•  Minnewaska Area set to face NLS-Montevideo winner, Saturday afternoon at home

The Minnewaska Area Lakers closed out the regular season with a 56-14 rout of Melrose, last Wednesday night on Veterans Field at Glenwood State Bank Stadium.

It was the fifth victory of the season for the Lakers, who had won a total of three games over the last three seasons combined.

The Lakers had six different players score at least one touchdown and Zach Gugisberg booted six extra-points as Minnewaska Area  went up 20-6 by halftime before scoring 28 third-quarter points.

The Lakers won despite not completing any passes as the ground game totaled 345 yards on 41 carries and the defense forced Melrose into five turnovers, including a 34-yard return of a fumble by Kaiden Harvey for the Lakers’ seventh touchdown of the game.

All-in-all, it was a great way to end the regular season for Minnewaska Area, which earned itself a first round playoff bye followed by a game at home this Saturday at 2 p.m. for the Section 6AAA semifinals, most likely against NLS.

“What a game,” coach Jared Lyle said.  “It was a great way to end the regular-season.  We only gave up one big play late in the first half and held them to 108 total yards with five turnovers.  We’re playing very solid football right now and looking forward to the playoffs.”

Albany won again last week to win the sub-district title with a 7-0 mark, followed by Pierz, Minnewaska Area and Howard Lake-WW, all with 5-2 league marks.

In the Section 6AAA seedings, Albany earned first, followed by the Lakers, NLS (4-4), Sauk Centre (2-6), Melrose Area (2-6) and Montevideo (0-8).

“NLS is a good football team that has played a tough schedule,” coach Lyle said.  “They are a historically-strong football team. I feel that as a team we are continuing to get better each week and are playing some of our best football right now.”

If the Lakers win Saturday, they would play in the section championship game, Friday, Nov. 1 at Rocori High School.

Waska 56, Melrose 14

The Lakers scored early and often on the way to the 56-14 win at home against Melrose Area last Wednesday night to close out the regular-season.

The Lakers scored their first touchdown on a two-play, 25-yard drive as Riley Dell scored from four yards out for the first touchdown followed by the first of six extra-points by Zach Gugisberg on the night.

Minnewaska Area added another score about two minutes later on a one-yard run by Levi Johnson and, after being forced to punt the ball away twice, the Lakers scored again midway through the second quarter on a 50-yard run by Asante Adams.

Melrose, which fumbled the ball away twice in the first half, did score with 43 seconds left in the first half on a 31-yard run by Riley Elfering to go into halftime trailing 20-6.

It was all Minnewaska in the third quarter as the Lakers scored four TD’s.

Adams scored again on an 18-yard run with just over 10 minutes left in the third quarter and then Dell scored from nine yards out following an interception.

The Lakers kept things going as Miles Wildman scored on a 28-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter before the defense scored a touchdown of its own when Kaiden Harvey picked up a fumble and rambled 34 yards for the fourth TD of the quarter.

Add in four extra-point kicks by Gugisberg and the lead was suddenly up to 48-6 after three quarters, immediately instituting the “mercy rule”.

Melrose would score one more touchdown midway through the fourth quarter while the Lakers added one more touchdown of their own on a 61-yard run by Austyn Schuler followed by the run for two points by Evan Armstrong.

Overall, the Lakers outgained the Dutchmen in total yards, 324-108, and forced Melrose into five turnovers, including three in the second half.

“Our running game just wore them down,” coach Lyle said.  “Our defense controlled the game and our offense took advantage of some matchup advantages we had on the line.  The guys really came to play tonight and it was nice to get a lot of players in the game considering it was Parents’ Night.”

•  Asante Adams ran eight times for 96 yards to lead the ground game, while Riley Dell had 79 yards on 13 rushes, Schuler had the one carry for 61 yards, Kearri Dickens had 39 yards on seven rushes and Miles Wildman had two runs for 32 yards.

Defensively, the Lakers recovered three fumbles, including one by Dickens and the return for a TD by Harvey, while Wildman and Joshua Hippe both had interceptions, and Dickens also had two sacks.

at Waska 56, Melrose 14

Melrose (2-6) 0 6 0 8 — 14

Minnewaska (5-3) 14 6 28 8 — 56

Min — Riley Dell 4-run (Zach Gugisberg kick)

Min — Levi Johnson 1-run (Gugisberg kick) 

Min — Asante Adams 50-run (kick failed)

Melrose — Riley Elfering 31-run (kick blocked)

Min — Adams 18-run (Gugisberg kick)

Min — Dell 9-run (Gugisberg kick)

Min — Miles Wildman 28-run (Gugisberg kick) 

Min — Kaiden Harvey 34-yard fumble return for TD (Gugisberg kick)

Melrose — Jackson Mayers 10-run (Sam Wehlage run)

Min — Austyn Schuler 61-run (Evan Armstrong run)

Team stats Min Melrose

First downs 13 8

Rushes-net yards 41-345 36-100

Pass-cp-int-yds 3-0-0-(-21) 16-2-2-8

Total yards 324 108

Fumbles lost 1-1 9-3

Punts-average 3-32.7 3-33

Penalties-yards 11-80 3-15

Minnewaska statistics

Rushing — MIN-Asante Adams 8-96, Riley Dell 13-79, Austyn Schuler 1-61, Kearri Dickens 7-39, Miles Wildman 2-32, Levi Johnson 3-17, Caleb Kath 2-8, Evan Armstrong 3-7, Carter Meyer 2-6 . . MEL-Riley Elfering 7-36, Austin Eggert 6-33, Jackson Mayers 17-26

Passing (attempts-comp-intercept-yrds) — MIN-Johnson 3-0-0-0 (Waska sacked three times for -21 yards). . . MEL-Elfering 11-0-1-0, Mayers 5-2-1-17 (Melrose sacked two time for -19 yards)

Receiving (catches-yards) — MIN-None . . MEL-Hudson Bitz 1-15, Devin Bauer 1-2

Punts-average — MIN-Zach Gugisberg 3-30.7

Returns — Kickoff-Wildman 1-8, Jack Payne 1-2. . . Punt-None

Defense — Fumble Rec-Dickens 1, Kaiden Harvey 1-34, UA-1 . . . Interceptions-MIN-Wildman 1-26, Joshua Hippe 1-0. . . Sacks-Dickens 2

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