MVL

Four quarters of solid

football put MVL on top

By BOB VARMETTE

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- For much of the season, the Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers have wondered what it must be like to put four full quarters together as a team. Just to see how well they could play.

They need wonder no longer.

With the No. 4 seed in Section 3-2A, and a first-round home playoff game, on the line, the Chargers put 48 minutes together. MVL pounded the Mountain Lake/Butterfield-Odin Wolverines 28-0 Wednesday afternoon at Johnson Field in Southern Minnesota Conference football.

"We were fortunate enough tonight to put four quarters together where we could control the game," MVL coach Jim Buboltz said. "This was an important game to us -- a playoff-type atmosphere for us. Plus, we have been so close in all the games we had lost."

MVL (4-4, 4-4 SMC) dominated almost the entire game, both offensively and defensively. The Chargers had 300 yards of total offense, rushing for 249 yards on 50 carries, and limited MLBO (5-3, 5-3) to just 107 yards of offense.

Senior running back Joel Russow, running primarily between the tackles, pounded the Wolverines for 87 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. Russow scored on a 2-yard run that gave MVL a 14-0 lead with 4:43 to go in the third quarter; the run capped a 12-play, 61-yard drive on which Russow carried the ball nine times.

"The line did a great job of blocking," Russow said. "The line's communication was much better today. They were picking up blitzes and getting the holes opened. It was all them."

The third-quarter march by MVL that all but ended the game was exactly what the Chargers wanted to do. All 12 plays were running plays; MVL only once faced third down and Russow scored on the drive's only fourth down.

Russow started the march with three straight carries, pounding out gains of five, 10 and nine yards. Russow finished the drive with four straight runs, picking up four-, three- and four-yard gains before crashing through the MLBO line for the touchdown.

The Chargers upped their lead to 21-0 with 45 seconds gone in the fourth quarter when senior quarterback Josh Dettman hit sophomore tight end Nate Nass with a 9-yard touchdown pass, finishing a nine-play, 63-yard drive.

MVL continued its dominance on its final scoring drive with Russow rushing four times before Adam Hoscheit went in from the 3 for a 28-0 MVL margin.

"We worked on some blocking schemes during the week," Buboltz said. "That really helped out. They're talking a lot better and we were able to get a combination out there with (Bryant) Polzin, Tim Nass and Brady Lux, and we went with (Nick) Hacker and (Andrew) Harpestad on the right side, and those five guys really worked well together."

Added Dettman: "The line set the example. They really worked their tails off. And (MLBO) is a really good defensive team. They did it against a quality team. All the credit has to go to our line. They made the holes huge."

The holes were plentiful for Charger runners as Dettman gained 74 yards on 15 carries and Aaron Madson added another 50 yards. But Russow, despite weighing only 160 pounds, made the holes bigger, and when there wasn't a hole, often made his own.

"When he's pounding the ball, and when he keeps his legs moving, and when we can get him through the front line, he's really fun to watch," Buboltz said. "We like that type of football and we'd like to keep doing that."

The Chargers defensive line was just as dominant as their offensive counterparts. MVL allowed only nine first downs and the Wolverines only truly threatened once.

In the second quarter, MLBO went on a 17-play march that took the Wolverines from their own 40 down to the Chargers 12. On the next play, MVL's Adam Dittbenner sacked quarterback Mitchell Schroeder for a seven-yard loss.

A procedure penalty two plays later and a seven-yard loss by running back Kody Karschnik, who led MLBO with just 29 yards on 13 carries, left the Wolverines facing an all-but-impossible fourth-and-23 from the MVL 25. When Schroeder's pass fell incomplete, the Wolverines turned the ball over on downs with 1:55 in the second; MLBO generated almost a third of its total yards on that one drive.

In the fourth quarter, the Wolverines drove as deep as the Chargers 22 on their final drive of the contest. But facing third-and-7 from the MVL 23, Madson intercepted Schroeder in the end zone for a touchback to end the short-lived drive.

"We knew we could put together a full-game effort," Russow said. "We have the talent to do it. Today, we did that."

MVL will host a Section 3-2A first-round game at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Johnson Field. The Chargers will face a team to be determined.

MLBO 0 0 0 0-- 0

MVL 6 0 8 14--28

1st Quarter

MVL--Dettman 3 run (kick failed), 5:23

3rd Quarter

MVL--Russow 2 run (Madson run), 4:43

4th Quarter

MVL--N.Nass 8 pass from Dettman (A.Beilke kick), 11:15

MVL--Hoscheit 3 run (Thiesfeldt kick), 5:11