St. James 06-14-00-12 = 32
Windom 06-08-08-00 = 22
Two late St. James touchdowns Friday night doomed  the Windom Eagles in a 32-22 loss at Island Park.
The Saints scored a pair of touchdowns in the final quarter, sealing the win with a score with 1:03 left on the clock.
Windom committed three turnovers in the game, including two in the fourth quarter.
Things started well for the Eagles. After a Stevie Meyer interception on the Saints’ first drive of the game, Windom struck first on a 34-yard touchdown strike from Quintin Tietz to Tucker Renquist for a 6-0 lead.
St. James answered, scoring on a 37-yard touchdown pass of its own to tie the game at 6-6.
The Saints then started to wear the Eagle defense down on the ground, using a nine-play, 80-yard drive to score on a 5-yard touchdown run for a 13-6 lead.
Windom answered right back, scoring on a 59-yard pass from Tietz to Kevin Bleess. Tietz hit Karson LaCanne for the two-point conversion and a 14-13 lead.
St. James regained the lead before halftime, scoring on an 8-yard run for a 20-14 lead.
After the Saints forced a Windom punt to start the second half, the Eagle defense came up big. Bleess intercepted a pass and returned it 55 yards for a touchdown. The two-point conversion pass from Tietz to Bleess gave the Eagles a 22-20 lead.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Eagle offense bogged down, leading to a punt. St. James went 12 plays, covering 71 yards – all on the ground – to take the lead on a 5-yard touchdown run with 6:12 to play.
Windom fumbled the ball away on its ensuing possession, but St. James saw its drive stall and was forced to punt. But an interception on Windom’s next play from scrimmage set up a short drive, capped with a 5-yard touchdown run to seal the win for the Saints.
Meyer led the Eagles on the ground, rushing 10 times for 34 yards. Tietz completed 5-of-15 passes for 103 yards. Bleess had one catch for 59 yards.
CM 00-08-08-06-06 = 28
MLA 00-00-22-00-00 = 22
For the second week in a row, Mt. Lake Area’s offense couldn’t find the end zone down the stretch, as Cedar Mountain claimed a 28-22 overtime victory over the Wolverines at Munson Field.
MLA trailed 8-0 at halftime, but battled back in the third quarter. Jake Evers got the Wolverines on the board with a 2-yard touchdown run.
Then, trailing 16-6, the Wolverines scored on a 12-yard Evan Karschnik touchdown run and two-point conversion. Then, late in the third, Evers intercepted a pass and returned it 36 yards for a score. The two-point conversion gave MLA a 22-16 lead.
Cedar Mountain rallied to tie the game at 22-22 late, but the Wolverines had a chance to win in the closing seconds, but saw a 25-yard field goal attempt as time expired drift wide.
In overtime, the Cougars stopped the Wolverines on downs. On Cedar Mountain’s first play of overtime, quarterback Cooper Freitag scored on a 10-yard run, ending the game.
Evers rushed 28 times for 172 yards. Karschnik added 105 yards on 18 carries.
Evers completed 3-of-5 passes for 30 yards. Karschnik had two catches for 11 yards.
Next games: Check for updates after each game.
Windom: at MCC (Slayton), Sept. 15
MLA: at HLOF (Fulda), Sept. 15
RRC: at Kingsland (Spring Valley), Sept. 9
