The Minnewaska Area football team fell to 0-3 for the season with a 35-0 loss at home to Pierz, Friday night.  The Lakers turned the ball over two times in the first half and both times led to Pierz touchdowns.

Pierz, which outgained the Lakers 333-103 in total yards, scored on five of its first six possessions in the first half to take a 35-0 halftime lead and then, with running time in the second half, neither team could find the end zone.

The Lakers, who are 0-2 in the sub-district, are set to play at Howard Lake-WW at 7 p.m., Friday.  There are not easy games for Minnewaska Area this season, but possibly the two best chances at victories for the Lakers this season are games against HLWW and Melrose to end the regular-season.

The Lakers fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter and then put together one of their best drives of the night, a seven-play, 52-yard drive that ended with an interception.  

A pair of long runs set up two more touchdowns for the Pioneers midway through the second quarter, but the Lakers finally forced Pierz to punt on its fifth possession only to have the Pioneers recover a fumble on the subsequent punt with just over three minutes left in the half and go in for a fifth touchdown with about 10 seconds remaining.

Both teams had three possessions in the second half, but neither team could find the end zone.  The Lakers last drive was the best of the night as Waska went 42 yards in 12 plays before giving the ball back on downs at the Pierz 30. 

•  The Lakers had 37 yards on the ground and 66 through the air.  Levi Johnson was 6-for-12 passing with one interception.  He completed two for 13 yards to Austin Ballhagen, two for 17 yards to Zach Gugisberg and one each to Austin Weber and Luke Danielson.

Jack Majerus was the top ballcarrier with 34 yards on six rushes, while Asante Adams had six carries for 18 yards and Kearri Dickens had four rushes for 12 yards.

Pierz 35, at Minnewaska 0

Pierz (2-1) 14 21 0 0 — 35

Waska (0-3) 0 0 0 0 — 0

Team stats Min Pierz

First downs 6 17

Rushes-net yards 23-37 47-277

Pass-cp-int-yds 12-6-1-66 2-2-0-56

Total yards 103 333

Punts-average 5-28 1-35

Penalties-yards 6-35 0-0

Minnewaska statistics

Rushing — MIN-Jack Majerus 6-34, Asante Adams 6-18, Kearri Dickens 4-12, Levi Johnson 7-(-27) . . . (23-37  team) . . .  PIERZ-Reese Young 10-97, Liam Hennessy 8-65, Kyle Winscher 6-45 . . . (47-277 team)

Passing (attempts-comp-intercept-yrds) — MIN-Levi Johnson 12-6-1-66 . . . PIERZ-Kyle Winscher 2-2-0-56

Receiving (catches-total yards) — MIN-Austin Ballhagen 2-13, Zach Gugisberg 2-17, Austin Weber 1-30, Luke Danielson 1-6 . . . PIERZ-Caden Knutson 1-41, Max Barclay 1-15

Punts-average — MIN-Riley Dell 5-28

Returns — MIN-Kickoff-Adams 3-52, Tristan O’Neill 2-38, Dickens 1-14 . . . Punt returns-MIN-Adams 1-(-3)

Defense — Tackles-Unavailable Sacks-UA . . . Interceptions-MIN-None; PIERZ-Barclay 1 . . . Fumble recoveries-MIN-Connor Frey 1

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