By John Rittenhouse
Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth celebrated a season-opening football victory after upending Lakeview 27-12 in a non-conference tilt played in Cottonwood Friday.
Senior quarterback David Top threw a pair of touchdown passes and senior tailback Chris Reid ran for 201 yards and two touchdowns to highlight the win for H-BC-E.
Although the Patriots turned the ball over six times in the game, H-BC-E produced six turnovers and never trailed in the contest.
Patriot coach Dan Ellingson seemed pleased with H-BC-EÕs offensive performance, which featured 343 total yards and 257 rushing yards.
"I was happy overall," he said. "We moved the ball real well, which was something I was concerned with entering the game. When we got the ball inside the 10-yard line, we were able to score. That's something we're trying to emphasize this year. I'm a little concerned because we did have six turnovers, but we got some big runs out of Reid and two touchdown passes from Top. That's good for our offense."
H-BC-E controlled play in the first half while opening a 21-0 lead.
The Patriots lost a scoring opportunity to start the game when Top was intercepted in the end zone to end H-BC-E's first possession, but the defense forced Lakeview to punt moments later.
Reid took matters into his own hands when he dashed 29 yards for a touchdown to end H-BC-E's second possession. A missed extra-point attempt kept the score at 6-0.
The difference remained at six points until the second quarter, when the Patriots struck twice.
After a Lakeview punt, the H-BC-E offense put together a 55-yard drive that ended with Reid scoring from nine yards away. When Top hit Brad Haak for a successful two-point conversion pass, the Patriots had a 14-0 lead.
The Patriots took advantage of a Lakeview mistake to score again before the second quarter was complete.
H-BC-E defender Kyle Braun recovered a fumble on the Lakeview 30-yard line, which set up a short drive that ended with Top and Haak hooking up for a nine-yard touchdown pass.
Tyler Bush booted the extra point to make it 21-0 difference that would stand for the remainder of the first half.
Lakeview trimmed H-BC-E's lead to 15 points (21-6) when Taylor Kroger scored on an eight-yard run in the third quarter, but that would be as close as the hosts would get to catching H-BC-E.
Patriot Chris Tiesler recovered a fumble on the Lakeview 38 during the fourth quarter, which set up a nine-yard touchdown pass from Top to Darin DeBoer moments later. A blocked extra-point attempt kept the score at 27-6.
Lakeview capped the scoring when Tyler Jeseritz found the end zone from two yards out with 3:00 remaining in the game.
The Patriots will open Southwest Ridge Conference play tomorrow in Heron Lake, where they meets Southwest Star concept.
SSC sports a football program that was winless in the 1999 and 2000 seasons, but it stunned Lake Benton 27-8 during a game played in Heron Lake last Friday.
"I'm sure they are up after beating LB," Ellingson said. "They have a really good quarterback, and they are a quick team that runs the option well. It will be a big challenge for us."
Team statistics
H-BC-E: 257 rushing yards, 86 passing yards, 343 total yards, 14 first downs, six penalties for 50 yards, six turnovers.
Lakeview: 231 rushing yards, 23 passing yards, 254 total yards, 13 first downs, five penalties for 45 yards, six turnovers.
Individual statistics
Rushing: Reid 25-201, Jesse Leuthold 16-54, Top 3-3, Tiesler 1-minus 1.
Passing: Top 9-14 for 86 yards.
Receiving: Haak 5-61, DeBoer 2-15, Reid 2-10.
Defense: Leuthold 11 tackles, Curt Schilling 11 tackles, Tiesler one fumble recovery, Braun one fumble recovery, Haak six tackles and two interceptions, Brant Deutsch four tackles, one fumble recovery and one sack, DeBoer one interception.