Leader | Sept 18 | 2013

Page 13

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F A L L

L E A D E R

S P O R T S

Tigers/from previous page

)UHGHULF V 3HWHU &KHQDO EXUVWV WKURXJK WKH :HEVWHU RIIHQVLYH OLQH IRU PRUH \DUGV RQ )ULGD\ 6HSW z 3KRWR E\ 0DUW\ 6HHJHU Webster went right back on top in their next possession, however, completing a 20-yard pass play and fumbling twice, but recovering the ball to continue marching GRZQĂ€HOG 'LHWPHLHU VFRUHG RQ D \DUG run with 1:48 remaining in the half, and led 29-14. “Aaron Dietmeier had the biggest game around here in a long time. Mason Kriegel had a big game like that against Unity back in 2010; otherwise, you have to go back to the running back that wore No. 21 before Aaron, Dan Pope, who had 200-plus-yard games on a regular basis, so it was a great night for Dietmeier,â€? Kroll said. 7KH 9LNLQJV GLGQ¡W JR TXLHWO\ LQWR WKH halftime break when, with 1:29 to go, Erickson ran the ball 18 yards into Tigers territory, and a 15-yard face-mask penalty put Frederic inside the 20. Two Webster penalties for going offside and a 3-yard WRXFKGRZQ JUDE E\ =DFK 6FKPLGW KHOSHG HQG WKH Ă€UVW KDOI ZLWK :HEVWHU OHDGLQJ 29-21. The start of the second half featured a Frederic kickoff, but an onside kick was UHFRYHUHG E\ WKH 9LNLQJV QHDU PLGĂ€HOG The momentum shift soon turned sour

for the Vikings when they lost a fumble on the next play, and Webster marched ULJKW EDFN GRZQĂ€HOG DQG DQ HYHQWXDO yard run by Alex Hopkins gave the Tigers a 36-21 lead. On the following kickoff, Poirier took WKH EDOO DFURVV PLGĂ€HOG DQG LQWR 7LJHU territory with 8:14 to play in the third; and moments later, Erickson took the ball 45 yards for the score to make it a 36-27 game. The Vikings were in good position to make it a one- or two-point game in the next series as Braden intercepted a Webster pass, but Frederic ended up turning the ball over on downs instead. With just over three minutes to play, the Vikings recovered another turnover on a Webster fumble, and eventually made it to inside the Tigers 12-yard line DV WLPH H[SLUHG LQ WKH WKLUG TXDUWHU 2Q WKH Ă€UVW SOD\ RI WKH IRXUWK TXDUWHU %UDGHQ scrambled 12 yards to the end zone to get the Vikings within three points, 36-33. But Webster marched on with Dietmeier scoring a 3-yard touchdown. “We basically found a play that worked and kept running it. Frederic sold out hard to plug up the middle, taking away our inside dives and traps, but that left

them a little thinner on their edges, so that’s where we had to stay all night. We worked hard this week to install some new wrinkles into our offense, but when Aaron was gaining so many yards on one play, we just stayed with it. I have to give a lot of credit to our backs and line for staying disciplined and pounding the football. This was our third game in a row with well over 300 yards rushing, which is pretty exceptional,â€? Kroll said. Despite another Webster touchdown, Braden completed a beauty to Ben Kurkowski for 37 yards, which helped set up an eventual 2-yard touchdown run by Braden, but the two-point conversion failed, leaving the score 42-39. ,Q WKH Ă€QDO HLJKW PLQXWHV WR SOD\ WKH Vikings were able to make two huge defensive stops on fourth down, including a sack for loss by Frederic defensive end Tim Lund. Despite the Vikings throwing an interception with 2:54 to play, they were able to get the ball back with 1:36 WR JR VWDUWLQJ QHDU PLGĂ€HOG EXW FRXOGQ¡W convert on a pair of passing plays and a VDFN E\ WKH 7LJHUV GHIHQVH 7KH Ă€QDO SOD\ of the game resulted in a Tigers interception.

$DURQ 'LHWPHLHU DQG $OH[ +RSNLQV JR XS IRU WKH LQWHUFHSWLRQ LQ WKH ILQDO SOD\ RI WKH JDPH DJDLQVW )UHGHULF WR ZLQ D FORVH RQH z 3KRWR E\ -RVK -RKQVRQ 0D[3UHSV “Defensively, we will learn a lot from WKLV Ă€OP 7KHUH ZHUH TXLWH D IHZ PRments where we played too high, and Frederic made us pay for it. They were hard runners and blocked well on the offensive line. Once we were blocked, we VWD\HG EORFNHG VR Ă€[LQJ WKDW ZLOO EH RQH of our focus points this week,â€? Kroll said. Along with a solid offensive game, Dietmeier led the Tigers with 10 tackles, followed by Max Norman, Ryan Curtis and Cliff Benjamin with six apiece, Shawn 6WHYHQV KDG +RSNLQV Ă€YH DQG 9LQQ\ Larson, four. For Frederic, Erickson had 153 yards on 14 carries, Chenal had 64 yards on 13 carries and Braden rushed for 38 yards on seven carries, and three touchdowns. Defensively, Chenal had 19 tackles, .XUNRZVNL 6DZ\HU 7HLW] DQG =DQH Matz each had nine, Eric Chenal, seven, and Erickson and Schmidt each had six, ZKLOH %UDGHQ KDG Ă€YH

Unity holds off Grantsburg comeback

down. Gaffney had 99 yards receiving and 59 rushing, leading the Pirates in both categories. Hale continued, “We had a couple of key missed opportunities on offense and 8QLW\ *UDQWVEXUJ RXU GHIHQVH QRW JHWWLQJ 8QLW\ RII WKH Ă€HOG LQ WKH Ă€UVW KDOI UHDOO\ GLG XV LQ :H¡OO JR E\ 6FRWW +RIIPDQ EDFN WR ZRUN 0RQGD\ WU\LQJ WR Ă€[ VRPH Leader staff writer things and get ready for a very good GRANTSBURG – The table was set for Webster team.â€? a great comeback win for the Grantsburg Defensively, Mason McEvers led the Pirates football team Friday, Sept. 13. Pirates with 15 total tackles, three tackles Grantsburg had the momentum, drivfor loss and a blocked extra point. Avery ing deep in Unity territory with under Buggert also had 15 total tackles. two minutes left on the clock. The Pirates 8QLW\ TXDUWHUEDFN =DF -RKQVRQ UXVKHG blur offense seemed to be taking its toll, for 103 yards on 22 carries with two wearing down the Eagle defense. The Pitouchdowns. He also completed six of 11 rates had just been in the end zone with passes for 117 yards with one interception a touchdown reception by Tony Britton, and two touchdowns. Dylan Ruck had 91 bringing them back to make it 34-30. An*UDQWVEXUJ V &KDVH &RYH\ 1R DQG 0DVRQ 0F(YHUV 1R FORVH LQ RQ 8QLW\ V :\DWW 6WHQ yards on 19 carries, and Tevin Anderson other touchdown would put them up EHUJ 1R OHG E\ 2OLYHU 5DERLQ 1R QHDU WKH *UDQWVEXUJ JRDO OLQH z 3KRWRV E\ 6FRWW +RIIPDQ rushed for 90 yards on 17 carries with a by two and an extra point would make touchdown. Justin Bradley had an interit three, but extra points were very elu- ception return for 25 yards. Anderson led sive for the Pirates on this night, failing to the Eagles with 11 total tackles, followed JHW DQ\WKLQJ LQ DOO Ă€YH DWWHPSWV ,Q IDFW by Johnson and Cash Hickethier with MXVW PDNLQJ WZR RI WKH Ă€YH WZR SRLQW DW- nine apiece. Oliver Raboin, Dylan Ruck, tempts would have made it a tie game. Logan Bader and Wyatt Stenberg each Should have, would have, could have. had six tackles. “Getting a lead and controlling the ball Grantsburg’s coach Adam Hale has seen proved to be very important in beating this problem before. Grantsburg’s high-powered offense,â€? “Our PAT execution was horrible, and that ended up being the difference in the said Unity coach Dave Anderson. “Our game for the second straight year against TXDUWHUEDFN =DF -RKQVRQ UHDOO\ VWHSSHG 8QLW\ DV ERWK WHDPV VFRUHG Ă€YH WRXFK- up this week and was able to put the ball into the end zone four times, two rushdowns.â€? Hale was referring to the conference ing and two passing. Justin Bradley’s four game last year that had similar circum- extra points proved to be the difference in stances and outcome. Grantsburg had the game. Our defense made a huge stand comparable yardage totals, 372 to Unity’s at the end of the game to keep Grantsburg 7KH 3LUDWHV TXDUWHUEDFN 7ULVWDQ out of the end zone to win us the game.â€? Brewer, had a career night, passing for &KDQGOHU :LW]DQ\ KDXOV GRZQ 8QLW\ V '\ODQ 5XFN 1R ZLWK 1R 7HYLQ $QGHUVRQ ZLWK KHOS 310 yards aided by an 88-yard short toss IURP 3LUDWHV 1R 7RQ\ %ULWWRQ DQG %URG\ %RQQHYLOOH 1R that Joe Gaffney turned into a long touch-

Pirates Ăžnal drive stalls out

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