The Minnewaska Area football team earned its first shutout in almost four years during a 37-0 victory at Montevideo, Friday night.

It was also the fourth win of the season and third-straight win for Minnewaska, lifting the Lakers’ overall record to 4-2 going into this Friday night’s game against state-ranked Albany.

Five different Lakers scored one touchdown each during the shutout, while Zach Gugisberg went 4-for-5 on extra-points and also booted a 30-yard field goal to close out the scoring.

The last shutout for Minnewaska was a 24-0 win at home against Montevideo on Oct. 23, 2020.  It actually was supposed to be Montevideo’s home game, but was moved to Minnewaska when Monte was hit by a snowstorm which covered the field.

The Lakers piled up 412 rushing yards against the undermanned Montevideo team and also forced the Thunderhawks into five turnovers.

“It was our most complete game of the season,” coach Jared Lyle said.  “We didn’t give up any points and we turned the ball over only one time.  We’re happy with how our team is playing at this time of year and we’re excited about getting a chance to face a tough team like Albany this Friday at home.”

Albany leads the sub-district with a 5-0 record while Pierz and Minnewaska Area are tied for second with 4-1 records and Howard Lake-WW is four with a 3-2 mark.

In the section standings, the Lakers are currently in second behind Albany, while NLS is 3-3, Sauk Centre is 2-4, Melrose is 1-5 and Montevideo is sixth with a 0-6 record.

The Lakers are set to host Albany at 7 p.m., Friday before getting ready to host Melrose Area for the final regular-season game, Wednesday, Oct. 16.

Waska 37, Montevideo 0

The Lakers led 27-0 at halftime before cruising to their fourth win of the season.

After stopping Montevideo on its first possession, the Lakers scored first on a two-play, 69-yard touchdown drive.  Riley Dell gained 22 yards on the first play from scrimmage and then Carter Meyer opened up the scoring on a 47-yard run followed by Zach Gugisberg’s first of four extra-points to give the Lakers a quick 7-0 lead.

Minnewaska Area made it 14-0 later in the first when Asante Adams scored from two yards out followed by another Gugisberg kick.

The lead increased to 27-0 by halftime after Dell scored on a 52-yard run early in the second quarter and Tristan O’Neill hauled in a 23-yard touchdown pass from Levi Johnson.

Overall, the Lakers outgained the Thunderhawks by a 431-171 yard margin with Dell rushing for 131 yards on just four carries and Kearri Dickens adding 105 yards on six totes.

Dickens scored on a 48-yard run in the third quarter to up the Lakers’ lead to 34-0 and Gugisberg closed out the scoring with a 30-yard field goal on the second play of the final quarter.

It was running time after that because of the “mercy rule” and it was also a great time for the Lakers to get in a lot of players to experience some “Friday night football under the lights.”

“Our team really came to play tonight,”  coach Lyle said.  “We averaged over 10 yards per rush and had two players with over 100 yards rushing.  Defensively, we forced five turnovers so we’re very pleased with how things went.”

Levi Johnson completed 2-of-3 passes for 19 yards with one interception.  He completed one pass each to O’Neill and Adams.

Meyer and Adams also had big games rushing with Meyer totaling 60 yards on just three carries and Adams rushing five times for 45 yards.

On defense, Jordan Chakua and Noah Jensen had fumble recoveries, and Miles Wildman and Johnson had one interception each.

Minnewaska 37, at Monte 0

Minnewaska (4-2) 14 13 7 3 — 37

Montevideo (0-6) 0 0 0 0 — 0

Min — Carter Meyer 47-run (Zach Gugisberg kick)

Min — Asante Adams 2-run (Gugisberg kick)

Min — Riley Dell 52-run (Zach Gugisberg kick)

Min — Tristan O’Neil 23-pass from Levi Johnson (kick blocked)

Min — Kearri Dickens 48-run (Gugisberg kick)

Min – Gugisberg 30-field goal

Team stats Min MON

First downs 17 13

Rushes-net yards 30-412 39-120

Pass-cp-int-yds 3-2-1-19 12-4-2-51

Total yards 431 171

Fumbles lost 2-0 4-3

Punts-average 2-29 2-28

Penalties-yards 9-75 7-50

Minnewaska statistics

Rushing — MIN-Riley Dell 4-131, Kearri Dickens 6-105, Carter Meyer 3-60, Asante Adams 5-45, Levi Johnson 3-19, Braylen Scharmer 1-18, Miles Wildman 2-18, Evan Armstrong 1-9, Austyn Schuler 1-9. . . MON-Landon Olson 10-64, Jaxon Wagner 22-62

Passing (attempts-comp-intercept-yrds) — MIN-Johnson 3-2-1-19 . . . MON-Sam Knoop 12-4-2-51

Receiving (catches-yards) — MIN-Tristan O’Neill 1-23, Adams 1-(-4) . . . MON-Olson 3-23, Griffin Epema 1-28

Punts-ave — MIN-Connor Frey 2-29

Returns — Kickoff-UA. . . Punt-None

Defense — Fumble Rec-Jordan Chakua 1, Noah Jensen 1, UA 1 . . . Interceptions-MIN-Wildman 1-34, Johnson 1-4 . . . Sacks-None

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