New Ulm falls short against Waseca

By DOUG MONSON

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- The night came down to this, stop Waseca's running game and have a chance to win the game, or fold and go home with a loss -- unfortunately the New Ulm Eagles folded.

The Eagles opened Friday night's game against the Bluejays hoping to knock off the South Central Conference leaders and secure a homecoming win, but a powerful second half running game foiled the Eagles hopes and dropped the team to 2-3.

In a game of field position, the final drive became important to the Bluejays, who used an early second half Eagle timeout to their advantage and marched down the field, eating yards and clock. The drive ended on a Jeremy Peterson, second-effort touchdown run from the Eagle one yard line.

Waseca coach Joel Hayford said he was happy with his teams win because they expected the Eagles defense to be stingy.

"This is an excellent New Ulm team. They're physical, aggressive and play tough," Hayford said. "I guess we just found a chink in their game."

New Ulm opened the game fast, moving the ball down to the Bluejays 20-yard line before stalling. But on fourth down, the Eagles managed to find the endzone on a pass from Bob Wellmann to Matt Suess at10:28; Luke Gronewold added the extra point to give the Eagles a 7-0 lead.

The Bluejays responded, however, marching down the field and finishing the drive on a pass from John Kaminski to Matt Thompson at 7:45 in the first. A Dustin LaRue extra point tied the game at seven.

The game remained tied until the third quarter when Kaminski added another touchdown at 11:23.

On that drive, New Ulm looked as though they were poised to make a stop when Wellman nearly intercepted a pass by Kaminski to force the Bluejays to a third and nine, but Kaminski hooked up with running back Chas Benson for 13 yards to move the Bluejays to the Eagles' 11-yard line.

Jeremy Peterson rumbled to the one yard line before Kaminski finished off the drive with the touchdown.

Wellman said the loss was disappointing for the Eagles, but he said he hopes the team can remain positive.

"It's a tough one," Wellman said. "We said before that this game was going to be for the conference (championship)."

Wellman lead the Eagles offensive attack, connecting twice to Suess on the night, and moving the chains in the second half after the Eagles running game sputtered and the team lost its lead.

Wellman finished the night with two touchdown passes and one interception by Scott Kaminski after the ball bounced off the hands of Eagles running back Tom Bergstrom. But the night belonged to the Bluejays rushing attack, which exploded and keyed the second half run for the Bluejays.

Hayford said he prefers to run the I-formation, but the Eagles defense keyed on the run early and caused Hayford to use three running backs in the backfield.

"If we're not successful in the 'I' we'll try and mix things up," Hayford said. "They've got a great defense and we found ourselves running away from Travis Aufderheide all night."

Aufderheide and Jon Rewitzer anchored the Eagles defense, which played tough in the first half but couldn't find an answer to the Bluejays attack.

The win keeps the Bluejays undefeated in conference play and pushes their record to 4-1 overall.

The Eagles will look for a chance to rebound when they take to the road for a 7 p.m. game Oct. 4 at Fairmont.