Luverne defensive lineman Nick Van Wyhe offers an obstructed view downfield to Pipestone quarterback Matt Oye (30) during Friday’s Southwest Conference football game in Luverne. Van Wyhe and the LHS defense blanked the Arrows for three quarters to help the Cardinals take possession of the Battle Ax trophy with a 14-7 victory.By John RittenhouseNo matter what happens the rest of the season, the Luverne Cardinal football team accomplished something they can be proud of the rest of the year during Friday’s home and Southwest Conference opener against Pipestone Area.In the annual game for the coveted Battle Ax, the Cardinals met a preseason standard by beating their long-time rivals 14-7 in front of a large, appreciative crowd at Cardinal Field.The win evened Luverne’s record at 1-1 for the season. Since it was a conference victory, the 2003 Cardinals already matched their output in SWC wins from one year ago."It was one of the goals the kids set at the start of the season," said Cardinal coach Todd Oye, summing up the win over the Arrows. "The kids played with a lot of energy and emotion to get this win."As usually is the case when Luverne and Pipestone meet in football, what occurs prior to the game has no bearing on what will take place on the field.While Pipestone won its season opener against Murray County Central the week before, Luverne took a 43-15 thumping from New Ulm.The Cardinals struggled defensively in the opener, giving up 425 total yards, but it was the defense that set the stage for a seven-point win against the Arrows.The LHS defense scored the first touchdown of the game and limited a talented Pipestone offense to 220 total yards in an incredible turn-around from the week before."Comparing this game to the one the week before, the improvement we displayed defensively was tremendous," Oye said. "Pipestone has a good quarterback and a speedy receiver, but they didn’t get any big plays. A big part of our improvement was moving Ben Cornish to the free safety position and moving Brad Herman to a linebacker position. That really helped us."The Luverne defense made a big statement during a scoreless first quarter.Pipestone had the ball inside Cardinal territory twice in the opening stanza, but the LHS defense forced the Arrows to punt both times.The Arrows pushed the ball across the 50-yard line with three plays during their fourth offensive possession of the contest, but the fourth play of the series turned into a big play for the Cardinals. Linebacker Mark Remme picked off a pass and returned the ball 52 yards for a touchdown. When Adam Kurtz added his first of two extra points, Luverne sported a 7-0 advantage at the 9:01 mark of the second quarter.Neither team produced a scoring threat before the second half expired, but the Cardinals gained some offensive momentum as the second period progressed.After being unable to produce a first down during its first four possessions of the game, the Luverne offense moved the chains twice after taking possession of the ball on its own five-yard line with 3:28 remaining in the period. Instead of giving Pipestone good field position, the first downs allowed Luverne to run the remaining time off the clock."I would describe our offensive performance as being adequate," Oye said. "We started out really slow, but we got rolling after a while. Pipestone dictated the slow start with the type of aggressive defense it plays. Their aggressiveness makes it hard to get first downs, but they can give up big plays."The Arrow defense yielded some big plays to LHS in the third quarter.Luverne received the kick to start the second half, and on the third play of the possession, Remme ran for 50 yards through the Arrow defense to the Pipestone nine-yard line. On fourth-and-goal from the two, Herman ran for a one-yard loss, giving the Arrows the ball on downs.Cornish came up with a big play for the Cardinals three plays later when he intercepted a pass and returned it to the Pipestone 11.Luverne, however, didn’t take advantage of the situation as a mishandled snap during a field-goal attempt gave the Arrows the ball on downs again.Pipestone picked up two first downs during the ensuing possession before punting the ball to the LHS nine-yard line late in the third quarter. On the first play from the line, senior tailback Tyler Elbers broke loose for a 91-yard touchdown run. Kurtz added the extra point to make the difference 14-0 with 1:13 left in the stanza.The Arrows responded to the challenge by putting together a 12-play, 66-yard drive with their next offensive possession to cut Luverne’s lead in half at 14-7. The drive ended with quarterback Matt Oye tossing a touchdown pass to Micah Lorenzen during a fourth-and-goal situation with 8:30 remaining in the game. Nick Schroeder added the extra point.Pipestone forced the Cardinals to punt moments later, giving the Arrows the ball on their own 24 with 6:54 left to play. Pipestone advanced the ball to the LHS 36, but the drive stalled there when a fourth-and-nine pass fell incomplete with 3:25 remaining.The Luverne offense picked up two first downs during the ensuing possession to chew the remaining time off the clock.Oye said his first win as LHS coach always will be a special one for him, but the seven-point victory over the Arrows ranks right up there with it."It’s a big thing anytime you win the Battle Ax game," he said.The Cardinals will play 2-0 Windom, a team that beat Worthington Friday, in Windom tomorrow."Windom is ranked in their class and has been to the dome the last two years. They run the ball well with an offensive scheme that is difficult to read. The keys for us will be stopping the run and not turning the ball over," Oye said.Team statisticsLuverne: 196 rushing yards, 23 passing yards, 219 total yards, five first downs, three penalties, one turnover.Pipestone: 175 rushing yards, 45 passing yards, 220 total yards, 14 first downs, seven penalties, two turnovers.Individual statisticsRushing: Elbers 12-116, Remme 7-74, Herman 3-15, Jared Pick 2-minus 10, Jose Saravia 1-4, Stegemann 3-6.Passing: Stegemann 4-7 for 23 yards.Receiving: Pick 2-4, Cornish 1-17, Herman 1-2.Defense: Tim Boen one sack, Cornish one interception, Remme one interception.
