Football: Minnewaska sees halftime lead disappear

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The Minnewaska football team held a one-point lead at the half but watched that disappear as Morris dominated the final two quarters to hand the Lakers a 34-7 loss in the season opener last Friday.

Austin Ostrander caught a touchdown pass from Jake Amundson in the second quarter to help give Minnewaska a 7-6 lead. The Tigers bounced back with 28 unanswered points after that behind two touchdown runs from senior Tom Holland.

“The most disappointing part of the game for us was that we just weren’t very physical,” Minnewaska head coach Steve Hill said. “I didn’t think we would get pushed around like we did. Our biggest challenge in trying to improve from week one to week two is going to be to play better fundamentally. We have to get our pad level down and close gaps on defense. We need to get our running game cranked up as well.”

The Lakers ran for just 44 yards on 22 carries. They finished with just six first downs and fumbled the ball five times, losing three of those.

The passing game showed some promise behind Amundson. He finished 11-of-16 for 122 yards. He was intercepted twice but connected with Ostrander four times for 81 yards and the touchdown.

The Lakers held Morris to just 8-of-18 passing and 97 yards through the air. The Tigers didn’t need much from their passing game, though, after rushing for 240 yards on 45 carries.

“We have had some concerns with our secondary,” Hill said. “But they really held up well. We had some mistakes, but overall, Jon Nygaard, Jack Schultenover and Jake Amundson had a good night. Jayden Beecher had a nice interception on the goal line to stop a Morris drive.”

The Lakers will try to bounce back from the loss as they welcome in BOLD for their home opener tonight, Friday, for a 7 p.m. kickoff. The Warriors are 1-0 after beating Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 34-0 in their season opener.

GAME SUMMARY

MORRIS 6 0 14 14 – 34

MINNEWASKA 0 7 0 0 – 7

TEAM STATISTICS – MORRIS – First downs – 19; Rushing – 45-240; Passing – 8-18, 97 yards, 1 interception, 2 TD; Fumbles lost – 2; Penalties – 7-75; MINNEWASKA – First downs – 6; Rushing – 22-44; Passing – 12-22, 137 yards, 2 interceptions, 1 TD; Fumbles lost – 3; Penalties – 3-30

MINNEWASKA OFFENSE – Rushing – Isaiah Adams – 6-21; Amundson – 9-(-7); Jon Nygaard – 1-9; Greg Helander – 2-1; Will Anderson – 1-23; Passing – Amundson – 11-16, 122 yards, 2 interceptions, 1 TD; Receiving – Ostrander – 4-81, TD; Trenton Noetzelman – 3-24; Jayden Beecher – 1-8; Helander – 1-3; Riley Thompson – 1-16

DEFENSE – Nathan Snider – 9 tackles, 6 assisted, 1 TFL; Noetzelman – 5 tackles, 2 assisted, 1 caused fumble, 1 TFL; Adams – 6 tackles, 1 assisted; Ostrander – 3 tackles, 3 assisted; Amundson – 10 tackles; Taylor Lundebrek – 4 tackles, 3 assisted, 1 fumble recovery; JR Formo – 2 tackles, 1 blocked kick; Thompson – 1 tackle; Gary Steffensen – 4 tackles, 5 assisted; Jack Schultenover – 5 tackles, 1 pass breakup; Mike Maus – 1 tackle, 1 pass breakup; Nygaard – 7 assisted; Beecher – 4 tackles, 4 assisted, 1 fumble recovery, 1 fumble caused, 1 interception, 1 pass breakup; Jackson Hendrickson – 1 tackle; Austin VerSteeg – 2 assisted; Luke Nielsen - 1 tackle; Greg Helander – 1 tackle, 1 fumble recovery

Tags: minnewaska sports, sports, lakers, football