Rockford scored the only 20 points in the second half to turn a 14-7 halftime lead into a 34-7 victory over Minnewaska Area, Friday night at Veterans Field at Glenwood State Bank Stadium.

The Lakers played a good first half, scoring late in the first half to close a 14-0 deficit to 14-7.  Minnewaska Area had another scoring opportunity earlier in the first half, but the Lakers threw an interception, which would turn out to be the only turnover of the game.

“We started out solid and got a couple of defensive stops early, but Rockford was able to find some things that worked and was able to put together some nice scoring drives,” head coach Jared Lyle said. 

Rockford had game advantages of 18-10 in first downs and 227-156 in total yards as both defenses had great games for most of the contest.

The Lakers are set to host the final regular-season game of the fall this Friday at 7 p.m. when Montevideo strolls into town.  The Thunderhawks have been up-and-down for most of the year, but played one of their best games, Friday, during a 64-28 rout of Sauk Centre.

Albany currently leads the sub-district with a 4-0 record, followed by Pierz and Rockford at 3-1 each, Montevideo and Sauk Centre, both at 2-2, Minnewaska and Howard Lake-WW at 1-3 each and Melrose Area at 0-4.

In the Section 6AAA standings, Albany is the current top seed at 4-1, followed by Montevideo (3-2), NLS (2-2), Sauk Centre (2-3), Minnewaska Area (1-4) and Melrose Area (0-5).

Although the Lakers are only 1-4, if Minnewaska Area can beat Montevideo this Friday and Melrose in the regular-season finale, Wednesday, Oct. 18, the Lakers would still have a shot to earn the fourth seed and host a first-round playoff game, Tuesday, Oct. 24.

•  After a scoreless first quarter, Rockford scored the first two touchdowns of the game on a four-yard run and 14-yard pass play.

The Lakers got a nice kickoff return by Asante Adams to set up their first and only touchdown of the game, a 1-yard run by Jack Majerus late in the second quarter.  Zach Gugisberg put the extra-point through the uprights and suddenly, the Lakers were within 14-7 going into halftime.

That would be the final bright spot for the Lakers as Rockford scored the final three touchdowns of the game to win the contest, 34-7.

The Lakers rushed 35 times for 146 net yards, including 82 yards on 22 carries by Majerus and 53 yards on six totes by Myles Reichmann.

Levi Johnson completed 4-of-12 passes for 10 yards with one interception.  Austin Weber had two of those receptions for 10 yards, while Tristan O’Neill and Austin Ballhagen also had catches.

“We had some chances on offense, but weren’t able to come up with the big play,” coach Lyle said.

Rockford had 166 yards on the ground on 31 rushes, including 109 yards on 20 carries by Logan Stedman, who scored twice on runs.  Rockford also had two touchdowns via passes and went 7-of-10 passing overall for 61 yards.

Rockford 34, at Waska 7

Rockford (4-1) 0 14 7 13 — 34

Waska (1-4) 0 7 0 0 — 7

Team stats Min ROCK

First downs 10 18

Rushes-net yards 35-146 31-166

Pass-cp-int-yds 12-4-1-10 10-7-0-61

Total yards 156 227

Fumbles lost 0-0 0-0

Punts-average 3-34.7 3-33.3

Penalties-yards 6-43 2-8

Minnewaska statistics

Rushing — MIN-Jack Majerus 22-82, Myles Reichmann 6-53, Jackson Marquardt 2-5, Carter Meyer 4-4, Levi Johnson 1-2 . . .  ROCK-Logan Stedman 20-109, Josiah Zilmer 3-26

Passing (attempts-comp-intercept-yrds) — MIN-Levi Johnson 12-4-1-10 . . . ROCK-Timothy Houghton 8-5-0-62

Receiving (catches-yards) — MIN-Austin Weber 2-10, Tristan O’Neill 1-0, Austin Ballhagen 1-0. . . ROCK-William Graunke 2-20, four others with one each

Punts-average — MIN-Riley Dell 3-34.7

Returns — Punt ret-MIN-Kearri Dickens 2-39, Asante Adams 2-58

Defense — Tackles-Unavailable . . . Sacks-UA . . . Interceptions-MIN-None; ROCK-Benton Blanchard 1 . . . Fumble recoveries-NONE

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