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Luverne defeats Redwood Valley in overtime thriller

Subhead
Third straight victory brings record to 4-1
Lead Summary
By
Brennen Rupp

It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.
The Luverne Cardinals were able to overcome a sluggish start on Friday, Nov. 6, against the Redwood Valley Cardinals.
Luverne trailed Redwood Valley 21-6 at halftime, but the home Cardinals were able to outscore the visiting Cardinals 28-7 in the second half and in overtime to pick up a thrilling 34-28 victory.
“Losing isn’t an option anymore for us,” Luverne’s LaShad Smith said.
“At halftime, we were all pretty down and upset with ourselves. We had a few words of motivation from teammates. We flipped a switch in the second half. We had a different energy. We were prepared, but we didn’t play like it.”
Redwood Valley players set the tone for the first half when they returned the opening kickoff 80 yards to set themselves up inside Luverne’s 10-yard line.
Like they have all season, Luverne’s defensemen stood tall and kept Redwood Valley off the scoreboard.
After forcing a turnover on downs, Luverne went three and out and was forced to punt.
Redwood Valley connected on a 21-yard pass play to get to Luverne’s two-yard line. On the next play Redwood Valley scored on a two-yard rushing touchdown to go up 6-0.
Luverne’s Casey Sehr was picked off on the Cardinals’ next offensive possession.
With 3:37 left in the first quarter, LaShad Smith picked off a Redwood Valley pass to put a halt to another possible scoring drive for the visiting Cardinals.
Luverne was unable to turn that turnover into points and was forced to go three and out.
On the first play of the second quarter Redwood Valley scored on a six-yard rushing touchdown. Redwood Valley converted the two-point conversion to build a 14-0 lead.
Luverne got on the scoreboard off a one-yard rushing touchdown from Ashton Sandbulte. The Cardinals were unable to score on the two-point conversion and trailed 14-6 with 4:58 remaining in the first half.
Redwood Valley responded by scoring on a 15-yard passing touchdown to open up a 21-6 lead with 1:47 left in the first half.
The Luverne Cardinals avoided further damage before the half when they were able to keep Redwood Valley off the scoreboard following a Casey Sehr interception.
Luverne opened the second half with possession of the football and immediately dug into their bag of tricks. The Cardinals were able to pull off a successful hook and ladder for a 36-yard gain.
A few plays later and the home Cardinals were on the board again with Sandbulte’s second one-yard rushing touchdown of the game. Sehr connected with Cade Wenninger for the two-point conversion to trim Redwood Valley’s lead to 21-14 with 7:27 left in the third quarter.
On the third play of the fourth quarter, Redwood Valley fumbled to set the Luverne Cardinals up at Redwood Valley’s 23-yard line.
Luverne wasted little time in cashing in, as Bailey Cowell scored on a 23-yard rushing touchdown. Following the made extra point the two 3-1 teams were tied at 21-21 with 11:14 left in the game.
With 7:54 left in the game, Redwood Valley scored on a 30-yard rushing touchdown to take a 28-21 lead.
On the next offensive possession, the Luverne Cardinals again turned to their bag of tricks. Following a four-yard run from Sandbulte, the Cardinals connected on a halfback pass from Smith to Wenninger for 42 yards.
Bailey Cowell tied the game up on a three-yard rushing touchdown with 5:30 left in the game.
The two teams went into overtime tied at 28-28. Luverne won the toss and elected to go on defense first.
On fourth and 10, LaShad Smith picked off his second pass of the game to keep Redwood Valley off the scoreboard.
On a third down from the two-yard line it was once again Smith coming up with the big play. Smith scored on a rushing touchdown to complete Luverne’s comeback and to hand Redwood Valley a 34-28 loss.
“It was the greatest feeling ever,” Smith said. “It put an end to all that work we had to do in the second half.”
With the victory, the Cardinals have now won three straight and are 4-1 overall. They’ll wrap up the regular season with a home game against the Worthington Trojans on Friday, Nov. 13.
 
Luverne 0 6 8 14 6 34
Redwood Valley 6 15 0 7 0 28

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