Eagles stomp on Luverne

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Making breaks is the sign of a good football team.

Taking advantage of those breaks makes you even better.

Brett Burgau recovered two first quarter Luverne fumbles and the Eagle offense scored off of both those as New Ulm rolled to a 43-15 win over the Cardinals Friday night in nonconference football.

Kevin Neidecker led the Eagle offense, carrying the ball 18 times for 160 yards, including a 79-yard touchdown run and fullback Spencer Dickinson added 114 yards on 18 carries and scored twice.

The Eagle defense forced three Cardinal turnovers in the game as New Ulm dominated Luverne from the start as they scored in every quarter.

"We got a couple of big breaks right away and we captilaized on them," Eagle coach Rick VanRoekel said. "It was nice early on that we got the big plays from our defense and from then on, things went our way."

New Ulm got their first scoring opportunity four plays into Luverne's first offensive series when Burgau recovered an errant pitch from quarterback Andy Stegemann as the Eagles took over on the Cardinal 30 yard line.

From there, New Ulm -- overcoming an offensive holding penalty -- marched in with 6-foot-3, 235 pound fullback Spencer Dickinson barreling in from two yards out six plays later.

Luke Gronewald missed the extra point but the Eagles had a 6-0 lead at the 7:57 mark.

It was deja vu for the Luverne offense again on their next possession as -- again -- four plays into their second offensive series of the night, Burgau again recovered a bad pitch near midfield.

From there, quarterback Jon Koeckeritz -- who was 4-for-6 for 48 yards in the game -- hooked up with wide receiver John Besser for a 24-yard gain. Dickinson and Kevin Neidecker shared carries before Koeckeritz and Besser again hooked up, this time for an eight yard touchdown pass. Dickinsons' two-point conversion run gave the Eagles a 14-0 lead with 1:40 left in the first quarter.

"Jon is a fundamentally strong quarterback -- we give him the ball and half the time you see him and half the time you don't," VanRoekel said. "He knows what he is doing."

Both offenses would stall on drives in the second quarter before the Eagles began a 90-yard drive that ate up almost the final four minutes of the first half.

The drive -- all on the ground -- was courtesy of the tandem of Neidecker and Dickinson. Neidecker carried the ball four times with the workhorse Dickinson totaling 41 yards on six carries, ending when Dickinson hit paydirt from five yards out for a 20-0 lead with just 37 seconds left in the first half.

'Everyone clicked together -- the blocks were there," Dickinson said. "With the blocks from my line. I just kept by legs going and the ball tucked in."

While the Eagles were aided by two Luverne turnovers for their first two scores in the first quarter, it was the speed and elusiveness of Neidecker that all but ended the game.

On the Eagles' first offensive play of the second half, Neidecker took a handoff from Koeckeritz, broke to his right and, aided by blocks from Besser and Burgau, raced 79 yards for a touchdown just 26 seconds into the third quarter.

Luverne cut the lead to 27-8 on a Stegemann to Brandon Deragisch 12-yard TD pass.

But another weapon of the Eagles, kicker Gronewald, gave New Ulm a lift when he connected one 37-yard field goal for a 30-8 lead midway through the third quarter.

Koeckeritz' three yard scoring run would off-set a Tyler Elbers touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

New Ulm then closed out the scoring when Joey Giestfeld hit Gronewald for a 50-yard touchdown pass for a 43-15 lead.

'I was surprised but yet I was not about the 43 points that we scored tonight," VanRoekel said. "We have the explosive backs. This was probably one the better first games offensively that we have played."

Defensively, the Eagles were led by Travis Aufderheide who had five tackles and seven assists. Matt Schneider, Joey Geistfeld and Spencer Dickinson all had four tackles.

The Eagles host BOLD next Saturday at 1 p.m.

LUVERNE 0 0 8 7 -- 15

NEW ULM 14 6 10 13 -- 43

FIRST QUARTER

NEW ULM : Dickinson, two run. PAT: Failed.

NEW ULM : Besser, eight pass from Koeckeritz. PAT; Dickinson, run.

SECOND QUARTER

NEW ULM : Dickinson, five run. PAT: Failed.

THIRD QUARTER

NEW ULM : Neidecker,79 run. PAT: Gronewalk,kick.

LUVERNE: Brandon Deragisch, 12 pass from Stegemann. PAT: Elbers, run.

NEW ULM : Gronewald, 37 field goal.

FOURTH QUARTER

NEW ULM: Koeckeritz, three run .PAT: Gronewald, kick.

FOURTH QUARTER

LUVERNE: Elbers, 26 run; PAT: Pick, kick.

NEW ULM: Gronewald, 50 pass from Geistfeld.PAT: Failed.