Eagles to face top seed Cowboys in section opener

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The New York Mills Eagles picked up their second win in the past three games with a commanding 48-12 win over the Wadena-Deer Creek Wolverines on Wednesday night. 

The Eagles wasted little time to get on the scoreboard on Wednesday as Finn Roder broke loose just 17 seconds into the game to find the end zone on a 59-yard run to make the score 6-0 in favor of NY Mills. Later in the quarter, Roder found the end zone for the second time, this time from six yards out, to make the score 14-0 in favor of the Eagles.

Creed Mursu made the score 20-0 in favor of the Eagles when he scored at the 10:57 mark of the second quarter on a 20-yard run, before he found Ruther on a three-yard pass to give NY Mills 26-0 lead in the second quarter. 

Gage Brasel made the score 32-0 when he returned a kick 83 yards to the Wolverine end zone with just 4:42 remaining in the second quarter.

The Wolverines found the end zone for the first time at the 4:03 mark of the second quarter when Camren Snyder connected on a 20-yard pass to Tyler Phipps to make the score 32-6 in favor of the Eagles.

Less-than two minutes later, Roder found the end zone again, this time on a five-yard run to make the score 40-6 at the halftime break.

After a scoreless third quarter, Mursu gave the Eagles a 48-6 lead when he found Brasel on a four-yard pass just five seconds in to the fourth quarter for NY Mills’ seventh touchdown of the game. 

WDC scored on a late touchdown run by Ettore Pinnella from 20-yards out to make the score 48-12, where it would eventually end. 

Roder led the way offensively as he finished with 184 yards and three touchdowns on just 18 carries, while Everrett Ruther rushed for 53 yards on seven carries. Ryder Davis rushed five times for 39 yards, while Creed Mursu rushed four times for 18 yards. 

Mursu went 7-13 passing for 66 yards and a pair of scores through the air, while Ruther caught four passes for 34 yards and a touchdown and Brasel caught three passes for 32 yards and a touchdown in the win. 

As a team the Eagles outgained the Wolverines 360-152 yards in total offense, including a 294-107 advantage on the ground. The Eagles also held WDC to just nine first downs in the game. 

Defensively, the Eagles were led by Roder with eight tackles, while Eli Vaughn, Grady Roberts and Ryder Davis all had five tackles. Henry Oakes and Carson Thorsrud each finished with three tackles, while Ruther, Blake Hiltner and Brayden Perry each finished with two. Brasel and Bergen Roder each finished with one tackle in the win.

With the win the Eagles improved to 2-6 on the season and received the eighth seed in the Section 6A tournament. They opened the section tournament on the road against sixth ranked and top seeded Breckenridge. The Cowboys defeated the Eagles 65-6 on October 10 and enter the section tournament with a perfect 8-0 record. 

Breckenridge currently averages 45.1 points per game on offense, while surrendering 11.4 points per game on defense. NY Mills, on the other hand, averages 19.2 points per game on offense and gives up 24.6 points per game on defense. 

The winner of Tuesday’s game will take on either fourth seeded Otter Tail Central (5-3 overall) or fifth seeded Pine River-Backus (3-5 overall) on Saturday at the high seed.

On the other side of the bracket, second seeded Parkers Prairie (7-1 overall), will host seventh seeded Nevis (3-5 overall), while third seeded Walker-Hackensack-Akeley (7-1 overall) will host sixth seeded Lake Park-Audubon (4-4 overall) in the opening round.