•  Minnewaska Area to face Albany this Friday for berth in State Tournament

A pair of big plays helped the Minnewaska Area football team top NLS in the Section 6AAA semifinals, Saturday on Veterans Field at Glenwood State Bank Stadium, 26-22.

The Lakers trailed late in the first half before Miles Wildman picked up a bouncing punt and raced 45 yards for a touchdown with 1.1 seconds left in the first half.  That gave the Lakers a 19-14 lead.

Later, after the Wildcats had retaken the lead with a touchdown on the second play of the fourth quarter, Tristan O’Neil hauled in a pass from Levi Johnson and raced 63 yards for another touchdown, giving Minnewaska Area the lead for good.

The win advanced the Lakers to the Section 6AAA championship game, set for this Friday at 7 p.m. at Rocori High School against the top-seeded Albany Huskies.

Albany beat the Lakers earlier this year on the home field, 19-0.  One of the Huskies’ touchdowns came on the opening kickoff thatt night and another came on a botched field goal try.  In other words, the Lakers know they can play with Albany.

The Lakers’ offense was held in check for most of the night against NLS, but the Laker defense kept Minnewaska in the game, coming through with big play after big play.

Minnewaska had just 200 total yards of offense and eight first downs, while the Wildcats had 262 total yards and 15 first downs.  Two keys to the game were a 2-1 edge in turnovers and four sacks by the Lakers.

“The guys really stepped it up when they needed,” coach Jared Lyle said.  “We had so many players come through with big games.  I’m really happy for the guys and am looking forward to the challenge of facing Albany this week.”

Waska 26, NLS 22

The Lakers earned a berth in the section championship game with a 26-22 win at home, Saturday afternoon.

Minnewaska Area scored first on its second drive of the game, going 39 yards in five plays with Riley Dell going over from the three-yard line for the game’s first touchdown.  On the previous play, Dell went 31 yards before being stopped just short of the goalline.

An extra-point by Zach Gugisberg put the Lakers up 7-0, but NLS would come back with the next two touchdowns, the second of which was set up by a mishandled snap from center on a punt, giving NLS excellent field position at the Laker two-yard line.

Suddenly, the Wildcats were up 14-7 with under six minutes left in the first half.

The Lakers came right back with their best drive of the night, going 79 yards in only five plays to pull within one at 14-13.

Dell had two carries for 43 yards during the drive before Asante Adams went over from the 13 for the touchdown.  The extra-point was blocked, leaving the Lakers down by one.

NLS seemed to be running out the first-half clock, but the Lakers forced NLS to punt with 16 seconds left from its own 44.  Facing a strong breeze, the punt went high and short, and most of the players ran elsewhere to avoid being hit by the ball.

The ball bounced backward about 10-15 yards and, after the second bounce, was picked up by an alert Miles Wildman who raced toward the end zone, just getting by a pair of would-be tacklers at the two-yard line to score on the 45-yard punt return with 1.1 seconds left on the clock.

The try for two points was stopped, but the Lakers had a big momentum change by going into halftime with a 19-14 lead.

The defenses took over in the second half.  After a scoreless third quarter, NLS took a temporary lead on a one-yard touchdown by Braden Long on the second play of the fourth quarter,  Long’s third touchdown of the night.  The two-point conversion put NLS on top 22-19

Undaunted, Kearri Dickens returned the kickoff 20 yards to the Laker 36 and, after a one-yard run by Dickens, Levi Johnson hit Tristan O’Neil with a perfect pass for a 63-yard touchdown.

The Lakers were back on top 26-22 after another Gugisberg extra-point.

NLS took over at its own 23 with 10:20 left in the game and got the ball down to the Laker 13-yard line before  fumbling the ball away.  The Wildcats would get the ball back one more time,  but an interception by Dell with  1:43 left in the game sealed the win.

•  Dell ended the game with 120 yards on 17 carries.  Adams, Evan Friese, Noah Jensen and Kaiden Harvey had one sack each for the Lakers, who held NLS to 262 total yards on 55 offensive plays.

On defense, inside linebacker Riley Dell, linemen Kaiden Harvey and Noah Jensen, and outside linebackers Asante Adams, Carter Meyer and Kearri Dickens, among others, were everywhere for the Lakers, making play after play and helping to keep their team in the game.  “Our defense was flying all over the field and doing whatever was necessary to stop them from scoring,” coach Lyle said.  “We had a lot of guys that played their hearts out tonight.”

at Minnewaska 26, NLS 22

NLS (5-5) 0 14 0 8 — 22

Minnewaska (6-3) 7 12 0 7 — 26

Min — Riley Dell 3-run (Zach Gugisberg kick)

NLS — Braden Long 4-run (Griffin Thompson kick)

NLS — Long 2-run (Thompson kick)

Min — Asante Adams 13-run (kick blocked)

Min — Miles Wildman 45-punt return (run failed)

NLS — Long 1-run (Long run)

Min — Tristan O’Neil 63-pass from Levi Johnson (Gugisberg kick)

Team stats Min NLS

First downs 8 15

Rushes-net yards 37-148 38-159

Pass-cp-int-yds 3-1-0-52 17-9-1-103

Total yards 200 262

Fumbles lost 2-1 2-1

Punts-average 6-29-7 4-34.5

Penalties-yards 3-15 5-35

Minnewaska statistics

Rushing — MIN-Riley Dell 17-120, Asante Adams 7-22, Carter Meyer 3-3, Kearri Dickens 3-3, Zach Gugisberg 1-(-11), Levi Johnson 7-(-12) . . NLS-Nolan Johnson 18-79, Braden Long 15-75

Passing (attempts-comp-intercept-yrds) — MIN-Johnson 3-1-1-63 (Minnewaska sacked one time for -11 yards). . . NLS-Johnson 17-9-1-126 (NLS sacked 4 times for -23 yards)

Receiving (catches-yards) — MIN-Tristan O’Neil 1-63 . . . NLS-Brock Buffington 4-78, Brecken Westby 4-41, Beckett Newman 1-7

Punts-average — MIN-Zach Gugisberg 3-24.7, Connor Frey 3-34.7

Returns — Kickoff-Adams 2-31, Dickens 1-16 . . Punt-Miles Wildman 1-45, O’Neil 2-19

Defense — Fumble Rec-Unknown 1 . . . Interceptions-MIN-Riley Dell 1-28. . . Sacks-Adams 1, Evan Friese 1, Noah Jensen 1, Kaiden Harvey 1

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