×

Mavericks trample Indians in 3A grid playoffs

SHERBURN — The Maverick defense swarmed to the ball, while the offense couldn’t be stopped.

Martin County West beat the Sleepy Eye Indians 51-0 in a Section 3A football quarterfinal matchup Tuesday in Sherburn.

No. 2-seeded MCW (6-3) moves on to host the No. 3-seeded Wabasso Rabbits (7-2) at 3 p.m. Saturday in Sherburn. The Rabbits beat No. 4-seeded Murray County Central 21-14 to reach the semifinal round. Sleepy Eye ends the season with a record of 0-9.

The Mavericks stormed out to a 42-0 lead at halftime, then the teams played with a full running clock in the second half. The Mavericks’ starters did not play a down on offense or defense after halftime.

After MCW’s opening drive stalled out and Alec Weir pinned the Sleepy Eye offense at its own 6 with a driven punt, the defense went to work.

Raine Stade pulled down MCW’s first interception of the day on an attempted running back screen, then powered his way through the pile to the 3.

Jaxson Rohman capitalized with a 3-yard carry for the game’s opening touchdown.

MCW forced a quick 3-and-out before Wyatt Geistfeld led a nine-play 53-yard drive for a score.

Miles Fitzgerald capped the drive with a fullback dive from the 2 for a touchdown.

The Maverick defense took the ball away again on the ensuing drive.

On the second play of the drive, and first after the first-quarter break, Max Olson revoved a fumble at the Indians’ 34 to give the Mavericks another short-field opportunity.

Geistfeld took a shot off the turnover and, after evading defenders in the backfield, got the ball to Connor Simmonds on a crossing route Simmonds took the ball 30 yards down to the Indians’ 4. Rohman carried the ball in on the next play for his second touchdown.

Simmonds was the next MCW defender to make a big play when he intercepted a pass meant for Jacob Meyer at the Mavericks’ 35 and returned it down the visitor sideline for a touchdown to put the Mavericks ahead 28-0 with 5:20 left before halftime.

After the MCW defense forced another 3-and-out, Rohman took the main share of a six-play 66-yard drive.

Rohman caught an 11-yard pass and carried the ball four times for 52 yards on the drive, including a 1-yard scoring run.

MCW scored its final touchdown of the opening half on the ensuing kickoff when the coverage team forced a fumble on a big hit and Joseph Forsberg recovered it at the 10 and scored.

MCW head coach Tom Elliott said though his team was dominant, there are still aspects to be improved upon.

“Anytime you can beat a team like that, you’re happy,” Elliott said. “But we need to come out faster. We came out slow, we didn’t execute on our first offensive drive, we looked sluggish. … That’s something that plagued us against Maple River and it scared us to start the game. As we move through the playoffs, every round is gonna be a tougher opponent. … I hope the kids learn from this. We scored in all three facets of the game and I’m extremely proud of that, but we need to figure out how to start faster.”

MCW forced two more turnovers and scored two more times in the second half.

On the Indians’ opening drive, Andrew Lawrence recovered a fumble that started a six-play scoring drive for the Mavericks.

Forsberg carried the ball four times for 15 yards to set up Weir for a 34-yard field goal attempt, which Weir sent sailing through the uprights.

Forsberg also carried the main share of MCW’s final scoring drive.

He carried the ball five times for 43 yards, including a 20-yard run where he stiff-armed his way through a defender to get to the visiting sideline and scored, putting the Mavericks ahead 51-0 with 2:19 left.

Weir hit six of seven extra point attempts.

Ty Fitzgerald collected the final turnover for MCW when he picked off Indians’ backup quarterback Erizen Traconis to ice the game as time wound down.

Elliott said the defense was able to force the turnovers by taking opportunities when they came.

“We want to be intense on defense and aggressive,” Elliott said. “This week, scouting them, we saw some opportunities where we could take chances and take the fight to them and fortunately that worked out for us. … All in all, the assistant coaches did a great job scouting and the boys were able to go out and execute.”

SE 0 0 0 0 — 0

MCW 14 28 3 6 — 51

Scoring Plays

1st Quarter

MCW–Jaxson Rohman 3 run (Alec Weir kick), 6:02.

MCW–Miles Fitzgerald 2 run (Weir kick), 0:19.

2nd Quarter

MCW–Rohman 4 run (Weir kick), 10:46.

MCW–Connor Simmonds 65 interception return (Weir kick), 5:20.

MCW–Rohman 1 run (Weir kick), 1:55.

MCW–Joseph Forsberg 10 fumble recovery (Weir kick), 1:44.

3rd Quarter

MCW–Weir 34 field goal, 5:25.

4th Quarter

MCW–Forsberg 20 run (kick failed), 2:19.

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs: SE 5; MCW 12. Rushing: SE 27-50; MCW 38-220. Passing: SE 5-14-3-29; MCW 4-7-0-53. Fumbles-lost: SE 9-3; MCW 3-1. Penalties: SE 3-15; MCW 3-15.

INDIVIDUAL STATS: Rushing: Rohman (MCW) 11-91; Forsberg (MCW) 12-76; Ethan Fischer (SE) 13-41. Passing: Kegan Heiderscheidt (SE) 4-11-2-29. Geistfeld (MCW) 4-6-0-53.

Defense: Interceptions: Stade (MCW), Connor Simmonds (MCW), Ty Fitzgerald (MCW). Fumble recoveries: Olson (MCW), Forsberg (MCW), Lawrence (MCW), David Gonzalez (SE).

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]

Starting at $4.65/week.

Subscribe Today