•  Minnewaska scores 27 first-half points on way to 33-8 victory on Homecoming night

Asante Adams raced 61 yards for a touchdown on the third play of the game and it was all Minnewaska from there as the Lakers scored 27 first-half points on the way to a 33-8 win at home over Howard Lake-WW during the annual Homecoming game, Friday night.

Adams ended the game with 117 yards rushing on only nine carries with two scores, while the Minnewaska defense held HLWW to 173 total yards in helping the Lakers win for the second time this season.

“What an exciting night for football; it was a great atmosphere and the crowd really fired up our team,” coach Jared Lyle said.  “It was nice to get the early score and that really got our team going in the first half.  It was a great win for our program!”

Minnewaska improved to 2-2 overall and 2-1 in the Mid State White sub-district with the win and now gets set to play at Rockford Area this Friday night at 7 p.m.

Albany leads the sub-district with a 3-0 record while Pierz, HlWW and Minnewaska are all 2-1, Melrose Area, Rockford and Sauk Centre are each 1-2 and Montevideo is 0-3.

In the section standings, the Lakers are currently in second place out of the six teams with Albany in first and NLS in third.  Football standings can be found on page 2B.

Waska 33, HLWW 8

Minnewaska Area scored four first-half touchdowns and did not turn the ball over all game during a 33-8 win over HLWW during Minnewaska’s 2024 Homecoming game, Friday night on Veterans Field at Glenwood State Bank Stadium.

Asante Adams scored the first touchdown of the game only 1:27 into the contest on a 61-yard run and Zach Gugisberg kicked the first of three-straight extra-points for the Lakers.

Minnewaska Area went up 14-0 early in the second quarter on a 42-yard touchdown pass from Levi Johnson to Tristan O’Neill and less than two minutes later, after Owen  Meulebroeck recovered a fumble for the Lakers, Adams ran it in again from the 29-yard line for his second touchdown of the game.

The Lakers would get one more touchdown before halftime as Johnson intercepted a pass and ran 30 yards toward the end zone before being tackled at the 10-yard line.  On the next play, Johnson hit Gugisberg for a 10-yard touchdown, giving the Lakers a 27-0 lead going into halftime.

HLWW, which came into the game with a 2-1 record, scored the next eight points on a safety and 10-yard touchdown run by Raydon Graham, but Minnewaska would also tack on one more touchdown on the night when Johnson threw his third touchdown pass of the game with an 8-yard pass to Meulebroeck.

“It’s always great to win, but it’s especially nice to win on Homecoming,” coach Lyle said.  “It was nice to be able to see the guys enjoy the victory after the game with all the fireworks and support from their friends and family.  What a great night for Laker football!”

• Minnewaska Area ended the game with 310 total yards compared to 173 for HLWW, which threw for nine yards, but was also sacked once for minus-10 yards.

Johnson completed 4-of-5 passes for 88 yards and three scores while Marc Gruber was 2-for-3 for another nine yards.  Catching one pass each were O’Neill, Carter Meyer, Gugisberg, Miles Wildman, Meulebroeck and Luke Danielson.

Adams ended the game with 117 yards on nine carries, while Kearri Dickens added 54 yards on five totes, Riley Dell had 19 yards on five rushes and Meyer had five carries for 17 yards.

at Waska 33, HLWW 8

HLWW 0 0 2 6 — 8

Minnewaska (2-2) 7 20 0 6 — 33

Min — Asante Adams 61-run (Zach Gugisberg kick)

Min — Tristan O’Neil 42-pass from Levi Johnson (Gugisberg kick)

Min — Adams 29-run (Gugisberg kick)

Min — Gugisberg 10-pass from Johnson (kick blocked)

HLWW — Safety

HLWW — Raydon Graham 10-run (run fail)

Min — Owen Meulebroeck 8-pass from Johnson (pass failed)

Team stats Min HLWW

First downs 10 11

Rushes-net yards 32-213 41-174

Pass-cp-int-yds 8-6-0-97 13-3-1-(-1)

Total yards 310 173

Fumbles lost 1-0 3-1

Punts-average 2-29.5 5-20

Penalties-yards 10-92 4-35

Minnewaska statistics

Rushing — MIN-Asante Adams 9-117, Kearri Dickens 5-54, Riley Dell 5-19, Carter Meyer 5-17, Evan Armstrong 3-7, Miles Wildman 1-3 . . HLWW-Benjamin Gatz 7-62, Anthony Baumann 12-60, Timmy Webber, Jr. 9-29, Raydon Graham 6-21

Passing (attempts-comp-intercept-yrds) — MIN-Levi Johnson 5-4-0-88, Marc Gruber 3-2-0-9 . . HLWW-Webber, Jr. 13-3-1-9

Receiving (catches-yards) — MIN-Tristan O’Neil 1-42, Carter Meyer 1-28, Zach Gugisberg 1-10, Owen Meulebroeck 1-8, Miles Wildman 1-5, Luke Danielson 1-4 . . . HLWW-Gatz 1-14, Steuven 1-(-2), Miller 1-(-3)

Punts-ave — MIN-Connor Frey 2-29.5

Returns — KO-UA. . . Punt-Wildman 2-10

Defense — Fumble Rec-MIN-Meulebroeck 1 . . . Interceptions-MIN-Levi  Johnson 1 . . . Sacks-Min-1 (UA)