MVL grabs 100th win

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- In last week's 21-14 win over Madelia-Truman last week, Andy Beilke sealed the win with two interceptions late in the fourth quarter.

The junior cornerback liked it do well, that he did it again Friday night.

Beilke latched onto two errant Jesse Vansickle passes in the final three minutes of the game with the first resulting in a Beilke five yard scoring run-- his second of the game -- as Minnesota Valley Lutheran won their fifth straight Gopher/Valley Conference game with a 20-6 win over LCWM.

Beilke's interceptions were two of six turnovers forced by the Charger defense.

Jake Firle had an interception with Nick Hacker, David Petersen and Adam Hoscheit all had interceptions.

The win was also the 100th football win for MVL as a school.

"We got the job done just enough again," said Charger coach Jim Buboltz. "It doesn't have to be pretty every time because tomorrow it will look good as a win."

And the win was not one of the Chargers better overall performances. They had two touchdowns called back -- one on a Karl Struck to Beilke pass for 29 yards and the other on a 96 yard interception return by Adam Hoscheit -- by penalties.

MVL would use one of those six Knight turnovers to ignite their first scoring drive of the evening when Jake Firle recovered a LCWM fumble on their first play from scrimmage at the Knight 17-yard line.

And it took the Chargers eight plays to reach the promised land when Beilke hit for his first touchdown of the night from one yard out and a 7-0 lead following Beilke's conversion kick- a lead that they carried into the second quarter.

LCWM, which totaled only nine yards offense in the first quarter, would slice the lead to 7-6 thanks to the skills of quarterback Matt Sharits. The senior hit on four of five passes for 58 yards which fueled the scoring drive that culminated with a two yard run by Aaron Caven at the 8:58 mark of the second quarter.

"We could not stop that slant pattern all night," Buboltz commented. "Their receivers ran good patterns -- they are tough."

The Chargers, who held a 7-6 halftime lead despite being out-gained by LCWM 133-92 and forcing three turnovers, used a third quarter opening drive to stroll 58 yards in six plays.Karl Struck would hit the end zone on a fourth down and five play from the LCWM 35-yard line. The senior signal-caller rolled to his left, found no one open, and turned a busted play into a 35-yard touchdown run and a 14-6 lead after another Beilke kick.

MVL, which will trek for a big Gopher/Valley Conference game at USC next Friday, used the fifth Knight turnover to set up the Chargers' final touchdown of the game.

On third down from their own 30-yard line, freshman Jesse Vansickle's pass was picked off by Beilke on the 42 yard line and returned to the 12-yard line. From there, it took MVL three plays with Beilke pounding into the end zone with 1:47 left in the game.

Beilke followed that with his second interception 17 seconds later to seal the win.

"We are lucky to get out of here with another win," said Buboltz. "it is good for the conference and also good for our sectional (seedings)."

LCWM 0-6-0-0=6

MVL 7-0-7-6=20

FIRST QUARTER

MVL: Beilke, one run. PAT: Beilke, kick.

SECOND QUARTER

LCWM: Caven, two run. PAT: Failed.

THIRD QUARTER

MVL Struck, 35 run. PAT: Beilke, kick.

FOURTH QUARTER

MVL: Beilke, five run. PAT: Failed.