Skip to main content

Cardinals rout defending
SWC co-champion

The Luverne defense limited Windom to 105 total yards and two first downs and set up a pair of LHS touchdowns with two of the three turnovers it created in the game.

Luverne's offense racked up 294 yards and scored 27 first-half points to turn what was expected to be a tight game into a rout early.

All in all, it was a great conference win for the Cardinals.

"It was a really good effort all the way around," said Luverne coach Joel Swanson. "We made the plays on offense, defense and on special teams. The kids came out and executed well in all areas of the game."

Windom is a team that earned a share of the SWC title last season, but it was the Cardinals who were playing championship-type ball on Friday. Luverne scored two touchdowns in each of the first two quarters while opening a 27-0 lead.

The Eagles did score late in the first half and midway through the third quarter to trim the difference to 15 points.

Luverne, however, put the game away with a fourth-quarter touchdown.

A dominating Luverne defense set the tone for the night by forcing Windom to punt four plays into its opening possession of the game.

The Luverne offense took over on the Cardinal 46-yard line, where tailback Brad Walgrave received the ball on first down before dashing 54 yards for a touchdown at the 9:25 mark of the opening period. James Fisher added the extra point to make it a 7-0 game.

"We got great field position from our defense, and we ran an option play that froze a lot of their defenders on first down. That was really nice to see," Swanson said of Luverne's early tally.

Luverne's defense gave its offensive counterparts great field position again as the first quarter progressed when linebacker Tony Sandbulte intercepted a pass on the Windom 20.

After a three-yard gain on first down, Cardinal quarterback Fisher carried the ball 17 yards for a touchdown before booting the extra point to make it a 14-0 game at the 4:29 mark of the stanza.

Two longer drives after a pair of three-and-out series by Windom helped the Cardinals put the game out of reach in the second quarter.

Luverne's most impressive march of the game developed late in the first quarter and early in the second stanza, when the Cards moved the ball 57 yards in nine plays.

The drive appeared to be on the verge of ending without any points when LHS faced a fourth-and-nine situation on the Eagle 18.

The Cards then stunned Windom when Fisher hooked up with Ryan Goebel for an 18-yard touchdown pass. A failed two-point conversion kept the difference at 20-0 with 10:26 remaining in the first half.

Luverne made it a 27-0 game two possessions later.

Walgrave, who carried the ball 12 times for 105 yards in the game, capped a six-play, 43-yard drive with a 13-yard scamper. Fisher's third extra point followed at the 1:33 mark of the second quarter.

Windom, which was unable to produce an offensive first down in the first 22 minutes of the opening half, got back into the contest with a three-play, 65-yard advancement capped by Kole Zimmerman's 36-yard touchdown pass to Josh Whiting with 54 seconds left in the first half.

Cardinal Zach Skattum blocked the extra-point attempt to keep the score at 27-6.

Windom made some adjustments that confused the Luverne offense in the second half.

Luverne's first possession of the first half ended with an interception three plays into the quarter, and a three-and-out series followed.

The LHS third possession proved costly as Zimmerman picked off a Fisher pass on first down and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown with 5:04 remaining in the third quarter.

Windom's attempt for a two-point conversion failed, but the Eagles had trimmed what was a 27-point deficit to a 15-point (27-12) difference in a span of eight minutes.

Luverne had the opportunity to regain the momentum with two more offensive possessions late in the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter, but the Cards had to punt after limited success each time.

The second punt, however, pinned the Eagle offense on its own 10 with 9:42 left to play.

A fumble on first down was recovered by Sandbulte on the Windom five-yard line, and he scored three plays later on a one-yard plunge. Fisher's kick capped the scoring with 8:25 left to play.

Any chances of a Windom rally ended when Fisher intercepted a pass with 5:48 remaining. Luverne's second team offense ran the remaining time off the clock to preserve a 34-12 win.

By beating Windom, Luverne receives an opportunity to knock off both of the SWC's co-champions from 1999 in consecutive weeks.

The Cards travel to Worthington, a team LHS beat last season, to take on the 2-0 Trojans tomorrow night.

"Worthington has a lot of players coming back from last year, and they are everyone's favorite in the SWC this year. They are a really fast team that has only given up one touchdown this year. The big key for us is to prevent them from getting big plays. Our kids will have to come ready to play because Worthington is the toughest team we've faced so far this season," Swanson said.

Team statistics

Luverne: 277 rushing yards, 27 passing yards, 294 total yards, 11 first downs, five penalties for 50 yards, two turnovers.

Windom: 71 rushing yards, 34 passing yards, 105 total yards, two first downs, three penalties for 15 yards, three turnovers.

Individual statistics

Rushing: Walgrave 12-105, Sandbulte 9-44, Goebel 4-25, Kyle Crable 2-7, Fisher 6-25, Skattum 6-14, Aaron Schmidt 3-21, Joel Evans 5-23, Marcus Walgrave 1-2, Pete Connell 1-6.

Passing: Fisher 2-7 for 27 yards.

Receiving: Goebel 1-18, Jordan Papik 1-9.

Defense: Skattum one blocked extra point; Brian Osterday one sack, Craig Bosch one-half sack, Brent Hulstein one-half sack, Fisher one interception, Sandbulte one fumble recovery and one interception.

You must log in to continue reading. Log in or subscribe today.