The Minnewaska Area Lakers earned their second win of the season last Wednesday night during a 28-6 victory over the Melrose Dutchmen.

The Lakers dominated the game, earning advantages of 16-10 in first downs and 363-161 in total yards.

Minnewaska Area, which finished the regular-season 2-6 overall and 2-5 in the sub-district, scored on its first two possessions of the game and, after Melrose scored its lone touchdown on a long drive to open up the second half, the Lakers scored twice more to seal the win.

Among the leaders for the Lakers were Jack Majerus, who had 94 yards rushing, Levi Johnson, who passed for 207 yards and scored on two runs and Myles Reichmann, one of the leaders on defense who had an interception and fumble recovery.

Although the Lakers threw three interceptions, they also forced two fumbles and two interceptions.

“The guys came ready to play and I’m very proud of their efforts tonight,” coach Jared Lyle said.  “We came out strong and played great on offense, defense and special teams.  It was a great team win and should give us a big push going into the playoffs.”

Minnewaska Area earned the fifth seed in the upcoming Section 6AAA Tourney and are set to face fourth-seeded Sauk Centre at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 24 (tomorrow).

NLS earned the top seed, followed by Albany, Montevideo, Sauk Centre, Minnewaska and Melrose.If the Lakers beat Sauk Centre, they would play at top-seeded NLS, Saturday.

•  The Lakers piled up 363 yards of total offense on the way to a 28-6 victory at Melrose last Wednesday.

Luke Danielson, who had two catches for 72 yards, opened up the scoring with a 59-yard touchdown pass from Levi Johnson followed by the first of four Zach Gugisberg extra-points.

Later in the first quarter, Carter Meyer scored from two yards out to increase the Lakers lead to 14-0 after another extra-point.

After a scoreless second quarter, Melrose went on a nine-play, 77-yard touchdown drive to close the gap to 14-8.  

Following a long kickoff return from Kiearra Dickens, the Lakers proceeded to go on a 7-play, 44-yard scoring drive of their own to up the lead to 21-6.

Levi Johnson scored the Lakers’ third touchdown on a five-yard run and also added a 13-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter for the final score of the game.

Jack Majerus had a big game with 94 yards on 22 carries, while Meyer had 25 yards on eight rushes and Johnson had 26 yards on six carries.

Johnson also completed 10-of-16 passes for 207 yards with three interceptions.  Austin Ballhagen had five of those catches for 57 yards, while Danielson had two, Owen Meuelebroeck also had two for 38 yards and Tristan O’Neill had one for a 40-yard gain.

On defense, Meyer and Reichmann had fumble recoveries for the Lakers, while Austin Weber and Reichmann had interceptions, and the Lakers also had five sacks with Kaiden Harvey recording two and Meyer, Asante Adams and Dickens each ending with one.

The 28 points scored by the Lakers is a season-high.  The Lakers have scored 109 points while giving up 269.  In addition, the two wins this year is one more than the team has had in the last two seasons combined.  With the talent coming up, expect more wins in the future.

Waska 28, at Melrose 6

Waska (2-6) 14 0 7 7 — 28

Melrose (0-8) 0 0 6 0 — 6

Min — Luke Danielson 59-pass from Levi Johnson (Zach Gugisberg kick)

Min — Carter Meyer 2-run (Gugisberg kick)

MEL — Hudson Bitz 4-pass from Logan Schad (pass failed)

Min — Levi Johnson 5-run (Gugisberg kick)

Min — Johnson 13-run (Gugisberg kick)

Team stats Min MEL

First downs 16 10

Rushes-net yards 38-156 21-40

Pass-cp-int-yds 16-10-3-207 22-12-2-121

Total yards 363 161

Fumbles lost 0-0 3-2

Punts-average 1-23 1-53

Penalties-yards 7-79 6-45

Minnewaska statistics

Rushing — MIN-Jack Majerus 22-94, Levi Johnson 6-26, Carter Meyer 8-25, Myles Reichmann 1-14, Austin Ballhagen 1-(-3) . . .  MEL-Samuel Wehlage 2-36, Hudson Bitz 6-14, Jackson Mayers 6-10

Passing (attempts-comp-intercept-yrds) — MIN-Levi Johnson 16-10-3-207. . . MEL-Logan Schad 18-12-2-167; Hudson Bitz 4-0-0-0

Receiving (catches-yards) — MIN-Ballhagen 5-57, Luke Danielson 2-72, Owen Meulebroeck 2-38, Tristan O’Neill 1-40 . . . MEL-Isaac Rosenberger 3-88, Bitz 3-15, Mayers 3-28, James Rieland 2-34, Devin Bauer 1-2

Punts-ave — MIN-Ballhagen 1-23

Returns — Kickoff-Kearri Dickens 2-60 . . . Punt-None

Defense — Fumble Rec-MIN-Carter Meyer 1, Myles Reichmann 1 . . . Interceptions-MIN-Austin Weber 1, Reichmann 1 . . . Sacks-Kaiden Harvey 2, Meyer 1, Kearri Dickens 1, Asante Adams 1

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