFollette also caught a touchdown pass from Isaac Heard (8 for 14, 110 yards, 2 TDs) in the game.

The Dutchmen defense was led by Kurrasch, who had eight tackles in the game. Derek Voge was second on the team in tackles with seven and also had a sack.

Cleveland 0 0 0 6 — 6

E/E 36 22 6 0 — 64

H-BC 42, W-WG 0

HILLS — Dalton Bass rushed for 270 yards for the Hills-Beaver Creek Patriots in a shutout win over the Westbrook-Walnut Grove Chargers Wednesday.

The Patriots opened up the scoring in the first quarter with eight points, then scored six more in the next frame to take a 14-0 lead into the locker room.

H-BC broke the game open in the third quarter with 20 straight points to secure the win. The Patriots added an extra eight points in the fourth quarter to take the 42-0 victory.

Tate Bork was second on the team with 91 yards rushing on 15 carries and one touchdown for the Patriots.

Dylan Gehrke was seven for 10 passing for 110 yards and two touchdowns for H-BC. Both touchdown passes were to Jeff Sandbulte, who had four catches for 86 yards. Justin Kerkhove-Brandt had two catches for 32 yards on the night.

On defense, Sandbulte had one interception, while Zach Wagenaar and Jeff Nelson both had six sacks for H-BC. Jacob Conger added four tackles and a sack for the Patriots.

Chargers 0 0 0 0 — 0

Patriots 8 6 20 8 — 42

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