Eagles to face Panthers for section title

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

As the old saying goes, you want to be playing your best football at the end of the season. Well, the New York Mills Eagles saved the best for last as they pulled off a pair of big upsets on the road last week to pull within one game of a return to the state football tournament. 

In fact, the Eagles had just as many wins last week as they had in eight previous games in the regular season—two. 

On Tuesday night the sixth seeded Eagles defeated third seeded West Central Area by a score of 35-20, before upsetting second seeded Breckenridge by a score of 26-18. The win avenged an earlier 32-6 loss to the Cowboys and helped the Eagles advance to the section championship game against top seeded Parkers Prairie on Friday at 12:30 p.m. at the FargoDome. The Panthers, who are 8-2 on the season, advanced to the section championship game with a 50-0 win over Walker-Hackensack-Akeley on Tuesday and a 47-22 win over Lake Park-Audubon on Saturday. 

Earlier this season the Panthers were able to defeat the Eagles by a score of 39-0.

Parkers Prairie comes into the game with a record of 8-2 overall as the Panthers average 30.3 points per game on offense, while giving up 10.9 points per game on defense. 

The Eagles, who are 4-6 overall, average 14.3 points per game on offense,
while giving up 21.7 points per game on defense. 

The winner of the game will advance to the state football tournament, which will begin on Friday, Nov. 10 at Brainerd High School against the section champion from Section 8A. 

NY Mills has qualified for the state football tournament just twice in school history, in 2006 and again in 2021 when they advanced to the state football semi-finals. 

Tuesday

NY Mills pulled off its biggest win of the season on the road on Tuesday night, well up to that point in the season at least. The sixth seeded Eagles came into the game with a record of 2-6 overall and had lost three straight games to end the regular season, before putting together a solid game on offense, defense and special teams to defeat West Central 35-20. 

“It was a great team win for our kids,” said head coach Matt Radniecki. “The team played its best game of the year and I am extremely proud of them. It would have been easy to say they are the third seed and we should not win, but we came ready to play and played a very good game in all three phases of the game. Our specials teams were special and offense and defense really clicked.”

The Eagles opened the scoring with a pair of first quarter touchdowns with the first coming on a 56-yard punt return for a touchdown by Finn Roder. DaShaun Robinson kicked the extra point to give NY Mills an early 7-0 lead. Later in the quarter, Roder found Robinson on a 14-yard pass and Robinson kicked the extra point to give NY Mills a 14-0 lead.

West Central Area fought back in the second quarter with a 44-yard run and two-point conversion, before Roder found Braxton Ehnert on a 12-yard pass to give the Eagles a 21-8 lead at halftime.

The Eagles and Knights traded scores in the third and fourth quarters with NY Mills coming up with big plays on both the offensive and defensive end of the field when they needed it the most to stay in front of a charging Knights squad.

In the third quarter Teagan Lausten picked off a West Central Knight pass and returned it 32-yards for a touchdown, before the Knights returned the subsequent kick off 60-yards to make the score 27-14 heading into the fourth quarter. 

West Central cut the lead to 27-20 when they scored on a 27-yard pass, before Ehnert scored on a 3-yard run and he found Isaac Kawlewski on a two-point conversion to give the Eagles the 35-20 win. 

Radniecki said he was pleased by the effort put on the field by the Eagles who played one of their best games of the season on Tuesday night. 

“I am happy because we finally got that close to complete game,” said Radniecki. “The kids have continued to battle and I am very proud of what they have done. Breckenridge will be tough but our new saying is why not us?”

Saturday

The only thing that could top Tuesday’s win over West Central Area would be another complete game win for the Eagles in the Section 6A semi-finals. NY Mills got that and much more as the Eagles outscored the Cowboys 26-6 in the second half to come away with a 26-18 win over the Cowboys on Saturday.

Just one month ago, NY Mills fell to Breckenridge 32-6 which started a three game losing streak for the Eagles to end the regular season.

After Breckenridge scored a touchdown in both the first and second quarter to take a 12-0 lead at halftime, the Eagles came back and scored a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter to tie the game at 12-12 heading into the fourth quarter. 

“Played our best game of the year.  The kids kept battling and after a tough first half we came out in the second half and really put it to them. Very proud of the team effort and the work they have done. To upset two teams in one week and get to the FargoDome is a great accomplishment,” said head coach Matt Radniecki.

The first NY Mills touchdown came on a 54-yard touchdown run by Teagan Lausten, before Finn Roder scored on a 2-yard run.

The Eagles took their first lead of the game by a score of 20-12 when Roder scored on a 1-yard run and Lausten converted the two-point conversion. 

“Teagan Lausten played like an animal today and we are so happy for our seniors who played very well.  Nice job guys,” said Radniecki.

Breckenridge wasted little time to answer the score when they found the end zone on a 7-yard run, but the two-point conversion failed to lead NY Mills in front by a score of 20-18. 

Lausten gave the Eagles a bit of breathing room in the fourth quarter when he scored on a 16-yard run to put NY Mills in front for good by a score of 26-18. 

“The kids have always been working and I am very proud of them. Parkers Prairie will be a tough challenge, but we are happy to be able to play them. Nobody expected us to get there and we have believed in ourselves,” said Radniecki.