Luverne defenders Joey Pick (80) and Cody Gehrke (55) wrap up Windom halfback Drew Zimmerman during Friday's Southwest Conference football game at Cardinal Field. Luverne rallied to force overtime before posting its first victory of the season, a 20-14 win over the Eagles.
By John Rittenhouse
A furious fourth-quarter rally led to an overtime victory for the Luverne football team at Cardinal Field Friday.
Trailing Windom 7-0 entering the final period of play, the Cardinals outscored the Eagles 14-7 in the fourth quarter to force overtime.
The overtime session lasted two plays as the Cardinal defense came up with an interception before the offense capped a 20-14 victory with a 10-yard touchdown run on the next play.
Luverne's rally ended a two-game losing streak to start the season, and gave Cardinal coach Todd Oye his first career victory.
"I'm just happy for the kids," Oye said. "They've been working really hard in a new offensive system. I think they found out how well it works when things start clicking."
After being blanked through the first three quarters of the game, the LHS offense started to click late in the game.
The Cardinals showed some explosiveness with a long touchdown run that trimmed Windom's lead to one point (7-6) early in fourth quarter. After the Eagles increased their lead to eight points as the period progressed, Luverne put together a 62-yard touchdown drive late in the quarter that was followed by an overtime-forcing, two-point conversion.
Neither team could get anything going offensively in a scoreless third quarter, but that changed in the final 12 minutes of play.
Luverne forced the Eagles to punt late in the third quarter, taking possession of the ball on its own 18-yard line with 31 seconds left in the stanza. Facing a third-and-nine situation to start the fourth quarter, some quick thinking by tailback Marcus Walgrave turned what was designed to be a trick play going to another player into an 81-yard touchdown run of his own.
Oye had instructed the Cardinals to run a reverse play to start the period. Walgrave received the handoff from quarterback Tony Smedsrud while running to his right, and he was supposed to hand it off to receiver Joey Pick, who was running toward the Cardinal backfield from the right end position.
Walgrave didnÕt like what he saw as the play developed and made an instant decision to run the ball himself. It proved to be the right decision as he dashed 81 yards for a score.
"It was supposed to be a reverse," Oye admitted. "Half our team, including myself, thought Joey Pick had the ball. Marcus said he saw WindomÕs defensive and cornerback coming in hard, so he pulled the ball back (instead of handing it off) because he thought the defenders would catch Joey from behind."
The celebration that followed the touchdown, which came at the 11:40 mark of the second quarter, was quickly doused when Windom blocked the ensuing extra-point attempt to maintain a 7-6 lead.
It appeared the Eagles would get the points back when they completed a long pass on the first play of their next offensive possession, but the second of three key defensive plays made by sophomore Brad Herman spoiled Windom's scoring threat.
Herman, who was making his first varsity start, ran down the Windom receiver who caught the ball. Herman stripped the ball from the receiverÕs arms as he made the tackle, and Pick recovered the fumble on the LHS 14.
Windom forced the Cardinals to punt four plays later, and the Eagle offense put together a 13-play, 43-yard touchdown drive that featured two successful fourth-down conversions. The drive ended with Nate Knutson scoring on a one-yard run with 2:40 left in regulation play. Nick Hohan's extra point made it a 14-6 difference.
The Luverne offense responded to the challenge by putting together its most impressive series of the season.
The Cards advanced the ball 62 yards in six plays, with senior Joel Evans capping the drive when he turned a trap play into a 32-yard touchdown run with 1:17 remaining. When Smedsrud delivered a strike to Canaan Petersen for a successful conversion pass, the score was knotted at 14.
Windom, which opted to run the remaining time off the clock to end regulation play, had the first possession to begin overtime. Windom decided to use a play (a halfback pass) that worked for a touchdown in the second quarter, but the decision proved to be costly as Herman picked off the pass in the end zone.
Walgrave, who ran the ball 18 times for 163 yards in the game, settled the issue when he scored from 10 yards out on the first play of LuverneÕs ensuing possession.
While some may have been surprised by the confidence the Luverne offense displayed late in the game, Oye was not.
"One thing we've been emphasizing since practice started in August has been running a hurry-up offense. When we got into a situation where we needed to use it Friday, we were comfortable in running the plays," he said.
LuverneÕs defense also played well against the Eagles.
WindomÕs first two offensive possessions of the game ended on downs on Luverne's 24- and 13-yard lines. The Eagles ended the scoreless deadlock with 14 seconds left in the second quarter, when an 87-yard drive ended with halfback Drew Zimmerman tossing a touchdown pass to Mitch Masters during a fourth-and-goal situation from the LHS two.
"Our defense did a good job," Oye said. "We would bend, but we didnÕt break. Windom had 250 yards worth of offense in the first half, but they only scored seven points. Our defense kept them out of the end zone."
Luverne's best scoring opportunity of the first half came in the second quarter, when Herman recovered a fumble by a Windom punt return player on the Eagle 39 with 9:33 left in the first half.
A 17-yard pass from Smedsrud to Ben Cornish advanced the ball to the 22, but the Cards lost the ball on downs when a fourth-and-five play came up short of a first down when Walgrave gained four yards on a run.
Luverne will play unbeaten Worthington in Worthington tomorrow. The 3-0 Trojans beat Windom 42-21 earlier in the season and are coming off a 33-0 pasting of St. Peter Friday.
"Worthington is undefeated, and theyÕve won all three of their games handily. They have a great tailback (Nick Raymo). It will be important to control him because he's been making a lot of big plays. They also have an aggressive, quick defense," Oye said.
Team statistics
Luverne: 250 rushing yards, 43 passing yards, 293 total yards, six first downs, four penalties, zero turnovers.
Windom: 234 rushing yards, 153 passing yards, 387 total yards, 14 first downs, seven penalties, two turnovers.
Individual statistics
Rushing: Walgrave 18-163, Evans 7-78, Jared Pick 1-1, Aaron Schmidt 1-5, Smedsrud 1-3, Tyler Elbers 1-0.
Passing: Smedsrud 5-10 for 43 yards.
Receiving: Cornish 3-30, Walgrave 1-10, Petersen 1-3.
Defense: Herman one interception and one fumble recovery.