Cardinals lose to Waseca, take No. 4 seed into playoffs

The Luverne Cardinals football team finished off its regular season Wednesday night in Waseca, where the Bluejays dominated the first half and cruised to a 34-0 victory over the Cardinals.
Waseca was superior on both sides of the ball in Wednesday’s matchup with 355 total offensive yards, and their defense held Luverne to 48 total yards and just two first downs in the game.
The star of the game was Waseca senior running back Mason DeKruif, who finished the game with a rare five touchdowns.
Waseca gained the momentum early when it ran the opening kickoff back 40 yards to gain excellent field position. Taking over at the Luverne 48-yard line, Waseca needed only seven plays to march down the field and into the Luverne end zone. The drive was capped by a DeKruif 13-yard touchdown run.
After a successful point-after kick the Bluejays took a 7-0 lead with 8:39 to go in the first quarter.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, a fumble on the ensuing kickoff would give the ball right back to Waseca with good field position once again.
Waseca kept pounding the ball on the ground, and the Luverne defense could not stop them.
After seven consecutive running plays, DeKruif found himself in the Cardinals’ end zone again, this time from 5-yards out. The Bluejays connected again on the extra-point, putting the score at 14-0 with 5:09 to go in the first quarter.
The next Luverne possession resulted in a three and out and the Cardinals were forced to punt. Waseca’s Damarius Russell returned the punt 51-yards to bring the ball back to the Luverne 19-yard line. DeKruif finished it off on the next play as he broke free for a 19-yard touchdown run. After a missed extra point, Waseca led 20-0 with 3:08 to go in the first quarter.
The Cardinals’ offense was stopped quickly on their next possession and Waseca took over on offense on the Luverne side of the field once again. The Bluejays kept pounding the ball on the ground and the Luverne defense had no answer.
DeKruif finished off the 43-yard drive with his fourth touchdown of the night, this one from three yards. Waseca completed the two-point conversion attempt, putting the score at 28-0 with 8:39 to go in the second quarter.
Neither team put points on the board the rest of the quarter, and Waseca took its 28-0 lead into the halftime break.
Luverne junior Gannon Ahrendt looked to give the Cardinals some momentum after halftime when he returned the second-half kickoff 42-yards into Waseca territory. The Cardinals could not capitalize on the excellent field position and were forced to punt.
Waseca took over at its own six-yard line and was able to put together a 94-yard scoring drive from there. Waseca was led down the field by quarterback Oliver O’Brien, who ran for 22-yard and 25-yard gains during the possession.
Once again it was DeKruif who found the end zone for the Bluejays. His fifth touchdown of the night came on a 30-yard run right through the middle of the Cardinal defense. The Waseca two-point conversion attempt was no good and the score was now 34-0.
The Cardinal offense couldn’t get anything going, and the Bluejays were content to keep the ball on the ground and run out the clock for the rest of the game, giving them the 34-0 win.
The loss gives Luverne a final regular-season record of three wins and five losses.
The Cardinals will now turn their attention to the Section 3AAA playoffs.
Luverne, which earned the No. 4 seed, was scheduled to face the fifth-seeded Worthington Trojans Tuesday in Luverne.
Luverne defeated Worthington 29-0 in their matchup earlier this season, but Luverne coach Todd Oye knows that Worthington can still pose a threat to the Cardinals.
“Worthington won their last game of the season 14-12 vs New Ulm,” Oye said. “They are playing better football now than when we played them in the regular season.”
The winner of Tuesday’s matchup with Worthington will travel to Fairmont to take on the No. 1-seeded Fairmont Cardinals at 7 p.m. Saturday.
 
Team Statistics:
Luverne: 26 rushing yards, 22 passing yards, 48 total yards, 2 first downs, 3 penalties for 20 yards, 1 turnover.
Waseca: 321 rushing yards, 34 passing yards, 355 total yards, 19 first downs, 5 penalties for 30 yards, 3 turnovers.
 
Individual Statistics:
Rushing: Ashton Sandbulte 11-35
Passing: Casey Sehr 3-6 for 22 yards
Receiving: Gannon Ahrendt 2-24
Defense: Anyuon Atem 5.5 tackles, Connor Overgaard 4.5 tackles, Eli Radtke 3.5 tackles, Henry Hartquist 3.5 tackles