BLOOMING PRAIRIE – If you wanted to see some hard-hitting, hard-nosed high school football Friday night, McFarlin Stadium was the place to be.

Sunday, September 05, 1999

BLOOMING PRAIRIE – If you wanted to see some hard-hitting, hard-nosed high school football Friday night, McFarlin Stadium was the place to be. In a defensive struggle, a veteran Maple River Eagles team shut down the Awesome Blossoms for a 10-0 victory. There was no scoring until only nine minutes left on the clock.

The Eagles came to Blooming Prairie with high expectations for this season. They went 4-4 in the Gopher Valley Conference last year with a junior dominated team. This year coach Randy Olson needed to replace only one starter.

Olson looked to the air early in the game expecting the Blossoms in man-to-man coverage. Blooming Prairie coach Chad Gimbel, however, used a zone coverage through most of the game. That plan worked as the Blossoms shut down Maple River quarterback Ryan Walker’s passing game after a couple of early successes. Walker ended the night 4-for-15 for 46 yards. He had no completions in the second half.

The Eagles received the opening kickoff and drove down the field. With the help of a roughing the passer penalty they had a first down at the Blooming Prairie 16. On the next play, the Blossom defense redeemed itself by forcing a fumble and getting the recovery.

In the Blossoms first possession they got a 8-yard run from Jeremy Wangen (15-48) and a 7-yard rush from Kody Thurnau (11-27) to pick up a first down to get them in nice field position but the drive then bogged down. A short punt by Noah Smith was mishandled by the Eagles, the Blossoms recovering, and once again the Blossoms were in business.

The Blossoms moved into Maple River territory on a 13-yard burst by Bryan Kramer, first and ten at the 43. This would be only one of the two times in the game that the Blossoms would drive into the opposition’s territory. On the next play, BP coughed up the ball.

"It was quite frustrating that we could get nothing done on offense," coach Gimbel said. "We just couldn’t sustain anything tonight. Our defense played their hearts out with everybody contributing."

Maple River controlled the battle for field position the rest of the half.

After another Blossoms fumble, the Eagles had a great chance to put the first points on the board. The Blossoms defended their end zone well. Three times the Eagles went to the air from the Blossoms 13 and three times they came up empty. On fourth down, BP’s Glen Valek made the big play with a sack of Walker at the 27.

In the second half, the Blooming Prairie offense again struggled while the Eagles got on track on the ground. Coach Olson started to give the ball to Aaron Cole. With a couple of blocks Cole was able to rumble around and through the Blossoms defense (19 carries, 104 yards).

In the third quarter Cole rumbled around right end into the end zone from six yards out but the touch down was disallowed because of a clipping penalty.

Earlier, the Eagles threatened to score, but were hurt by a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

"Silly penalties killed too many of our drives," coach Olson said.

The Eagles finally scored with nine minutes left in the game with the defense getting the honors. Maple River drove deep into BP territory at the start of the quarter and looked to get on the board with a field goal from the 14-yard line. The Blossoms blocked the kick and took over the ball at the five.

On third and 12 at the three the Eagles blitzed, forcing a fumble in the endzone, but could only get a safety.

The Eagles then added a touchdown at the 5:41 mark. Dustin More intercepted a Nick Davis pass and returned it 25 yards to set up Maple River at the Blooming Prairie 17. Cole dashed off 14 yards and then plunged in from the three.

After three unsuccessful plays Kramer swept around left end on fourth and ten but was stopped two yards short of the first down. He ended the night with 52 yards on 11 carries and made two receptions for 35 yards.

"Next week we will certainly look to get him the ball in many different ways," Gimbel said.

The Blossoms will be traveling to Waterville-Elysian-Morristown. W.E.M. is the defending Gopher Valley Conference champion. They began their defense of the title with a 49-0 win over Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton.