•  Minnewaska loses playoff opener to finish season 2-7 overall

Sauk Centre scored a touchdown on four of its first five possessions on the way to a 52-18 victory over Minnewaska Area during the opening round of the Section 6AAA Football Tourney.

The early touchdowns included a 60-yard fumble return for a touchdown after the Mainstreeters had sacked Waska quarterback Levi Johnson and the ball popped loose, falling into the arms of Tucker Kuhlmann, who ran untouched the other way to give Sauk Centre an early 16-0 lead.

It was just one of those nights for the Lakers, who gave up 248 yards on the ground and 158 yards through the air to the Mainstreeters, who came into the game with the same record (2-6) as the Lakers.

Sauk Centre also beat Minnewaska during the second game of the season this fall, 46-8.

The Lakers end the season with a 2-7 overall record, which includes a 2-5 mark in the sub-district.

 Sauk Centre meanwhile, moved on to lose to top-seeded NLS in the semifinals, Saturday.

Minnewaska Area seniors who played their last game at Sauk Centre were Austin Ballhagen, Austin Weber, Nathan Dell, Bode DeZelar, Jack Majerus, Myles Reichmann, Austin Hoverud, Cole Kittelson, Kenneth Czech, John Jenson and Ben Jenson.

•  Minnewaska was seeded fifth and Sauk Centre fourth during the playoff opener last Tuesday night at Sauk Centre.

The Lakers trailed 24-0 before scoring their first touchdown on a 15-yard pass from Levi Johnson to Austin Ballhagen.  

However, Sauk Centre scored another first-half touchdown with 24 seconds left in the half and then took just 13 seconds to score another touchdown in the third quarter to up its lead to 36-6.

And so, instead of possibly being within 24-8 going into halftime, the Lakers trailed by 30.

Sauk Centre’s second touchdown came on a strange play as the Mainstreeters blitzed Minnewaska quarterback Levi Johnson near midfield and got to the junior quarterback just as he was about to throw.

The hit caused the ball to be jarred loose and into the air and Tucker Kuhlmann grabbed the ball out of midair and raced the final 50 yards for the score.

Sauk Centre scored again in the third quarter to go up 44-6 before the Lakers would score two touchdowns over the final 1 1/2 quarters.

Jack Majerus scored on a one-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter and Ballhagen added a second touchdown a while later on a 17-yard pass from Marc Gruber.  The two-point conversion failed each time.

Levi Johnson ended the game 9-of-20 passing for 73 yards, while Gruber was 2-of-3 for 19 yards.  Ballhagen had most of those receptions, catching five for 64 yards and two touchdowns, while Owen Meulebroeck had two for 15 yards, Tristan O’Neil had two for six yards, and Myles Reichmann and Austin Weber had one catch each.

Majerus did the bulk of the work for the running game as the senior had 73 yards on 14 carries.  Johnson added 23 yards on four rushes, while Reichmann had three for 21 yards, Carter Meyer had seven for 17 yards, Nathaniel Dell had one rush for 15 yards and Asante Adams also had one for 11 yards.

On defense, Luke Danielson had a beautiful one-handed interception late in the fourth quarter to stop one potential SC scoring drive, while Carter Meyer and Connor Frey both had sacks.

at Sauk Cen 52, Waska 18

Waska (2-7) 0 6 6 6 — 18

Sauk Centre (3-6) 8 22 14 8 — 52

Team stats Min SC

First downs 15 20

Rushes-net yards 32-159 29-248

Pass-cp-int-yds 23-11-1-84 14-9-1-158

Total yards 243 406

Fumbles lost 1-1 0-0

Punts-average 3-25 2-36

Penalties-yards 5-54 7-52

Minnewaska statistics

Rushing — MIN-Jack Majerus 14-73, Levi Johnson 4-23, Myles Reichmann 3-21, Carter Meyer 7-17, Nathaniel Dell 1-15, Asante Adams 1-11, Austin Ballhagen 2-(-1) . . .  SC-Austin Helgesen 12-155, Damian Ahrens 5-44, Jeric Schloegl 5-17, Hunter Dickinson 3-16

Passing (attempts-comp-intercept-yrds) — MIN-Levi Johnson 20-9-1-73; Marc Gruber 3-2-0-19 . . . SC-Damian Ahrens 14-9-1-179

Receiving (catches-yards) — MIN-Ballhagen 5-64, Owen Meulebroeck 2-15, Tristan O’Neil 2-6, Reichmann 1-5, Austin Weber 1-2 . . . SC-Schloegl 5-109, Adam Neubert 2-53, Tucker Kuhlmann 1-15, Austin Helgesen 1-2

Punts-average — MIN-Ballhagen 3-25

Returns — Kickoff-Tristan O’Neil 4-22, Owen Meulebroeck 2-11, Asante Adams 1-23. . . Punt-None

Defense — Fumble Rec-MIN-None . . . Interceptions-MIN-Luke Danielson 1 . . . Sacks-Carter Meyer 1, Connor Frey 1

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