"The kids were not fighting with each other when we fell behind 14-0, and that was nice to see. Once the opportunities started to present themselves, we took advantage of them. We're a young offensive team with nine new starters. As the game went on, the frequency of the mistakes we made grew fewer," Swanson offered.
The Cards will need to display even more improvement when they host Windom for the Southwest Conference opener tomorrow. Windom beat St. James 31-13 Friday.
"You can win or lose any game in conference play. Windom is very similar to us experience-wise. They have a new head coach and a couple of really good running backs," Swanson concluded.
Team statistics
Luverne: 177 rushing yards, 104 passing yards, 281 total yards, 11 first downs, seven penalties for 45 yards, one turnover.
New Ulm: 165 rushing yards, 80 passing yards, 245 total yards, nine penalties for 75 yards, five turnovers, 10 first downs.
Individual statistics
Rushing: Walgrave 19-115, Sandbulte 7-26, Skattum 4-28, Fisher 3-0, Papik 1-3.
Passing: Fisher 5-17 for 104 yards.
"I think I'm going to lose my hair," Swanson said, right before LHS closed out a 22-14 victory at Cardinal Field.
Winning the game wasn't on Swanson's mind when he made the comment. The way Luverne won it was.
After being unable to produce any points with their first 10 offensive possessions of the game, the Cardinals scored 22 points in the final 5:32 of play to secure a remarkable come-from-behind win.
"We talked about it after the game, and we couldn't remember coming back from a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter since I've been coach. We came back from a 10-0 deficit in the fourth quarter of a game during my first year as coach, but not from 14 points behind," Swanson said.
The rally was an impressive one, and even more improbable.
Counting Luverne's last possession of the first half and the first four of the second half, the Cards started or ended drives in New Ulm territory without scoring a single point.
Just when it looked like the Cards would run out of opportunities to score, three big plays (one on offense, one on defense and one on special teams) turned a 14-0 deficit into a thrilling, eight-point win.
The comeback started after the Cardinal defense forced New Ulm to punt, giving the ball to the LHS offense in good field position.
After a penalty on the first play of the possession, the second play turned into a 42-yard touchdown pass down the middle of the field from quarterback James Fisher to receiver Luke Iveland.
When Fisher booted the extra point, the Cards cut New Ulm's lead in half with 5:32 remaining in the game.
Luverne's defense forced New Ulm to punt after three plays into its next possession, which set up a big play by the LHS punt return team.
Cardinal defender Ryan Goebel raced through New Ulm's line and blocked the attempted punt. New Ulm recovered the loose ball well behind the first-down maker, giving the LHS offense possession on the Eagle' 15-yard line.
Luverne fullback Tony Sandbulte picked up five yards with his run on first down, which was followed by a 10-yard touchdown scamper by Brad Walgrave on third down with 2:45 left to play.
The Cards then lined up for the potential game-tying extra point when another break fell in their favor.
Holder Jordan Papik was forced to stand up to make the catch from his center. When he tried to get the ball back on the tee for Fisher's kick, it was too late. Papik then picked up the ball and ran around the right side of Luverne's lineman for a successful two-point conversion that gave the Cards their first lead at 15-14.
"New Ulm was trying to block the extra point up the middle, which worked out great for us. If they would have tried to block it from the outside, we would have been in trouble," Swanson said.
New Ulm still had time to regain the lead with 2:45 remaining, but Fisher came up big four plays into the Eagles' next possession when he intercepted a pass and returned it to the New Ulm 37.
After four running plays advanced the ball 34 yards, Fisher scored on a three-yard keeper with 39 seconds remaining before adding the extra point.
New Ulm, which turned the ball over five times in the game, had any chances of a late comeback erased when Walgrave intercepted a pass in the final seconds.
"The big thing was we finally got the opportunities to do something and the kids made it happen. We hung in there and didn't quit, especially after a rough first 16 minutes," Swanson said.
New Ulm did control the game in the first half.
The Eagles turned their first offensive possession into an 11-play, 67-yard drive that ended with Matt Schmidt catching a 14-yard touchdown pass during a fourth-and-10 situation. Cardinal Zach Skattum blocked the extra point to keep the score at 6-0 at the 6:51 mark of the first quarter.
New Ulm's third possession of the game developed into a nine-play, 54-yard scoring drive capped by Micah Niedecker's 12-yard touchdown run at 7:47 of the second quarter. Schmidt ran in the conversion to make the difference 14-0.
Receiving: Iveland 2-54, Walgrave 2-20, Papik 1-30.
Defense: Walgrave one interception, Fisher one interception, Tom Frey one interception, Iveland one fumble recovery, Travis Moser one fumble recovery, Skattum one blocked kick, Goebel one blocked kick.