By John Rittenhouse
The coveted Battle Ax trophy switched hands when Luverne squared off against Pipestone Area in the Southwest Conference football opener in Pipestone Friday.
Luverne had possession of the prize when it made the trek north on Highway 75, but the Arrows took the trophy away from the Cardinals when the hosts rode a strong second half to a 21-7 win.
It appeared the Cards would bounce back from a rough loss to New Ulm during the first week of the season. They sported a 7-0 halftime lead and took a 7-6 edge into the fourth quarter, but it didn't work out that way.
Arrow tailback Nick McNab rushed for 161 yards and three second-half touchdowns while carrying his team to victory.
After being limited to 39 total yards without picking up a first down against NU, Luverne displayed some evident offensive improvement against the Arrows.
Unfortunately for the Cards, they were unable to score points in the final three quarters of the contest. That opened the door for McNab and the Arrows, who raised their record to 2-0 with the victory.
"Yes, we showed some improvement," Oye said of his team's performance. "Now we've got to do it for four full quarters. We came out slow in the second half and couldn't get anything going."
The Cardinals did display some offensive promise in the game's early stages.
LHS picked up its initial first down of the season during its opening possession before being forced to punt four plays later.
An even more positive sign came during the second offensive possession.
After the Cardinal defense forced Pipestone to punt, Luverne took over on its own 46 and recorded its first points of the season when Marcus Walgrave dashed 54 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the possession. When Adam Kurtz added the extra point, LHS took a 7-0 lead with 3:32 remaining in the stanza.
A pair of turnovers crippled Luverne's chances to increase its lead by the intermission.
The Cards advanced the ball inside PipestoneÕs 10-yard line before losing possession with a fumble early in the second quarter.
An interception and a 55-yard return by Cardinal defender Cody Gehrke gave Luverne the ball inside Pipestone territory late in the first half, but the Arrows returned the favor by picking off a pass on its own 10 in the final minute of the second stanza.
McNab, who was sidelined with a slight hamstring injury most of the first half, took control of the game in the second half.
McNab capped a short drive by the Arrows to start the second half with a six-yard touchdown run at the 9:18 mark of the third quarter, and scored at 10:44 of the fourth quarter with a one-yard plunge.
The Arrow leader displayed his athletic ability during a five-play, 69-yard drive when he broke loose on a 59-yard scamper that gave the Arrows a 21-7 cushion with 7:09 left to play in the game.
"We were doing okay until their tailback (McNab) started getting big chunks of yardage in the second half. He's very fast, and he got around end for that last touchdown to put them up by 14 points," Oye said.
The Cards did drive the ball deep inside Pipestone territory following McNabÕs third touchdown, but an interception in the end zone ended the threat.
"Turnovers killed us," Oye offered. "All three of our turnovers came deep in their territory."
Things won't get any easier for the 0-2 Cardinals Friday night, when they host Windom for Luverne's 2002 version of Parents' Night.
Windom, which placed second in Class 2A during last season's state tournament, is 1-1. The Eagles battled Worthington to a draw at 21 in the first half of last FridayÕs game in Windom before falling 45-21 in the end.
"Windom is a running team that has a lot of experienced players coming back from a team that placed second in state last year. We'll have to stay with our (defensive) keys because they like to run a lot of misdirection plays," Oye said.
Team statistics
Luverne: 116 rushing yards, 72 passing yards, 188 total yards, eight first downs, six penalties, three turnovers.
Pipestone: 188 rushing yards, 61 passing yards, nine first downs, eight penalties, one turnover.
Individual statistics
Rushing: Walgrave 16-112, Jared Pick 5-22, Smedsrud 7-minus 21, Tyler Elbers 1-2, Aaron Schmidt 1-1.
Passing: Smedsrud 7-23 for 72 yards.
Receiving: Ben Cornish 4-38, Joey Pick 2-24, Walgrave 1-10.