Eagles to travel to Menahga on Friday night

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

New York Mills put an exclamation point on homecoming week with a 46-0 win over Bagley on Friday night. The Eagles led 21-0 at halftime and never looked back as they improved to 4-0 on the season. 

“A very good game for us to end homecoming week,” said head coach Matt Radniecki. “The team played very well in all three phases of the game.  

The Eagles got on the scoreboard early in the first quarter as Eathan Ruther scored on a 7-yard touchdown run. The point after attempt by Brayden Ehnert was good to make the score 7-0.

In the second quarter, Bren Salo found the end zone on a 1-yard run. The point after attempt failed, but the Eagles wasted no time to get back on the scoreboard as Dane Niemi became the third different Eagle to find the end zone in the half as he scored on a 5-yard run. Salo found Jonah Johnson on the two-point conversion to make the score 21-0 heading into halftime. 

NY Mills scored two more touchdowns in the third quarter off a Salo 7-yard run, with Ehnert making the kick to leave the score at 28-0. Niemi scored his second touchdown of the game on an 8-yard run in the third quarter to make the score 34-0. 

In the fourth quarter Jonah Ruther scored on a 2-yard run and Ehnert ended the scoring for the Eagles with a 15-yard run. 

Radniecki said he was happy to get all three NY Mills teams in the game for some extended playing time during the homecoming game. That playing time will provide some additional varsity experience for some of the younger Eagles that could help the team out later in the season. 

“I was really happy that we were able to play all three units on offense and defense. Our second and third units were able to score for us and that was great for them.  They are working hard and getting better. The first group of offense and defense played very well. We executed what we wanted to do and it was a very good clean win for us.”

head coach Matt Radniecki

The Eagles dominated the ball on the ground throughout the game as NY Mills rushed 43 times for 299 yards and was a perfect 4-4 passing for 59 yards. Bagley on the other hand rushed 35 times for just 114 yards and went 2-4 passing for 22 yards.

  The Eagles also held a 2-1 advantage in turnovers.

This week the 4-0 NY Mills Eagles, who are currently ranked fifth in the QRF, will take on Menahga. The Braves are 3-2 on the season and average 32 points per game on offense, while giving up just 17.6 points per game on defense. NY Mills, on the other hand, is averaging 33.8 points per game on offense, while giving up just 6 points per game.

“This week we have Menahga, who is a physical team, something that we will have to match to have success,” said Radniecki.

Menahga has picked up wins against Bagley 30-8, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 32-26 and Red Lake 72-0. They lost to Wadena-Deer Creek 21-20 and Pine River-Backus 33.6

Currently the Eagles are in second place in Section 6A in the QRF rankings, behind just Otter Tail Central who is 5-0 and ranked second. There are three weeks remaining in the regular season before the playoffs kick off on Oct. 26.