By: Joel Herrig
Murray County News Sports
The MCC Rebels hosted the Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers for the first time in the Section 3A semifinals. The game began at 4:00 p.m. in Slayton and the teams played in windy conditions with game-time temperature at 60 degrees. The Chargers are a young team with just four seniors on the roster and they like to throw the ball. MCC was looking to use their experienced offensive line to dominate the trenches both offensively and defensively. The first half highlighted the differences between these teams while the second half showed the Rebels biggest strength all season long.
MVL started the game with the football and after three plays they were looking to punt because the Rebels defense forced two poor runs and an overthrown pass. The Rebels had the ball for the very first time after a short, a good return by Justin Benda and they marched down the field led by Benda. MCC has been as balanced as any team we have seen this year but in this game, the Rebels were looking to dominate on the ground. They moved the ball down the field and scored first in just three minutes. Mason Woldt scored for the Rebels with 9:04 to play in the first half on a 13-yard quarterback run up the middle. Woldt then scored with the two-point conversion that followed and the Rebels led 8-0.
It didn’t take the Chargers long to answer the Rebels score. Matt Munsen the senior quarterback for the Chargers hit his senior wide receiver Jake Kettner with a 47 yard first down pass and run. Another throw to Kettner got MVL inside the Rebels five-yard line, less than three minutes after the Rebels took the lead. The Chargers then scored on a Kettner four-yard grab which he followed up with the two-point conversion to tie the game at 8-8.
The Rebels reacted well to the game being tied after a good return by Benda. The Rebels again marched down the field and Benda scored on a 19-yard touchdown run. Woldt made the extra point and gave the Rebels a 15-8 lead to end the first quarter.
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