After two straight weeks on the road, the MACA football team was back on their home field for their homecoming matchup against the Howard Lake/Waverly/Winsted Lakers Sept. 25 in Morris. Both teams came into the game with a 1-2 record and were hungry for a win and the Lakers rushed for over 300 yards to come away with a 28-18 win over the Tigers.
MACA had a change under center this week as Alex Asmus and Ben Hallman switched positions at quarterback and wide receiver.
The Lakers had the advantage in the first quarter of play, scoring the only two touchdowns to take a 14-0 advantage into the second quarter. MACA responded with a 13-play 71-yard drive that ended in a quarterback sneak for Alex Asmus to get the Tigers on the board 14-7. The Tigers then threatened to tie the game late in the second period, but settled for a 20-yard field goal from Riley Saito to make it 14-10 with just 40 seconds left in the half. The Lakers handed the ball off on what was the final play of the half and broke a run for 72 yards to make the score 20-10 at the halftime break.
Howard Lake/Waverly/Winsted continued to widen the gap with a 12-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter to push the score to 28-10. The Tigers did come back with Asmus’ second rushing touchdown of the game on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it 28-18. The Tigers could not get anything going in the final moments of the game and came up 10 points short against the Lakers
It was a ground attack for both teams on Friday with only 135 yards of passing between the two teams. The Tigers were able to rush for 205 yards as a team, but allowed 328 rushing yards to the Lakers.
In his first start under center, Alex Asmus finished the game 7 for 17 for 77 yards. He also rushed the ball 12 times for 50 yards and the team’s only two touchdowns. Benton Schaefer got over the century mark on the ground with 108 yards on 17 carries. Brecken Schmidgall also carried the ball 13 times for 49 yards. Riley Saito was the team’s leading receiver with four catches for 56 yards and Hallman added two catches for 19 yards.
MACA will head back on the road this week to battle Dassel-Cokato Friday, Oct. 2.
MACA 0 10 0 8 – 18
HLWW 14 6 8 0 – 28
Scoring Plays
1st Quarter
7:28 HLWW 11-yard rushing TD (7-0)
3:06 HLWW 31-yard rushing TD (14-0)
2nd Quarter
8:29 MACA Alex Asmus 1-yard rushing TD (14-7)
0:09 MACA Riley Saito 30-yard field goal (14-10)
0:00 HLWW 72-yard rushing TD (21-10)
3rd Quarter
5:13 HLWW 12–yard rushing TD (28-10)
4th Quarter
11:57 MACA Alex Asmus 6-yard rushing TD (28-10)
MACA Individual Stats
Passing – Alex Asmus 7-17, 77 yards
Rushing – Benton Schaefer 17-108; Alex Asmus 12-50, TD-2; Brecken Schmidgall 13-49; Riley Saito 2-(-2)
Receiving – Riley Saito 4-56; Ben Hallman 2-19; Benton Schaefer 1-2
