PREP FOOTBALL: Arrows defeat Panthers

PIPESTONE – The Pipestone Area Arrows held off a fourth-quarter rally by the Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Panthers Tuesday night to claim a 37-22 victory in the first round of the Section 3AA football playoffs.

The fourth-seeded Arrows, who led by a score of 22-6 after three quarters, saw the fifth-seeded Panthers score two TDs and two 2-point conversion to tie the contest at 22 early in the final quarter.

However, Jacob Derby sealed the victory for PA as his 10-yard pass to Eric Buffington broke the tie to give the Arrows a 30-22 lead following Derby’s successful conversion run with 7:26 left.

Derby then ran in a nine-yard score with 1:34 left and kicked the PAT to complete the contest’s scoring.

Derby completed 13 of 20 passes for 197 yards and two TDs in the win.

Following a safety by the PA defense in the first quarter, Alex Ossefoort scored the first offensive points for the Arrows on a five-yard run. Ossefoort finished with 104 rushing yards on 20 carries.

Following a T-M-B touchdown by Alec Swan in the second quarter that cut the PA lead to 8-6, Josh Mabon returned a punt 32 yards to pay dirt to give the hosts a 15-6 lead at the half.

The Arrows extended the lead to 22-6 in the third quarter when Derby found Buffington on a 20-yard pass for the first of their two TD connections in the game. Buffington caught seven passes for 105 yards in the game.

Touchdown runs by Josh Kirk and Alec Swan with successful 2-point conversions following each score helped the Panthers rally late to tie the game, before the Arrows sealed the win with their scores.

T-M-B finishes the season with a record of 4-5, while PA improves to 5-4.

The Arrows travel to play the Luverne Cardinals Saturday.

T-M-B 0 6 0 16 – 22

PA 8 7 7 15 – 37

Luverne 30, St. James 0

LUVERNE – Skyler Wenninger rushed for two touchdowns and passed for a score as the top-seeded Luverne Cardinals shutout the eighth-seeded St. James Saints in the opening round of the Section 3AA playoffs Tuesday night.

Wenninger rushed four times for 82 yards and completed four of his seven passes for 77 yards to lead Luverne with his TD pass going to Jonny Solma on a 16-yard connection.

Brett Heronimus (six rushes for 66 yards) also had a rushing TD for the Cardinals, who had 13 players rush the ball at least once and totaled 233 rushing yards on 35 attempts.

Luverne (8-1) limited St. James to 59 yards of offense, while totaling six sacks and two interceptions on defense.

Ryan Gonzalez, Josh Slieter, Nathan Kannas and Cody Rofshus each recorded a sack, while Matt Arends and Trenton Rops each hauled in a pick.

The Cardinals host the fourth-seeded Pipestone Area Arrows Saturday.

St. James 0 0 0 0 – 0

Luverne 14 16 0 0 – 30

Adrian 34, G-H-EC/T 6

ADRIAN – Jake Tiede rushed for 105 yards and three touchdowns to lead the No. 1 seed Adrian Dragons to a convincing win over the eighth-seeded Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman Jaguars in the opening round of the Section 3A playoffs Tuesday night.

Tiede, who gained his yards on 13 carries, opened the game’s scoring with a two-yard plunge and added the 2-point conversion to put the Dragons up 8-0 just over four minutes into the game.

Adrian quarterback Logan Rogers, who passed for 54 yards and rushed for 65 yards, extended the lead later in the first quarter with a 43-yard aerial to Nate Loosbrock (Tiede 2-point run) to make it 16-0.

Adrian (7-2), which did all of its scoring in the first half, received another pair of Tiede TD runs in the second quarter, while Cody Polzine scored on a 65-yard punt return to account for the other Dragon score.

The Jaguars (3-6) scored the only points of the second half when DaMarko Thomas (12 carries for 78 yards) scored on a 33-yard run early in the fourth quarter.

Jake Diekmann led the Dragon defense with 10 tackles.

Adrian hosts Murray County Central Saturday.

G-H-EC/T 0 0 0 6 – 6

Adrian 16 18 0 0 – 34

E/E 60, RCW 14

EDGERTON – The third-seeded Edgerton/Ellsworth Flying Dutchmen posted 46 first-quarter points, en route to a lopsided victory over the sixth-seeded Renville County West Jaguars in the first round of the Section 3 9-man playoffs Tuesday night.

Blake Jouwstra, who rushed for 107 yards on four carries, opened the scoring with a 73-yard run to pay dirt on the second play from scrimmage for E/E and later scored on 21-yard in the second quarter.

Isaac Heard completed seven of his 11 passes for 173 yards and two TDs with his scoring strikes going to Austin LaFollette (42 yards) and A.J Ciaburri (35 yards).

LaFollette added a TD run of 53 yards, while Tyler Kurrasch (one-yard), Jorge Lopez (22 yards) and Devin Hulstein (30 yards) each added a rushing score for the Flying Dutchmen.

Ciaburri and Hulstein each caught two of Heard’s passes for 58 and 20 receiving yards, respectively.

E/E totaled nearly 500 yards of offense with 306 rushing yards and 173 passing yards, while limiting RCW to 111 yards of total offense (30 rushing, 81 passing).

Jake Post, Lopez and Hulstein each intercepted a pass for the Flying Dutchmen defense, while Kris Hubner recorded a sack.

E/E (8-1) travels to Hills Saturday for a rematch with the second-seeded Hills-Beaver Creek Patriots. The Patriots defeated the Flying Dutchmen, 34-28, during Week 2 of the regular season.

RCW 0 0 0 14 – 14

E/E 46 14 0 0 – 60

MLA 49, MSAD 6

MOUNTAIN LAKE – Carter Kirk passed for four touchdowns to lead the second-seeded Mountain Lake Area Wolverines to an opening-round win over the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf in the Section 2 9-man playoffs Tuesday night.

Kirk, who opened the game’s scoring with a five-yard TD run, passed for 127 yards on a 7-for-12 completion percentage.

Josiah Stoesz hauled in a 14-yard catch for a TD to help the Wolverines extend their lead to 12-0 after one quarter.

All three of MLA’s second-quarter touchdowns came on passes from Kirk with Zach Pickens catching a pass for a 21-yard score and Andrew Hempeck catching two aerials for scores (46 yards and 12 yards).

Demar Rodney extended the Wolverine lead with an 88-yard kick return for a touchdown to start the second half, while the MLA defense added two points with a safety later in the third quarter and Ryan Klassen completed the Wolverine scoring with a one-yard rushing score.

Klassen led MLA with 54 rushing yards on six carries, while Caleb Bargen, who kicked three PATs in the game, rushed five times for 30 yards.

Hempeck totaled 80 yards from scrimmage (22 rushing, 58 receiving), while Levi Kass added 51 yards from scrimmage (19 rushing, 32 receiving) for the Wolverine offense.

Josh Grev led the MLA defense with eight tackles and a fumble recovery, while Jose Gonzalez intercepted a pass.

MLA (7-2) hosts third-seeded Cleveland Saturday.

MSAD 0 0 0 6 – 6

MLA 12 21 16 0 – 49

H-BC 82, Hancock 14

HILLS — Dalton Bass exploded for 197 rushing yards, three touchdowns as well as a 93-yard interception return for a touchdown in the Hills-Beaver Creek Patriots’ blowout victory over Hancock Tuesday in the opening round of the Section 3 9-man football playoffs.

The Patriots scored twice in the first quarter, but they also allowed Hancock to pick up a touchdown of its own to make it 14-6 at the end of the quarter.

H-BC opened up the game with 22 points in the second quarter to make it 36-6 going into halftime.

Thirty-eight points in the third quarter sealed the win for the Patriots, but H-BC still added another touchdown in the fourth to finish up the scoring. Hancock was able to get on the board again in the fourth, but it was not enough in the end.

Tate Bork had 10 carries for 111 yards for the Patriots, including a touchdown. Braden Ellingson carried the ball five times for 100 yards and two touchdowns.

Dylan Gehrke was seven for 14 passing with three touchdowns. Nathan Taubert caught one of Gehrke’s touchdown passes for 22 yards. Jeff Sandbulte had three catches for 52 yards and two touchdowns.

On defense, Bork, Taubert, Jeff Nelson and Jared Lingen all had QB sacks, while Zach Wagenaar and Dalton Klarenbeek led the team with seven tackles. Gehrke also picked off two passes, returning one for a 40-yard touchdown.

The Patriots move on to face the Edgerton/Ellsworth Flying Dutchmen in a rematch of their Week 2 game in which H-BC won 34-28.

Hancock 6 0 0 8 – 14

H-BC 14 22 38 8 – 82

Other Area Scores: Murray County Central defeated Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial, 46-41. The Rebels play at Adrian Saturday in the Section 3A semifinals.

Southwestern United lost to St. Clair in the Section 3A playoffs, 41-0. The Wildcats finished the year with a 2-7 record.

Wabasso defeated Red Rock Central, 38-28, in the Section 5A playoffs. The Falcons end the year with a 5-4 record.

Tags: mountain lake, hills-beaver creek, tracy-milroy-balaton, sports, prep, football, luverne, adrian, edgerton, ellsworth, pipestone