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The Luverne Cardinal football players knew they had a big challenge this week as they faced off against undefeated Fairmont.
The Cardinals played a strong first half, as they trailed by a score of just 16-14 at halftime. In the end, Luverne could not pull off the upset as they ultimately lost by a final score of 28-18.
“I am proud of how our team played against an undefeated Fairmont team,” Cardinal coach Todd Oye said.
“If we can continue to improve, we will start winning these close games.”
It looked like the Cardinals were in for a long night when Fairmont marched down the field quickly on the first drive.
Starting with the ball on their own 48-yard line, Fairmont quarterback Zach Jorgensen completed a pair of 23-yard passes to get his team into the end zone. After a successful extra point, Fairmont took a 7-0 lead just 2:37 into the game.
In its first possession, the Luverne offense quickly picked up the first down but couldn’t get any farther and was forced to punt the ball back to Fairmont.
The Luverne defense fared much better on the next Fairmont possession.
With Fairmont facing third and 10 from their own 45-yard line Luverne senior Nathaniel Cole-Kraty broke through the Fairmont offensive line and sacked Jorgensen for a 15-yard loss.
Fairmont would look to punt on fourth down but a bad snap forced the kicker to run and Cole-Kraty was there again to make the tackle, which gave Luverne the ball back on the Fairmont 27-yard line.
The Cardinals capitalized on the excellent field position just two plays later.
After a short run on first down, the Cardinals took to the air on second down. Junior wide receiver Gannon Ahrendt beat his man down the left side of the field, and quarterback Casey Sehr hit him in stride in the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown reception.
The two-point conversion was no good and the Fairmont lead was now 7-6 with 3:37 to go in the first quarter.
After a couple of defensive stops from each team, Fairmont pinned the Luverne offense on its own 4-yard line on fourth and 11 with 6:11 to go in the second quarter.
The Cardinals’ punt gave Fairmont excellent field position going into their next drive.
Taking over at the Luverne 30-yard line, Fairmont pounded the ball on the ground three straight times to get to the 5-yard line. Jorgensen threw for his second touchdown of the game on the next play as he found teammate Hudson Artz in the corner of the end zone.
After they made the extra point, Fairmont had a 14-6 lead with 4:09 to go in the second quarter.
The Cardinals got a big play from Ahrendt on the kickoff as he broke through the center of the Fairmont kickoff team for a 43-yard return which brought the Cardinals to the Fairmont 41-yard line.
After a couple of nice runs by senior running back Ashton Sandbulte and a 10-yard reception from Sehr to Eli Radtke, the Cardinals made their way to the Fairmont 18-yard line.
Sehr then found Sandbulte in the air on the next play, and Sandbulte ran over a couple of Fairmont defenders on his way into the end zone. The Luverne two-point conversion attempt was no good, and the score was now 14-12 with 1:55 to go in the second quarter.
Neither team was able to score the rest of the half, and the teams went into halftime with Fairmont leading 14-12.
The Cardinal offense couldn’t get anything going in the third quarter, but the defense held strong for nearly the entire quarter.
With just 38 seconds to go in the third quarter, Fairmont’s Eli Anderson took a short pass from Jorgensen and was able to break through the Cardinals defense for a 57-yard touchdown. The point after was good and Fairmont took a 21-12 lead.
Luverne couldn’t answer back and was forced to punt on its next possession.
Fairmont took advantage and put together another scoring drive to pad the lead. Once again it was Jorgensen throwing for a 3-yard touchdown, his fourth of the game. After another successful extra point, Fairmont had a 28-12 lead with 6:06 to go in the game.
The Cardinals would not give up and put together a nice drive of their own in response to the Fairmont touchdown.
Sandbulte led the Cardinals down the field as he racked up 30 yards of rushing on the drive.
Facing a first and 10 from the Fairmont 20-yard line, Sehr found Radtke in the end zone to give the Cardinals their third touchdown of the game. The 2-point conversion attempt was no good and the score was now 28-18 in favor of Fairmont with just 2:18 to go in the game.
Fairmont was able to run the clock out on its next possession to take the victory.
The Luverne Cardinals will look to get back on track Wednesday night when they travel to Waseca. Game time is 7:00 p.m.
Team statistics:
Luverne: 133 rushing yards, 105 passing yards, 238 total yards, 13 first downs, 2 penalties for 20 yards, 0 turnovers.
Fairmont: 116 rushing yards, 169 passing yards, 285 total yards, 18 first downs, 3 penalties for 25 yards, 1 turnover.
Individual statistics:
Rushing: Ashton Sandbulte 21-99, Zach Kruse 2-14
Passing: Casey Sehr 8-15 for 105 yards (3 TD)
Receiving: Eli Radtke 3-35 (1 TD), Gannon Ahrendt 1-25 (1 TD), Ashton Sandbulte 1-18 (1 TD)
Defense: Nathaniel Cole-Kraty 7.5 tackles, Ashton Sandbulte 7 tackles, Anyuon Atem 5.5 tackles, Jamie McCarthy 5 tackles