Senior linemen lead Lourdes past La Crescent-Hokah, into first section title game in 5 years

Oct. 28—ROCHESTER — Collin Weinschenk needed about three seconds and four words to describe Will Roth, his friend and teammate on the Rochester Lourdes offensive and defensive lines.

"The guy's a monster," Weinschenk said with a smile. "Nobody can block him. A monster."

Roth could use the same words to describe Weinschenk's play Saturday. While the all-but-unblockable duo weren't in the La Crescent-Hokah backfield on every play, it probably felt that way to the Lancers.

The two were unofficially in on four sacks and seven tackles for losses as the Eagles made life difficult on Lancers talented quarterback AJ Donovan in a 38-14 Lourdes victory in a Section 1, Class 3A football semifinal game.

The win lifts Lourdes into Friday's 7 p.m. Section 1-3A championship game against top-seeded and top-ranked Stewartville. The location of that game has not yet been determined.

Seniors Mardoche Pierson, Thatcher Bochmann and Eric Nelson, and sophomore Ed Lovely also swarmed to the ball Saturday on nearly every play against the Lancers' offense, which finished with 153 total yards, 75 coming on one long touchdown run late in the fourth quarter.

"It's critical against these good teams with good quarterbacks, we have to get a good rush with our front four," Lourdes head coach Mike Kesler said. "If you blitz too much, you're going to pay heavily.

"I said it in August, the strength of our team is our defensive line, and it is. We need them to continue to play well. They're our leaders and we have to lean on them."

Just 1 minute, 40 seconds into Saturday's game, Roth and Weinschenk combined to make a play that gave Lourdes the momentum for the rest of the first half. La Crescent-Hokah faced a fourth-and-inches play from its own 39-yard line on its fourth snap of the day. Donovan ran a QB sneak in an attempt to get a first down. But Weinschenk met him immediately and Roth was there a split second later. Three more purple jerseys joined the pile at almost the same time and stopped Donovan for no gain.

"Collin is really good. I wish I had his height, but ...," the 6-foot-1 Roth said with a laugh about the 6-5 Weinschenk. "He's really good, one of my best friends. I've known him since second grade. We were (football) teammates the first year we played, in sixth grade and have been buddies since."

What the Eagles defense started, the offense finished. Lourdes running back Caleb Akinbolu ran for 38 yards on the next play, then Eagles quarterback Adam Sellner pushed into the end zone from 1 yard out to put Lourdes up for good.

Sellner scored on two more 1-yard runs in the game, while Lovely added a 1-yard scoring run and a 30-yard field goal, and sophomore standout linebacker Deacon Langsdale intercepted a pass that was tipped at the line and returned it 18 yards for the Eagles' final score, with 6:38 remaining.

Langsdale's score came just 17 seconds after Lourdes capped the backbreaking drive of the game. After a brilliant punt by Donovan pinned the Eagles at their 4, Lourdes methodically drove 96 yards in 19 plays, covering 8 minutes, 55 seconds. Akinbolu did a majority of the work on the drive, rushing 12 times for 97 of his 182 yards in the game. (Lourdes was penalized three times for 25 yards on the drive, allowing Akinbolu to accumulate more rushing yards than the full length of the drive).

"It's huge," Weinschenk said of Lourdes' big early lead, "to have that lead we can lean on a little bit, especially after that second quarter when we struggled a bit. We were able to figure it out and kept scoring."

La Crescent's points came on a 23-yard Donovan-to-Mayes Boyer pass, three plays after Lourdes fumbled in its own end, and a 75-yard run by Brady Grupa with 1:03 to play, after Lourdes had pulled its starting defense.

Now, the Eagles senior class that remembers sitting in the stands and watching Lourdes win section and state titles in 2018 — the last time the Eagles played in a section championship game — finally gets a chance to play for a section title.

"It means a lot," Roth said. "(Our) first section championship since 2018. We really look up to those guys from that year. I remember watching them play as an eighth-grader and just being in that position is really crazy to think about."

Kesler added, about the Eagles' seniors: "It means a lot. They've worked extremely hard. It's been a few years. This group went through the whole thing — as eighth graders watching, then two years with the COVID mess. But I can't thank these guys enough for all they've done to get us to this point. I'm excited to see what we can do."

The Eagles also now have six days to recover physically and mentally after — like most teams in the state — playing three times in 11 days.

"A lot of quick turnarounds have been really tough on the body," Roth said, "so it's finally good to be able to ice up and rest for a whole week instead of three or four days."

LOURDES 38, La CRESCENT-HOKAH 14

La Crescent-Hokah 0-0-7-7 — 14

Rochester Lourdes 14-7-3-14 — 38

First Quarter

LRDS — Adam Sellner 1 run (Ed Lovely kick) 9:45.

LRDS — Lovely 1 run (Lovely kick) 2:58.

Second Quarter

LRDS — Sellner 1 run (Lovely kick) 9:32.

Third Quarter

L-H — Bayes Moyer 23 pass from AJ Donovan (Donovan kick) 10:41.

LRDS — Lovely 30-yard FG 4:44.

Fourth Quarter

LRDS — Sellner 1 run (Lovely kick) 6:55.

LRDS — Deacon Langsdale 18 interception return (Lovely kick) 6:38.

L-H — Brady Grupa 75 run (Donovan kick) 1:03.

TEAM TOTALS

L-H — LRDS

First Downs 8 — 22

Total Yards 153 — 397

Rushes-Yards 16-60 — 64-333

Passing Yards 93 — 64

Comp.-att.-int. 11-29-2 — 4-6-0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 — 3-2

Penalties-Yards 4-25 — 9-85

Punts-Avg. 5-27.2 — 1-36.0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

L-H — Brady Grupa 2-70, 1 TD; Jaden George 7-13; Parker McQuin 2-(minus-2); AJ Donovan 5-(minus-22). LRDS — Caleb Akinbolu 27-182; Adam Sellner 13-63, 3 TDs; Ed Lovely 10-48, 1 TD; Max Pederson 9-31; Abe Lovely 1-5; Sutton Fix 1-3; Chase Carroll 1-5, Lucas Brooks 1-(minus-4); Team 1-(minus-4).

Passing

L-H — AJ Donovan 11-29-2, 93 yards, 1 TD. LRDS — Adam Sellner 4-6-0, 64 yards.

Receiving

L-H — Drew Todd 1-1; Brady Grupa 7-50; Alex Von Arx 2-19; Mayes Boyer 1-23, 1 TD. LRDS — Trevor Heindel 3-48; Ed Lovely 1-16.