Eden Valley-Watkins went up 36-0 after one quarter on the way to a 50-14 victory over Minnewaska Area last Wednesday night at EVW.  Minnewaska Area did rebound to outscore the home team 14-8 in the second half, but it was much too little, too late.

The Lakers ended the regular-season with an 0-8 record, while EVW is 8-0 going into the playoffs, which are set to begin this week.

Minnewaska earned the seventh seed in Section 6AAA and was set to play at second-seeded Albany (5-3) at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 25 (tomorrow).

Top-seeded NLS, third-seeded Morris Area and fourth-seeded Pierz all lost their final regular-season game to allow Albany to move up to No. 2.

If the Lakers can pull off the upset win over Albany, they would move on to play again Saturday against the winner of the  Morris vs. Montevideo matchup.  

The Section 6AAA championship is set for Friday, Nov. 4 at a place and time yet to be determined.  See this week’s Speaking of Sports column on page 2B for more information about the football playoffs. 

EVW 50, Minnewaska 14

EV-Watkins stayed unbeaten with a 50-14 home win over Minnewaska Area last Wednesday night. EVW scored touchdowns on its first six drives to go up 36-0 after one quarter and 42-0 early in the second quarter before the Lakers finally got on the board with a touchdown late in the third quarter.

PJ Johnson hit Austin Ballhagen for a 24-yard touchdown pass and, after EVW scored again to close out the third quarter, the Lakers added one more score on a 33-yard touchdown run by Myles Reichmann.

EVW gained 349 total yards, including 202 on the ground and 147 through the air, while the Lakers had 177 total yards, including 148 yards rushing.

EVW ran only 36 offensive plays and had 14 first downs, averaging almost 10 yards per offensive play, while the Lakers ran 44 plays from scrimmage and had eight first downs.

Nolan Gieslinger completed 4-of-6 passes for 85 yards and three touchdowns, while Sam Nistler ran five times for 85 yards and one touchdown, Carter Scheeler rushed four times for 88 yards and Parker Schultz caught at least two passes for 102 yards and two scores.

For Minnewaska, Myles Reichmann  had half of his team’s yardage, carrying the ball 14 times for 89 yards, while Cole Baker ran five times for 27 yards and PJ Johnson picked up 11 yards on four carries while also completing 2-of-5 passes for 29 yards with one interception.

Austin Ballhagen and Austin Weber both had one reception for the Lakers, while Hunter Kloos punted five times for a 23.4 yard average and Noah Jensen recovered a fumble.

at EVW 50, Waska 14

Minnewaska (0-8) 0 0 6 8 — 14

EV-Watkins (8-0) 36 6 8 0 — 50

Team stats Min EVW

First downs 8 14

Rushes-net yards 39-148 28-202

Pass-cp-int-yds 5-2-1-29 8-5-0-147

Total yards 177 349

Punts-average 5-23.4 1-25

Fumbles-lost 1-0 3-1

Penalties-yards 3-26 3-15

Minnewaska statistics

Rushing — MIN-Myles Reichmann 14-89, Cole Baker 5-27, Jack Majerus 3-11, PJ Johnson 4-11, Levi Johnson 1-5, Chase Boelke 12-5 . . . EVW-Sam Nistler 5-85, Carter Scheeler 4-88, Caden Nieman 5-21, Max Gieslinger 4-14

Passing (attempts-comp-intercept-yrds) — MIN-PJ Johnson 5-2-1-29 . . . EVW-Nolan Gieslinger 6-4-0-85, Nistler 1-1-0-62, Scheeler 1-0-0-0

Receiving (catches-yards) — MIN-Austin Ballhagen 1-24, Austin Weber 1-5 . . . EVW-Parker Schultz 2-102, Nistler 1-35

Punts-average — MIN-Hunter Kloos 5-23.4

Returns — MIN-Kickoff-Weber 3-64, Majerus 2-25, Kearri Dickens 2-10, Levi Johnson 1-0 . . . Punt returns-Levi Johnson 1-0

Defense — Tackles-Unavailable . . . Sacks-None . . . Interceptions-None . . Fumble recoveries-Noah Jensen 1