Football Roundup: Willmar Cardinals can't get on track at Rocori

Oct. 1—COLD SPRING — Rocori likes to keep its Saturdays open.

But with lightning storms rolling through the state Friday night, the Skyway Green District football game between the ninth-ranked (Class AAAA) Spartans and Willmar was suspended until 1 p.m. Saturday back at Blattner Stadium.

"It's never ideal when you have to come back out and finish a game," said Rocori head coach James Herberg. "We just embraced it. We told the guys we get to play football with our family on a Saturday."

When play resumed, the Spartans' defense resumed their dominance with a third straight shutout in a 24-0 victory.

The Cardinals resumed the suspended game, looking at 2nd-and-10 from their 20-yard line with 3 minutes, 29 seconds left in the third quarter.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing for me," Willmar head coach Jon Konold said of the restart. "I've never had that happen before. You don't know how kids are going to react."

Rocori's defense set the tone by forcing Willmar to punt. On the ensuing drive, Rocori went ahead 21-0 after a 4-yard touchdown run by Colten Phillipp with 11:03 left to play. Andy Pedroza tacked on a 24-yard field goal with 5:21 remaining.

"We didn't come out with the fire that I hoped we would," Konold said. "It's a tough situation for everyone. Being down 14 with the limited time we had, it's tough to come back in those situations. But we have to be focused and ready to go."

Dylan Thompson paced Rocori's run game with 90 yards on 23 carries. Will Steil ran for 43 yards on 11 attempts and also completed 9 of 15 passes for 111 yards. Grant Tylutki was his top target with four catches and 63 yards.

The Spartans' defense held Willmar to 98 rushing yards on 20 attempts. The Cardinals' running back, Ramero Trevino, had 54 yards on eight carries. Tylutki added an interception for Rocori's defense in the fourth quarter.

"If you can slow someone's run game down and make them more one-dimensional, it puts you in a position where you can give any quarterback fits," Herberg said. "It all starts with our defense and putting them in long downs-and-distances."

Hoping for a spark on offense, sophomore Jordan Ellingson took over at starting quarterback. Taking over for senior Cullen Gregory, who moved to tight end/H-back on offense and linebacker on defense, Ellingson was 13 of 27 passing for 66 yards. He also ran for 38 yards on seven attempts.

"He did some positive things and he did some things that weren't so positive," Konold said of Ellingson. "He took care of the football, that's the number one thing, and he was in the moment. I thought he handled the situation well.

"He's going to make mistakes of being a starting quarterback starting his first game against a top-10 team in the state. He made some plays with his feet and got some first downs. Everyone else has got to rally around him now and get better moving forward."

Rocori (4-1) travels to Becker at 7 p.m. next Friday.

"We're going through the gantlet," Herberg said. "When the schedule first came out, we were like, holy cow. There's all these tough games coming up. It's going to be fun but we're still finding out who we are."

Willmar (1-4) returns to Hodapp Field at 7 p.m. next Friday to play Hutchinson.

"I saw some positive things from (Friday) night and today moving forward that we can build on and get better," Konold said.

Willmar (1-4) 0 0 0 0 — 0

Rocori (4-1) 0 7 7 10 — 24

Scoring Plays

R — Will Steil 5 run (Andy Pedroza kick)

R — Nate Soldner 10 blocked punt return (Pedroza kick)

R — Colten Phillipp 4 run (Pedroza kick)

R — Pedroza 24 field goal

First downs: n/a ... Penalties: n/a ... Rushing (Individual and team): Will Steil 11-43, Dylan Thompson 23-90, Colten Phillipp 9-31, Andrew Soldner 1-1, Matthias Nierenhausen 1-2. Total: 45-167 ... Passing (Individual and team): Steil 9-15-1 111 ... Receiving: Grant Tylutki 4-63, Andy Pedroza 1-7, Soldner 3-25, Kyle Honer 1-16 ... Interceptions: Tylutki 1 ... Fumble recoveries: none ... Tackles (solo-assist): n/a ... QB sacks: n/a

First downs: n/a ... Penalties: n/a ... Rushing (Individual and team): Ramero Trevino 8-54, Conlan Carlson 4-6, Cullen Gregory 1-0, Jordan Ellingson 7-38. Total: 20-98 ... Passing (Individual and team): Ellingson 13-27-1 66 ... Receiving: Jackson Schnichels 5-29, Braeden Fagerlie 3-13, Trevino 2-3, Gregory 1-11, Dylan Staska 1-4 ... Interceptions: Matt Mohr 1 ... Fumble recoveries: none ... Tackles (solo-assist): n/a ... QB sacks: none

The Litchfield Dragons upended Dassel-Cokato, the No. 1-ranked team in Class AAA, at Litchfield.

The Dragons got touchdown runs from TJ Christensen and Lukas Kuehl to go along with two Garrison Jackman point-after touchdown kicks.

Monte Gillman and Kobee Thielen scored on TD runs for the Chargers, who missed their PAT on their second touchdown. At that point, D-C took a 13-7 lead.

Then came Kuehl's one-yard plunge and Jackman's kick in the fourth quarter to put Litchfield up 14-13 with what proved to be the game-winner.

Litchfield plays at 7 p.m. Friday at Watertown-Mayer. The Royals are trailing New London-Spicer 16-0 in the first half at New London. That game resumes at 5 p.m. Friday in New London.

D-C (4-1) 0 7 6 0 — 13

Litchfield (4-1) 7 0 0 7 — 14

Scoring Plays

L — TJ Christensen 4 run (Garrison Jackman kick)

DC — Monte Gillman 1 run (Tristan Brockoff kick)

DC — Kobee Thielen 4 run (kick failed)

L — Lukas Kuehl 1 run (Jackman kick)

Montevideo piled up 327 yards rushing on 51 carries to storm past the Sauk Centre Mainstreeters at Montevideo.

Francis O'Malley had 27 carries for 143 yards and a touchdown rushing for the Thunder Hawks. He also took a kick-off return 85 yards for a touchdown.

Montevideo plays at 7 p.m. Friday at Minnewaska Area in Glenwood.

Sauk Centre (2-3) n/a n/a n/a n/a — 28

Montevideo (3-2) n/a n/a n/a n/a — 64

Scoring Plays

M — Landon Olson 8 run (Gavin Arends run)

M — Griffin Epema 12 pass from name unavailable (2-point failed)

M — Olson 10 run (Hensel Andino kick)

M — Epema 16 pass from Boike (Gabe Lindeman run)

SC — Jay Neubert 25 pass (Neubert run)

SC — Neubert 4 pass (2-point failed)

M — Francis O'Malley 85 kickoff return (Olson run)

SC — Name unavailable 2 run (Neubert run)

SC — Neubert 1 pass (2-point failed)

M — O'Malley 10 run (Olson run)

M — Boike 1 run (Andino kick)

M — Jaxon Wagner 14 run (2-point failed)

Stats not available

First downs: 20 ... Penalties: 10-143 ... Rushing (Individual and team): Francis O"Malley 27-143, Landon Olson 11-83, Gavin Arends 6-43, Carson Boike 4-39, Jaxon Wagner 1-14. Total: 51-327 ... Passing (Individual and team): Boike 3-6-0 38. Total: 4-8-0 50 ... Receiving: Griffin Epema 2-28, Arends 1-13, Olson 1-9 ... Interceptions: O'Malley 2, Boike 1, Olson 1 ... Fumble recoveries: Christian Nohrenberg 1 ... Tackles (solo-assist): O'Malley 8-1, Epema 7-0, Boike 4-0, Olson 4-1, Errands 4-0, Tosten Christenson 4-0 ... QB sacks: none

Brady Dahlager and Andrew Flaten each had big rushing totals in Yellow Medicine East's victory over Lakeview at Cottonwood.

Dahlager ran 21 times for 142 yards and two touchdowns. Flatten rushed 10 times for 132 yards and two more TDs. He also completed 3 of 6 passes for 71 yards and a touchdown to Owen Cherveny, who connected with Flaten for a 39-yard score. Cherveny also had a 65-yard TD run.

The Sting play BOLD at 7 p.m. Friday in Granite Falls.

YME (2-3) 14 3 6 20 — 43

Lakeview (1-4) 0 0 0 16 — 16

Scoring Plays

Y — Owen Cherveny 39 pass from Andrew Flaten (Moises Hidalgo kick)

Y — Brady Dahlager 37 run (Hidalgo kick)

Y — Dahlager 3 run (Hidalgo kick)

Y — Hidalgo 27 field goal

Y — Flaten 18 run (kick failed)

Y — Cherveny 65 run (Hidalgo kick)

Y — Flaten 53 run (kick failed)

L — Ethan Staab 39 run (2-point good)

L — Name unavailable 1 run (2-point good)

First downs: 8 ... Penalties: 3-25 ... Rushing (Individual and team): Brady Dahlager 21-142, Andrew Flaten 10-132, Owen Cherveny 5-69, Moises Hidalgo 3-7. Total: 39-350 ... Passing (Individual and team): Flaten 3-6-1 71 ... Receiving: Cherveny 1-41, Connor Fagen 1-27 ... Interceptions: Cherveny 1 ... Fumble recoveries: Dahlager 1, Fagen 1, Adam Stengel 1 ... Tackles (solo-assist): Cooper McCosh 8-2, Flaten 6-1, Dahlager 5-1, Hidalgo 4-3, Fagen 4-1 ... QB sacks: none

Stats not available

Top-ranked (Class A) Minneota ran for 257 yards and six touchdowns in a shutout victory over MACCRAY at Maynard.

The Vikings also had a pair of interception returns for touchdowns by Parker Bradley and Chase Johnson. Minneota forced five turnovers in the victory.

MACCRAY heads to Madison at 7 p.m. Friday to play Lac qui Parle Valley.

Minneota (5-0) 14 21 14 7 — 56

MACCRAY (2-3) 0 0 0 0 — 0

Scoring Plays

Min — Ryan Meagher 4 run (Ian Myhre kick)

Min — Meagher 18 run (Myhre kick)

Min — Destin Fier 8 run (Myhre kick)

Min — Meagher 5 run (Myhre kick)

Min — Parker Bradley 39 interception return (Myhre kick)

Min — Max Rost 58 run (Myhre kick)

Min — Andrew Lipinski 2 run (Myhre kick)

Min — Chase Johnson 17 interception return (Myhre kick)

First downs: 20 ... Penalties: 5-41 ... Rushing (Individual and team): Max Rost 2-12, Lucas Rybinski 3-41, Ryan Meagher 14-145, Andrew Lipinski 2-11, Easton Johnson 1-4, Destin Fier 5-27, Kellen Bradley 1-9. Total: 29-257 ... Passing (Individual and team): Ryan Dalager 6-13-2 152, Brody Larson 2-4-0 7. Total: 8-17-2 159 ... Receiving: Rost 2-78, Rybinski 1-10, Keaton Jurrens 1-8, D. Fier 1-(-1), Sawyer DeSmet 3-64 ... Interceptions: Chase Johnson 1, Larson 1, Brock Fier 1, Parker Bradley 1 ... Fumble recoveries: Team 1 ... Tackles (solo-assist): n/a ... QB sacks: Team 2

First downs: 6 ... Penalties: 2-23 ... Rushing (Individual and team): Michael Thein 5-15, Blake Grimsley 2-8, Andre Gates 2-(-1), Grant Meyer 3-(-9), Sebastian Cisneros 21-47. Total: 33-60 ... Passing (Individual and team): Thein 7-20-4 40, Grimsley 1-2-0 5. Total: 8-22-4 45 ... Receiving: Isaac Post 1-9, Wyatt Swenson 3-17, Brady Heiling 1-6, Grimsley 2-8, Daniel Sietsema 1-5 ... Interceptions: Swenson 1, Gates 1 ... Fumble recoveries: Peyton Schlagel 1, Gates 1 ... Tackles (solo-assist): Sawyer Janssen 3-2, Swenson 4-0, Riley Roskens 2-2, Ethan Strommer 1-3, Gates 2-2 ... QB sacks: none

Canby took the lead late against Lac qui Parle Valley to lock up a victory late Friday at Canby.

Davis Patzer completed 11 of 19 passes for 120 yards for the Eagles in the loss. His top target was Peyton Rademacher with three catches and 44 yards.

LQPV is host to MACCRAY at 7 p.m. Friday at Madison.

LQPV (1-4) 0 6 0 6 — 12

Canby (4-1) 0 7 0 8 — 15

Scoring Plays

C — Name unavailable 80 run (Dylan Houseman kick)

L — Kaden Molden 6 run (kick failed)

L — Peyton Rademacher 20 pass from Davis Patzer (2-point failed)

C — Name unavailable 12 run (2-point good)

First downs: 9 ... Penalties: 6-64 ... Rushing (Individual and team): TJ Mitchell 4-16, Landon Weber 7-15, Davis Patzer 5-13, Kaden Molden 1-6, Dylan Keimig 1-1. Total: 18-51 ... Passing (Individual and team): Patzer 11-19-1 120, Molden 0-1-1 0. Total: 11-20-2 120 ... Receiving: Molden 3-45, Peyton Rademacher 3-44, Mitchell 2-11, Kayden Kessler 1-4, Weber 1-(-1) ... Interceptions: Kessler 1 ... Fumble recoveries: Team 2 ... Tackles (solo-assist): n/a ... QB sacks: Tyler Erp 1

Stats not available