MVL tames Panthers

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- For their first two games in Gopher/Valley Conference play, the Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers had not allowed any points and were unbeaten.

Saturday afternoon, New Richland/Heartland-Ellendale-Geneva broke that scoring shutout and nearly accomplished knocking off the Chargers.

Alex Schuh knocked down Panther quarterback Bjorn Peterson at the NRHEG 38-yard line on a fourth down play with 17 seconds left as MVL hung on to top the Panthers 19-14 Saturday afternoon in Gopher/Valley Conference action.

MVL had held a 19-7 lead late in the fourth quarter until the Panthers conpleted an 86-yard,10- play scoring drive to pull to within 19-14 with 1:18 left.

NRHEG then recovered an onside kick and moved into Charger territory before Schuh nailed Panther quarterback Bjorn Peterson for the second time to preserve the win.

"Our kids played hard the entire game," Charger head coach Jim Buboltz said. "It was a fine defensive effort outside of two plays."

The Chargers, who will host Maple River next Saturday at 2 p.m. for their Homecoming, used their first offensive series to take a 6-0 lead.

Taking over deep in Panther territory on a punt that went out of bounds on the line of scrimmage, the Chargers used a short field to go just 25 yards for a touchdown when Grant Holzhueter walzed into the end zone untouched at the 8:36 mark.

"Grant really looked good back there," Buboltz said. "He looks like he is getting comfortable in the backfield - he is starting to get his feet back under him (13 carries for 75 yards in the game). I thought that our whole backfield looked good."

On thier next drive,quarterback Andy Beilke started from their own 43 and hit Andrew Shoop for a 15-yard gain. Beilke (20 carries, 92 yards in the game) followed by breaking off a 20-yard run to the Panther 22-yard line. MVL advanced the ball to the eight yard line converting on a fourth down and one situation.

Three plays later, Beilke rollled right and found Nate Nass for a five yard touchdown pass. The point after agan failed but MVL had a 12-0 lead with 2:53 left in the first quarter.

NRHEG would break a nine quarter-plus shutout by the Charger defense in the Gopher/Valley Conference for a touchdown.

Aided by two penalties against the Chargers, the Panthers got good field position on the Charger 43-yard line. An offside call on MVL moved the ball to the 38-yard line. One play later, Peterson hit Jake Bushlack down the left sideline for a 38-uard touchdown pass at the 5:32 mark. Dan Lewer's kick pulled the Panthers to within 12-7.

'I think that when they scored on us, it may have shocked us if just for a second," Buboltz said. "But then we had a nice drive that ended on a fumble. However, we got some momentum back in the third quarter when we scored on our first possession."

That came courtesy of sophmore Ryan Timm who capped off a 55-yard, nine play drive with a four yard gallop into the end zone at the 7:36 mark. Andy Beilke's kick made it 19-7.

Turnovers were the story for both teams late in that third quarter as both Nate Nass and Carl Pederson each picked off Panther aerials while Andy Beilke was victimized by a Ben Groth interception early in the fourth quarter.

The Panthers recorded their second score of the game when Peterson caught a pass from Bushlack to pull the Panthers to within 19-14.

"They scored against our second team defense. We were trying to get some more kids into the game," Buboltz said. "Maybe it was to early to put them in but the big thing was that our kids played hard. And we got over 200 yards rushing, and we won."

Dustin Lange led the Chargers with seven tackles with Andy Beilke ending with five solo stops and Kyle Compart with six solo tackles.

NRHEG 0 7 0 7 14

MVL 12 0 7 0 19

FIRST QUARTER

MVL: Holzhueter, five run. PAT: Failed.

MVL :Nass, five pass from Beilke. PAT: Failed.

SECOND QUARTER

NREG: Bushlack, 38 pass from Peterson. PAT: Lewer,kick.

THIRD QUARTER

MVL: Timm, four run.PAT: Beilke, kick.

FOURTH QUARTER

NRHEG: Peterson 26 pass from Bushlack.PAT: Lewer,kick.