Patriots suffer first loss of season to Renville County West

On Friday, Sept. 30, the 4-0 Hills-Beaver Creek Patriots traveled to Danube to play the No. 1 QRF-ranked 9-man football team in Minnesota, the 4-0 Renville County West Jaguars.
The Jaguars lived up to their ranking as they defeated the visiting Patriots 37-6. The game was a rematch of last season’s state quarter-final Patriots’ victory at SMSU.
However, this season’s game belonged to the Jaguars as they led early and held a 23-0 halftime advantage.
Head coach Rex Metzger and the Patriots knew the Jaguars were a physical and athletic team going into Friday night. The Jaguars’ aggressiveness and size kept the Patriots at bay most of the evening.
The Patriots started the game off well with a third down defensive stop and made the Jaguars punt on their first possession.
However, Renville County West’s 40-yard punt was downed at the Patriot 1-yard line and put the visitors in an early hole. Two plays later, running back Justin Roelfs was tackled for a loss and safety for the Jaguars.
This gave the home team a 2-0 lead with 7:58 left in the first quarter.
Renville County West was able to capitalize after the Patriots’ free kick from the 20-yard line was returned to the Patriots 40-yard line to give the Jaguars good field position.
Five plays later the Jaguars scored on a running play from 5 yards out, and the kick made the score 9-0 in favor of the Jaguars.
The score remained the same until Renville County West scored twice in the second quarter. The first touchdown came on a 73-yard gallop at the 10:27 mark, and the second was on a 30-yard pass play with only 8 seconds left in the half.
That score built the Renville County West lead to 23-0.
In the third quarter the teams exchanged touchdowns. The Patriots scored on their first drive of the half. A 10-play, 80-yard drive temporarily gave the Patriots some momentum early in the third quarter.
Quarterback Sawyer Bosch hit Justin Roelfs with a 14-yard touchdown pass, but the two-point conversion pass fell incomplete to bring the score to 23-6.
The No. 1-ranked Jaguar team responded with a six-play, 40-yard drive to bring their lead back to 23.
Renville County West finished out the scoring at 8:57 with a 3-yard run for a touchdown and a two-point conversion from the 1 ½-yard line, rather than the 3-yard line, due to a Patriot defensive penalty.
 “I thought we battled on both sides of the ball,” coach Metzger said. “Those are the games that are going to make us better, so hopefully we can clean up a few things this week and get ready for another tough one on Friday night.”
 That game is against the 3-2 Mountain Lake Wolverines on Friday, Oct. 6. The 4-1 Patriots host the 7 p.m. game.
 
Team Statistics
HBC- 68 rushing yards, 122 passing yards, 190 total yards, 13 first downs, four penalties for 20 yards, two turnovers.
RCW – 273 yards rushing, 141 passing yards, 414 total yards, 11 penalties for 100 yards, zero turnovers.
 
Individual Statistics
 Rushing: Justin Roelfs 8-35, Sawyer Bosch 8-23, Beau Bakken 3-6, Mason Shaffner 2-2, Cooper Gehrke, James VandenBosch 2-1, Jamin Metzger 3-0.
Passing: Sawyer Bosch 9-13 for 84 yards one touchdown, one interception, Jamin Metzger 5 for 6 for 38 yards, Justin Roelfs 0-0, one interception.
Receiving: Justin Roelfs 4-44 yards one touchdown, Riley Tatge 3-42 yards, Cooper Gehrke 2-11 yards, James VandenBosch 2-9 yards, Sawyer Bosch 1-8 yards, Micah Bush 1-7 yards, Beau Bakken 1-1 yard.
Defense: Luke Fuerstenberg 7.5 tackles, Brayden Metzger 5.5 tackles, Cooper Gehrke 4.5 tackles, Sawyer Bosch 4.5 tackles, Cody Moser 4.5 tackles, Cole Rozeboom 4 tackles.