Eagles to host Panthers Friday night

Quarterback Creed Mursu scrambles to find a receiver down field during Friday’s game in New York Mills.

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

New York Mills was out gained 335-184 in total offense and trailed from the opening quarter of action. However, the Eagles had the ball inside the red zone late in the fourth quarter and had a chance to tie the game on Friday night, before ultimately falling by a score of 22-14 to visiting Otter Tail Central.

Finn Roder races down the field on his way to the end zone during Friday’s game against the Bulldogs.

OTC opened the scoring on Friday night when Ryan Despard caught a 25-yard touchdown pass to make the score 6-0. The two-point conversion was no good to leave the score at 6-0. The Eagles defense was able to keep the Bulldogs off the scoreboard for the remainder of the half thanks to some timely defensive stops and turnovers to keep the score close throughout the opening 24 minutes of action.

OTC opened the scoring in the third quarter with a 26-yard touchdown run by Tayden Soma. The two-point conversion was successful to leave the score at 14-0. 

Following the Bulldogs touchdown, Finn Roder wasted little time answering the score as he darted down the middle of the field for a 63-yard touchdown run to make the score 14-6. The extra point failed to leave the score at 14-6 with 3:49 remaining in the third quarter.

Photos by Chad Koenen
Gage Brasel, Everett Ruther and Finn Roder converge on a tackle during Friday’s game against Otter Tail Central.

OTC opened the fourth quarter with another touchdown run, this time by William Schwartz from one yard out and the two-point conversion was successful to leave NY Mills down 22-6 with 10:23 remaining in the game.

On the subsequent kick off, Roder once again found pay dirt as he returned the kick off 70 yards for a touchdown to make the score 22-12. The all-important two-point conversion was successful when Creed Mursu found Everrett Ruther swith a touchdown pass to bring the Eagles within one score once again by a score of 22-14.

Gage Brasel reaches in a crowded group of OTC defenders for the ball late in the first half of Friday’s game in town.

After holding the Bulldogs off the scoreboard, NY Mills was able to march the ball down the field late in the fourth quarter to set up a chance to tie the game. Unfortunately, the Eagles threw an interception and ended their comeback attempt against the Bulldogs. 

The Eagles were led offensively by Roder who had a big game on the ground with 14 rushes for 147 yards and a touchdown.
He also led the team in receiving with one reception for 13 yards, while Ruther caught the other pass for 12 yards. Mursu finished with nine yards rushing on three attempts and Ruther finished with six yards on three attempts.

Mursu went 2-11 for 25 yards and a pair of interceptions through the air.

Defensively, NY Mills was led by Eli Vaughn who had 10 solo tackles, while Roder finished with nine solo and one assist. Tony Nichols finished with six tackles, Grady Roberts finished with five and Blake Hiltner also helped to lead the charge with four solo tackles.

As a team the Eagles had 159 yards rushing and threw for 25 yards through the air. On the other hand, OTC rushed for 243 yards and passed for 92 yards, but NY Mills was able to force three turnovers including a pair deep in OTC’s zone to keep the game within striking distance. 

This week the Eagles will host Parkers Prairie on Friday night. The Panthers are 1-1 on the season after defeating Upsala/Swanville Area by a score of 34-22 in the opening game of the season, before falling to Breckenridge 21-12 last week. The Panthers come into the game averaging 23 points per game on offense, while giving up 21.5 point per game on defense.

NY Mills, on the other hand, is currently 0-2 on the season and averages 13 points per game on offense and surrenders 20 points per game on defense.