Eagles trounce Blue Earth Area 35-0

BY JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Perhaps the story of the game for the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers Saturday in their game with the New Ulm Eagles could be told with the second half kick-off.

Already leading 28-0, the Eagles kicked off to the Bucs. Jason Frey, back to receive Bob Wellmann's kick, had a mental lapse and let the ball roll down to the Bucs' four yard line -- a live ball -- that was recovered by New Ulm's Blake Thorson.

Two plays later, Kevin Neidecker scored his third touchdown of the day from a yard out as the Eagles rolled to a 35-0 pasting of Blue Earth Area.

Neidecker had scores earlier in the game, the first on a 21-yard scoring strike from quarterback Jon Koeckeritz and the second on a 14-yard run.

It was a game that the Eagles dominated on both sides of the ball, totaling 355 yards of offense in the first three quarters.

Defensively, the Purple and White allowed Blue Earth only five first downs in the game -- two in the first half -- and permitted the Bucs only 113 yards offense on the day.

"This was one of those fun games where we played well to start off with," said Eagle coach Rick VanRoekel. "Everybody got to play and contribute -- these are those games that you hope that the kids that have not got a whole lot of playing time during the year get into the game and get some quality playing time. I think that we did that today."

The Eagles, now 4-3 and hosting St. Peter Wednesday at 4:30 p.m., scored on their second possession of the game. Starting on the Bucs 47-yard line, junior quarterback Jon Koeckeritz guided the Eagles on a six play scoring drive which began with an 11-yard run by Kevin Neidecker (97 yards rushing in the game), was aided by a Bucs' offside penalty (one of seven penalties in the game that totaled 75 yards) and ended when Derik Johnson scooted in from 10-yards out on an inside counter.

Luke Gronewald's extra point gave the Eagles a 7-0 lead at the 5:59 mark of the first quarter.

The Eagles pieced together their second scoring drive with 1:05 left in the first quarter.

Beginning on deep in their own territory at the 15-yard line, fullback Spencer Dickinson, who rushed for 92 yards on six carries in the first half, broke loose for a 64-yard run to the Bucs 21 yard line.

On the first play of the second quarter, Koeckeritz hooked up with Neidecker from 21 yards out for a score just 11 seconds into the second quarter. Gronewald's kick made it 14-0.

"I thought that offensively we moved the ball when we had to,' said Van Roekel. "Neidecker did a nice job of running the ball. We did not have to throw that much today but when we did throw, Jon did a nice job of throwing the football."

And it would be Air-Koeckeritz that increased the Eagles' lead to 21-0 when Pete Meier made a spectacular one-handed over the shoulder grab of a Koeckeritz aerial from 37 yards out.

A short punt by the Bucs -- minus eight yards -late in the second quarter set up the Eagles' fourth touchdown of the first half.

New Ulm used a short field to march only 23 yards on two plays when Neidecker scored on a well-disguised draw play from 14-yards out for a 28-0 lead with 41 seconds left in the first half.

While VanRoekel was happy with the offensiver performance, he was especially pleased with the defense.

"Anytime that you can get that goose-egg on the board, that was nice," he said. "The offense put 35 points on the board so this was really a nice win going into the St. Peter game. We got everyone in so we could rest some of our starters. We have not had a shut-out for a while."

BLUE EARTH AREA 0 0 0 0 --0

NEW ULM 7 21 7 0 ­35

FIRST QUARTER

NEW ULM: Johnson, 10 run. PAT: Gronewald, kick.

SECOND QUARTER

NEW ULM : Neidecker, 21 pass from Koeckeritz. PAT: Gronewald, kick..

NEW ULM : Meier, 37 pass from Koeckeritz. PAT: Gronewalk, kick.

NEW ULM : Neidecker,14 run. PAT: Gronewald,kick.

THIRD QUARTER

NEW ULM : Neidecker, one run.PAT: Gronewald, kick.