•  Lakers lead 13-12 going into fourth before Huskies rally for exciting win to advance to state

The Lakers had Albany right where they wanted.  Leading 13-12 going into the final quarter of the Section 6AAA championship game, Friday night at Rocori High School, the Lakers were 12 minutes from a big upset and state berth.

However, on the second play of the fourth quarter, the Lakers lost the lead for good when the snap from center on a punt attempt sailed over the head of punter Connor Frey and all he could do was kick the ball out of the end zone to give Albany a safety instead of a possible touchdown.

The Huskies went up 14-13 with the safety and eventually scored the game-winning touchdown with 59 seconds left in the game to give Albany the 29-21 win.

The Huskies will move on to the state quarterfinals this weekend, while the Lakers end the season with a 6-4 record after having a combined three victories over the last three years,

“Albany is one heck of a team,” coach Jared Lyle said.  “They were putting a great drive together at the end of the game and I was hoping to create a turnover as we had on a few of their previous drives.  I was really hoping to go into overtime and take it from there.”

It was a great high school playoff game which involved lead changes, turnovers, big plays and an exciting finish.

The Lakers scored their final touchdown with 4:35 left in the game to tie up the game at 21-21, but Albany went 56 yards in eight plays to steal the win away from Minnewaska and end its season.

The Lakers will lose 16 players to graduation from this year’s team, coached by Jared Lyle — Brady McCrory, Carter Meyer, Zach Gugisberg, Levi Johnson, Connor Frey, Josh Hippe, Owen Meulebroeck, Oliver Rieland, Lucas Tauber, Ty Koubsky, Drew Winter, Jordan Chakua, Lucky Hippe, Evan Friese, Noah Jensen and Kaiden Harvey.

“I will definitely miss this group of seniors,” coach Lyle said.  “I will miss what they bring to the football field, but most of all, I will miss what they mean to our team.  They are an incredible group of young men that are going to make a positive impact on others.”

Albany 29, Waska 21

Albany scored the winning touchdown with 59 seconds left to give the Huskies a 29-21 win over Minnewaska Area in the Section 6AAA title game, Friday night at Rocori High School.

Albany went up 12-0 with a pair of first-quarter touchdowns, but the Lakers took a 13-12 halftime lead on a 38-yard touchdown run by Asante Adams in the first quarter and a 41-yard touchdown scamper by Miles Wildman in the second.

“The key to our success in the running game were the guys up front,” coach Lyle said.  “Our offensive line did a great job of executing their jobs and denting the line of scrimmage.  Our backs in turn did a great job of using their vision and athleticism to find the holes and step on the gas pedal.”

The score held up through the rest of the half and third quarter before the two teams combined for 25 points in the final quarter.

During their last meeting, Albany led 7-0 until scoring on the second play of the fourth quarter on a botched field goal attempt and eventually won 19-0.

This time, it was also the second play of the fourth quarter that spelled doom for the Lakers as a botched punt gave Albany a safety and took away the lead for good for the Lakers.

Albany quickly scored its third touchdown of the game on its next drive after the safety to go up 21-13.

The Lakers came right back with their best drive of the game, going 68 yards in 11 plays before scoring on a 6-yard pass from Levi Johnson to Owen Meulebroeck followed by a run by Riley Dell for the two-point conversion.

Suddenly, the Lakers were tied at 21-21 with 4:35 left in the game.  Could this game be headed to overtime?

Albany took the subsequent kickoff and proceeded to go 56 yards in eight plays for a touchdown, despite losing three yards on the first play of the drive.

Zach Birr scored the winning touchdown on a seven-yard burst and the Huskies added two more points on a pass play.

The Lakers took over at their own 39 and needed to go 61 yards with only 56 seconds left in the clock, but three-straight pass plays ended the Minnewaska threat and Albany was able to run out the clock on the next play to end a very exciting high school playoff game.

“I am very pleased with the progress our team has made this year,” Lyle said.  “It is always tough when a year comes to an end, but looking back, we will see the ground we covered as a program.  We have a team that tried their best to W.I.N. (What’s Important Now) and continue to compete for 48 minutes.  I look forward to the continued growth of our program.”

•  Albany held game advantages of 19-15 in first downs and 414-289 in total yards.  Albany’s passing game proved to be the difference in the game with 165 yards compared to 18 for the Lakers.

Minnewaska Area had a lot of success running the ball as Asante Adams had a big game with 134 yards on 13 carries, Riley Dell had 91 yards on 17 rushes and Miles Wildman had 58 yards on just two carries.

Levi Johnson completed 3-of-9 passes for 18 yards with one interception and one touchdown.  Meulebroeck had two catches for 14 yards and Adams had one for four yards.

Defensively, Luke Danielson and Johnson both had fumble recoveries, but Albany did not give up any interceptions or sacks.

Albany 29, Waska 21

Minnewaska (6-4) 7 6 0 8 — 21

Albany (10-0) 12 0 0 17 — 29

Albany — Ethan Meyer 62-run (kick failed)

Albany — Bennett Hylla 44-pass from Boone Roemeling (run failed)

MIN — Asante Adams 38-run (Zach Gugisberg kick)

MIN — Miles Wildman 41-run (pass failed)

Albany — Safety (ball went through back of EZ)

Albany — Hylla 39-pass from Roemeling (Elliott Burnett run)

MIN — Owen Meulebroeck 6-pass from Levi Johnson (Riley Dell run)

Albany — Zachary Birr 7-run (Buttweiler pass from Burnett)

Team stats Min Albany

First downs 15 19

Rushes-net yards 40-271 38-249

Pass-cp-int-yds 9-3-1-18 16-12-0-165

Total yards 289 414

Fumbles lost 2-1 3-2

Punts-average 3-9 1-30

Penalties-yards 3-20 3-15

Minnewaska statistics

Rushing — MIN-Asante Adams 13-134, Riley Dell 17-91, Miles Wildman 2-58, Kearri Dickens 2-6, Carter Meyer 3-0, Levi Johnson 3-(-18) . . Albany-Drew Lehner 14-100, Zachary Birr 13-71, Ethan Meyer 5-66, Boone Roemeling 5-6

Passing (attempts-comp-intercept-yrds) — MIN-Johnson 9-3-1-18 (Waska not sacked). . . Albany-Roemeling 16-12-0-165 (Albany not sacked)

Receiving (catches-yards) — MIN-Owen Meulebroeck 2-14, Adams 1-4 . . . Albany-Meyer 4-31, Bennett Hylla 3-88, Jacob Buttweiler 3-31, Braeden Justin 1-7, Birr 1-8

Punts-ave — MIN-Connor Frey 3-9

Returns — Kickoff-Adams 3-45, Dickens 2-17. . Punt-Wildman 1-6

Defense — Fumble Rec-Luke Danielson 1, Levi Johnson 1. . . Interceptions-MIN-None. . . Sacks-None

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