Lakers ground the Rockets

By Aaron Schultz
Sports Editor
HOWARD LAKE – Several huge individual nights helped the Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted Lakers’ football team squeak out a 28-20 win over the Rockford Rockets Friday.
“The Lakers had to battle hard for this win, but fought until the very last play,” head coach George Montgomery said.
Seniors’ Trevor Zachmann and Curtis Herbolsheimer each had big nights on different sides of the football for the Lakers, but the night belonged to sophomore running back Adam Klinkner.
Coming off a strong game against Eden Valley-Watkins the week before, Klinkner put the Lakers on his young shoulders Friday night, helping HLWW improve to 3-1 in Central Minnesota Conference play.
Klinkner carried the ball 26 times for 259 yards – an average of just under 10 yards-per-carry.
Three of those 26 carries went for touchdowns, including a 94-yard scamper, which opened the scoring on the night.
“Adam put the offense on his shoulders and carried us to victory,” Montgomery said. “Adam did well against EVW last week, and we knew that he would have to have a great game this week. He came through in flying colors.”
Also having a big night on offense for HLWW was Herbolsheimer, who caught five passes for 101 yards, and the final touchdown of the night.
Together, Herbolsheimer and Klinkner combined to account for 381 of the 408 total yards the Lakers had in the win.
Meanwhile, on the defensive side of the ball, Zachmann was in Rockford’s backfield much of the night, especially in the second half, coming away with three quarterback sacks.
“Trevor had three sacks in the game, while making it difficult for the quarterback to feel comfortable,” Montgomery said.
HLWW is now 3-2 overall, while staying one game back of Maple Lake and Eden Valley-Watkins (both 4-0) in the CMC with a 3-1 mark.
The Lakers will look to pick up their fourth win of the season Friday, Oct. 3 when they host the Kimball Cubs for homecoming.
Kimball is 0-4 in the CMC, and is 1-4 overall.
This past Friday, the Cubs were beaten by Eden Valley-Watkins 39-8.
The early part of the Lakers’ win Friday wasn’t the prettiest football you’ll ever see, as both teams lost fumbles early on.
Actually, HLWW recovered two fumbles, one coming inside their own 10-yard line, stopping a Rockford scoring drive.
Following that second turnover, Klinkner gave the Laker fans a little taste of what they could expect from him all night long.
On a second-down play, Klinkner broke several tackles up the middle, then bounced to the right, and was gone.
Klinkner went 94 yards at the 2:28 mark of the first quarter for the opening score of the game, giving HLWW a 6-0 lead.
Rockford bounced back in the second quarter, scoring on quarterback sneak from a yard out to tie the game.
Then, after a pair of HLWW penalties on the extra point attempt put Rockford a yard away, they punched in the two-point conversion to take an 8-6 lead.
On the following possession, the Lakers moved the ball quickly into Rockford territory on a beautiful 40-yard pitch and catch from quarterback Cameron Lehner to Herbolsheimer, putting HLWW deep inside Rocket territory.
Just a few second later, Klinkner was at it again, this time carrying it in from 11-yards out to regain the lead for the Lakers.
HLWW then successfully converted the two-point play on a Lehner pass to Klinkner, giving the Lakers a 14-8 lead.
Later on in the quarter, after a HLWW fumble ended a possible scoring drive and put the ball back in Rockford’s hands, the Rockets drove the length of field.
And right before the half, Rockford threw a 6-yard touchdown pass with just nine seconds to go in the opening half to tie the game up at 14. The extra point kick was no good.
Penalties, turnovers, and some mistakes in the secondary allowed the winless Rockets to stay right with the Lakers through the opening half of play.
Coming out of halftime, the Lakers appeared to be out of sorts, as Rockford controlled the play, and with just over two minutes left in the third quarter, took the lead on a 6-yard touchdown pass. The extra point failed.
Now down 20-14, HLWW needed to get something going offensively, but things weren’t looking good.
On the ensuing kickoff, the HLWW returner slipped when picking up the football, pinning the Lakers down inside their own 10-yard line to start this crucial drive.
No worries as it was Klinkner to the rescue. Just two plays into the series, Klinkner ran the ball twice, both runs were for over 10 yards, and just like that the Lakers were out of the shadow of their own end zone.
On this big drive, the Lakers mixed in runs with Joe Jaros and John Long, as well as a few passes, but the majority of the drive was spent handing it off to Klinkner.
Klinkner then completed the drive he started with a 4-yard touchdown run, tying the game up at 20.
Derek Youngren then nailed the extra point, and the Lakers had themselves the lead back at 21-20 with 8:42 left to play.
Rockford then attempted to move down the field on their next possession, but saw their drive killed when David Luhman came away with an interception.
Following the interception, the Lakers picked up several first downs as they looked to kill time off the clock.
That is when Rockford’s defense stepped it up a notch, forcing the Lakers into a 4th and 10 from the Rockets’ 30-yard line with just over two minutes to play in the game.
Letting all the time they could run off the clock first, the Lakers then called a time-out to set up a play, and what a play it was.
On that fourth down play, Lehner dropped back to pass, and found Herbolsheimer over the middle.
Herbolsheimer caught the pass, made one Rockford defender miss, and was off to the races for a 30-yard touchdown reception.
Youngren followed with the extra point kick, and the Lakers had themselves a 28-20 lead.
But the game wasn’t over yet, as Rockford’s passing attack still had time to move the ball down the field, and were just a touchdown and two-point conversion away from tying it up.
The Rockets did move the ball into HLWW territory, but an interception by Quin Leaf deep inside Laker territory ended this threat.
However, the Lakers were unable to secure a first down after the interception, and were forced to punt from deep inside their own territory with under a minute to play in the game.
Punting from his own end zone, Jaros got off a beautiful punt, sending the Rockford returner back.
The Rockets did get a solid return, but it was brought back due to a penalty, leaving Rockford with well over 50 yards to go with just seconds to play.
That is when Zachmann made his presence felt again, picking up his third sack of the game, this one ending the game for the Lakers in victory.
Defensively, the Lakers played well against the run, allowing just 44 net yards to the Rockets.
However, Rockford was able to throw the ball against HLWW, passing for 231 yards, with most of those coming in the first half.
“Our defense did well against the run, but allowed 231 yards through the air,” Montgomery said. “Rockford’s offense exploited our secondary throughout out game. Once we switched our coverages and drops, it made it more difficult to find receivers.”
Game Stats
Passing
• Cameron Lehner: 9-for-17, 124 yards, 13.7 yards-per-completion, 1 TDs, 1 INT.
Rushing
• Adam Klinkner: 26 carries, 259 yards, 9.96 yards-per-carry (ypc), 3 TDs.
• Joe Jaros: 5 carries, 17 yards, 3.4 ypc.
• John Long: 5 carries, 6 yards, 1.2 ypc.
• Mitch Merges: 1 carry, 2 yards.
Receiving
• Curtis Herbolsheimer: 5 receptions, 101 yards, 20.2 yards-per-reception (ypr), 1 TD.
• Adam Klinkner: 2 receptions, 21 yards, 10.5 ypr.
• Kyle Klammer: 1 reception, 4 yards.
• Joe Jaros: 1 reception, -2 yards.
Defense
• Jace Whitcomb: 2 solo tackles, 1 assist.
• Joe Uter: 2 solo tackles, 1 assist.
• Quin Leaf: 1 assist, 1 INT.
• John Long: 4 solo tackles, 4 assists.
• David Luhman: 3 solo tackles, 2 assists, 1 INT.
• Mitch Merges: 2 solo tackles.
• Adam Klinkner: 6 solo tackles, 1 assist.
• Kyle Klammer: 1 solo tackle, 2 assists.
• Zach Grangroth: 2 solo tackles, 1 assist.
• Matt Schmieg: 2 solo tackles, 3 assists, 1 solo tackle for loss.
• Trevor Zachmann: 3 solo tackles, 3 sacks.
• Derek Youngren: 1 solo tackle, 1 assist, 1 fumble recovery.
• Tony Hausladen: 1 solo tackle, 1 assist, 1 sack.
• Curtis Herbolsheimer: 2 assists.