TRACY -- In a battle of two top-5 teams, it was the Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Panthers who came away with a 26-12 victory in a Little Sioux Conference football game Wednesday night.
T-M-B, which is ranked No. 5 in Class AA, finishes with an 8-0 record and the conference championship.
Minneota, which is rated No. 1 in Class A, finishes second with a 7-1 record.
Minneota's Sam Derynck (8-for-23 passing, 170 yards, two touchdowns, one interception) found Tony Noyes (four receptions, 92 yards) for a 22-yard touchdown strike in the first quarter as the Vikings had a 6-0 lead after the first quarter.
T-M-B then responded with four unanswered touchdowns to take a 26-6 lead.
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Brandon Kirk (14 rushes, 91 yards) scored on a 50-yard touchdown reception from Isaac Dolan (8-for-17 passing, 176 yards, two touchdowns, one interception) for the first score for the Panthers.
Dolan then had a 28-yard TD run, followed by a 16-yard run to paydirt as T-M-B opened up a 20-6 lead after three quarters.
Josh Hook caught a 44-yard touchdown pass from Dolan as the Panthers had a 20-point lead.
However, Minneota's Derynck and Noyes hooked up for a 43-yard touchdown pass, but it was too little, too late as T-M-B took the game and the conference crown.
The Panthers outgained the Vikings 410 to 289, including a 234-119 advantage on the ground.
Minneota 6 0 0 6 -- 12
T-M-B 0 14 6 6 -- 26
R-T-R 17, Fulda 14
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FULDA -- Taking a 14-10 lead into the fourth quarter, the Fulda Raiders (2-6) couldn't hold on as Russell-Tyler-Ruthton came from behind for a three-point victory Wednesday.
Ben Gehl caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Jalen Getting in the second quarter, and Andy Henning scored on a 10-yard run for the Raiders in the third quarter to give Fulda the lead.
Henning finished with 73 yards rushing on 16 carries, while Getting completed 12 passes for 106 yards and a touchdown.
Gehl was his favorite receiving, catching four passes for 42 yards.
Alex Olsem had 20 tackles to lead the Raiders, while Tyler Ruesch had an interception and Max Dibble had a fumble recovery. Fulda's Andy Buschena also blocked a punt in the game.
Fulda will enter postseason play Tuesday.
R-T-R 0 7 3 7 -- 17
Fulda 0 7 7 0 -- 14
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Southwest Conference Luverne 34, RV 0
REDWOOD FALLS -- Zach Olson had three touchdowns to lead the Cardinals to a shutout victory and a second consecutive Southwest Conference championship.
Olson had 57 yards rushing and had two touchdowns on the ground, and had a fumble recovery that he took 41 yards for a touchdown.
Phil Paquette had 102 yards rushing and a touchdown, while Ryan Hoff was 5-for-9 passing with 72 yards.
Brent Dinger led Luverne (7-1, 6-0) with 43 yards receiving.
In a game that featured nine turnovers between the two teams, Luverne had 320 total yards (228 rushing, 92 passing), while RV (4-4, 3-3) had a mere 56 total yards (37 rushing, 19 passing).
Luverne 0 14 20 0 -- 34
RV 0 0 0 0 -- 0
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Windom 8, PA 7
PIPESTONE -- Holding Pipestone Area scoreless for the final three quarters and sustaining a scoring drive of its own midway through the second quarter, Windom took the lead on the Arrows and held on for its first conference victory of the season.
With the Arrows (1-7, 0-6) backed up against the Eagle goal line early in the second quarter, Windom's Jake Holt and Mason Anderson combined for a safety, putting the visitors on the board.
Later in the period, Windom (2-6, 1-5) marched in for a touchdown, aided by a 22-yard pass from Ryan Gilbertson (7-for-14, 80 yards) to Holt.
Gilbertson capped the drive with a 5-yard scoring strike to Jared Peterson.
Billy Hochstein rushed 11 times for 29 yards for the Eagles, who were aided defensively in the second half by two key pass interceptions.
Curt Nagorske picked off one of those Arrow passes and Bremer Powers intercepted a screen pass to end another PA drive.
Neither team penetrated inside the opponent's 10-yard line the entire second half as the defenses prevailed.
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Windom 0 8 0 0 -- 8
PA 7 0 0 0 -- 7
