Late rally comes up one point short
for 3-1 football Cardinals
By John Rittenhouse
Luverne's three-game winning streak to open the 2000 football season came to end Friday with a 14-13 home loss to Litchfield.
Litchfield scored 14 points in the first 14:28 of the game and withstood a late rally by LHS that came one extra point short of forcing overtime in the final minute of the game.
In the end, Luverne simply made too many mistakes to beat a solid club like the Dragons.
The Cardinals lost two fumbles and one interception during the second half of the game, when they were one touchdown short of erasing Litchfield's lead.
Luverne was also penalized a season-high eight times for 80 yards in the game, and many of the infractions crippled possible scoring drives in Dragon territory.
"The big things were we lost the turnover ratio (3-1), and we had too many penalties," said Cardinal coach Joel Swanson. "Litchfield was a good ball club, but we ended up stopping ourselves a lot. We made a lot of the same mistakes in the other games we played this year. The difference was we didn't make them in key situations."
Mistakes were not a problem for Luverne in the game's early stages. A punishing Dragon running attack was.
Litchfield took the game's opening kick and marched 73 yards in 14 plays before Alan Heuring completed the drive with a four-yard touchdown run. Cardinal defender Ryan Goebel kept Litchfield from adding a two-point conversion when he sacked the quarterback.
Litchfield's opening drive, which chewed 6:08 off the clock, was a classic example of power football. The Dragons unleashed 13 running plays, most of them coming between their tackles, during the 14-play possession.
As impressive as Litchfield's offense was during the early part of the game, Luverne's defense dictated play the rest of the way. After yielding five first downs and 73 yards during the opening possession, the Cardinal defense limited the Dragons to 71 yards and three first downs the rest of the night.
Luverne made bids to match Litchfield's opening march with its first two offensive possessions of the game, but both drives stalled in Dragon territory.
The Cards moved the ball to the Litchfield 37-yard line before punting during their first possession. Luverne advanced the ball to the Dragon 23 during its second possession, but a clipping penalty on the Cards forced another punt moments later.
The second punt resulted in what proved to be game-winning play for Litchfield. Dragon Mike Patten made a questionable decision when he caught the kick (in the air) on his own one-yard line. Patten's gamble, however, paid off when he eluded the members of Luverne's punt coverage team during a 99-yard return for a touchdown. A successful Hans Hoeg-to-Patten conversion pass made the difference 14-0 with 9:32 remaining in the second quarter.
The risk Patten took gave Litchfield eight points, but he can be thankful he didn't have to go to the LHS bench after making the big play.
"I would have been all over him," Swanson responded, when asked what he would do if his punt returner fielded a ball on Luverne's two-yard line. "But you have to give him credit because he returned it all the way."
As badly as things were going for LHS in the first half, the Cards were able to cut Litchfield's lead in half (14-7) with their next offensive possession.
Luverne put together a nine-play drive that covered 65 yards and ended with Zach Skattum scoring on a one-yard plunge with 6:42 remaining in the second quarter. James Fisher added the extra point.
Luverne's drive consisted of nine runs. Brad Walgrave had a 20-yard scamper, and Fisher and Skattum added 10-yard gains during the possession.
The teams exchanged punts to start the second half, and Luverne gained outstanding field position when it took over at the Litchfield 31 after the Dragons' first kick.
Luverne's offense moved the ball to the two with five runs, but the sixth play resulted in a fumble when the helmet of a Litchfield player struck the hand Walgrave was holding onto the ball with. Litchfield recovered the loose ball in the end zone for a touchback, and Walgrave was lost for the rest of the game, and possibly longer, with a hand injury.
The Cardinal offense got the ball back after three unsuccessful plays by Litchfield, but an interception three plays into the possession gave Litchfield the ball.
A Litchfield fumble after a pass completion on the first play of its next possession was recovered by Fisher, and LHS moved the ball to the Litchfield 18 before a motion penalty on the Cardinals set up a fourth-and-six situation that wasn't converted with 9:57 left to play.
Luverne got the ball back with 8:47 remaining and advanced the ball to the Dragon 39 before another interception ended a scoring threat with 6:25 remaining.
Litchfield controlled the ball for six plays before punting once again, giving Luverne the ball on its own 31 at the 3:13 mark of the fourth quarter.
From the 31, Luverne put together a 10-play, 69-yard drive featuring 17- and 14-yard pass receptions by Jordan Papik and Luke Iveland respectively. Kyle Crable scored on a four-yard touchdown run with 41 seconds left to play to make it a 14-13 difference but the attempted extra-point kick sailed wide right of its mark.
When Litchfield fielded Luverne's attempt for an on-side kick, the game was over.
"You have to give Litchfield credit because it has a good ball club. We made a lot of mistakes, but our kids played hard, came back and never quit. Hopefully we got all of the mistakes out of our system, and we can learn from this game," Swanson said.
The quest for a Southwest Conference championship continues tomorrow when the Cards host Marshall for Luverne's homecoming game. The Tigers are 1-3 overall and 0-3 in the SWC.
Team statistics
Luverne: 213 rushing yards, 58 passing yards, 271 total yards, 18 first downs, eight penalties for 80 yards, three turnovers.
Litchfield: 99 rushing yards, 45 passing yards, 144 total yards, eight first downs, four penalties for 40 yards, one turnover.
Individual statistics
Rushing: Walgrave 8-65, Skattum 5-17, Fisher 14-46, Crable 5-21, Tony Sandbulte 3-18, Goebel 7-46.
Passing: Fisher 6-13 for 58 yards.
Receiving: Iveland 2-30, Papik 1-17, Tyler Scheidt 1-8, Crable 1-3.
Defense: Fisher one fumble recovery, Goebel one sack, Craig Bosch one sack, Skattum one-half sack, Iveland one-half sack.