The Luverne Cardinals had a successful start to their football season Thursday night after claiming a victory over the Redwood Valley Cardinals in Redwood.
Luverne jumped out to a 21-6 halftime lead and held on for a 21-20 victory.
The Cardinals wasted no time getting into the scoring column as they only needed five plays to move 72 yards down the field and into the Redwood Valley end zone.
On the second play of the drive, Luverne junior quarterback Conner Connell lobbed the ball over the Redwood defense to senior wide receiver Gannon Ahrendt for a 40-yard gain.
Connell and Ahrendt connected again on the next play for 19 yards, bringing Luverne to the Redwood Valley 13-yard line. After a 2-yard run by senior Kaleb Hein and an incomplete pass, the Cardinals were facing a third-and-8 from the Redwood Valley 11-yard line.
Connell rolled out to the right to pass, but multiple Redwood Valley defenders broke through the line of scrimmage. The quarterback was able to reverse course and break multiple tackle attempts as he ran into the left side of the end zone to give Luverne its first touchdown.
After an unsuccessful extra-point attempt, Luverne led Redwood Valley 6-0 with 10:08 to go in the first quarter.
The Luverne defense held strong on the first Redwood Valley possession and the Cardinals received the ball back on their own 3-yard line. Hein helped the Cardinals gain some field position after a 5-yard run and then a 22-yard reception.
Facing a third-and-12 on their 28-yard line, the Cardinals got another huge play from Ahrendt as Connell saw him streaking up the right side of the field and connected for a 46-yard reception.
Hein tacked on seven more yards on first down to bring Luverne inside the Redwood Valley red zone.
Two plays later Connell found Ahrendt for a 19-yard touchdown reception.
The Cardinals completed the two-point conversion try as sophomore Carter Sehr threw to Ahrendt in the end zone, giving Luverne a 14-0 lead with 4:10 left in the first quarter.
After alternating possessions, the Luverne special teams came up with another big play for the Cardinals.
Facing fourth-and-13 from their own 34-yard line, Redwood Valley was forced to attempt a punt, but Luverne senior Riley Sneller was able to break through the Redwood Valley line and block the kick and recover the ball at the 16-yard line.
The Luverne offense was able to capitalize on the excellent field position on the very next play. Connell and Ahrendt hooked up for another touchdown, but this time the roles were reversed.
After receiving a pitch in the backfield from Connell, Ahrendt dropped back and found Connell wide open on the left side of the field for a 16-yard touchdown. Junior Patrick Kroski’s extra point was good, and the Cardinals took a 21-0 lead with 10:07 to go in the second quarter.
Redwood Valley got on the board late in the second quarter after a 50-yard scoring drive was capped by a 14-yard touchdown completion from quarterback Cameron Enright to wide receiver Brandon Lang.
The point-after attempt was no good, and the score was 21-6 with just 28 seconds to go in the half.
Redwood Valley took advantage of a Luverne fumble in the third quarter for their next score. Enright scored a 2-yard touchdown and also ran the 2-point conversion to bring the score to 21-14 with 3:32 left in the third quarter.
The Luverne offense remained stagnant for much of the second half, and Redwood Valley was able to score again late in the fourth quarter as Enright ran for 12 yards for his second rushing touchdown of the half.
This brought the score to 21-20 with just 2:19 remaining in the game. Redwood Valley chose to go for the 2-point conversion, and Ahrendt came up big one more time for the Cardinals as he batted down Enright’s pass into the left side of the end zone.
Luverne was able to run out the clock and escape with the 21-20 victory.
“Getting that first win of the season was important for our team since we have a lot of new players,” said Luverne coach Todd Oye after the game. “Now they know what they can do.”
Luverne will face Jackson County Central Friday night at Cardinal Field.
“JCC is always a solid and physical team,” Oye said. “We need to keep improving and eliminate our mental mistakes.”
Team Statistics:
Luverne: 128 rushing yards, 223 passing yards, 351 total yards, 14 first downs, 8 penalties for 55 yards, 2 turnovers.
Redwood Valley: 113 rushing yards, 126 passing yards, 239 total yards, 15 first downs, 3 penalties for 15 yards, 1 turnover.
Individual Statistics:
Rushing: Kaleb Hein 12-46, Sam Rock 7-40, Conner Connell 9-25 (1 TD), Tyson Cowell 3-9.
Passing: Conner Connell 9-22, 207 yards (1 TD). Gannon Ahrendt 1-1, 16 yards (1 TD).
Receiving: Gannon Ahrendt 7-163 (1 TD), Kaleb Hein 2-44, Connor Connell 1-16 (1 TD)
Defense: Elijah Woodley 8 tackles, Conner Connell 5 tackles, Will Serie 4.5 tackles, Elliot Domagala 4 tackles, Riley Sneller 3.5 tackles