HJ Sports Blog

By Matt Kane
Sports Editor
DELANO — The long line of cars leaving the Delano High School parking lot a little after 9 p.m. Friday night signified a large crowd had shown up to watch the neighborly battle on the gridiron between Delano and Watertown-Mayer that began just two hours earlier.

The exit came with a smile for Tiger fans, while visiting Royals’ fans left questioning “What happened?” after Delano shut out Watertown-Mayer 17-0.

“We will take the win,” Delano coach Merrill Pavlovich said. “We did a lot of things well tonight, and we did a lot of things poorly. Too many penalties and too many missed assignments. Part of that was the defense they threw at us — the guys got a little confused — but we will take the win.”

The win increased Delano’s record to 3-0. The Tigers are 2-0 in the Wright County Conference.
“It means we are still in contention for the Wright County Conference,” Delano senior center Tyler Atkinson said.

Watertown-Mayer dropped to 0-3 — all conference losses.

The key to the game was the play of Delano’s defense.

“I thought the defense played very well,” Pavlovich said. “Basically, we kept everything in front of us, and I think their biggest play was a 15-yard gain.”

The hard-hitting Tigers forced three first-half fumbles, all three resulting in Royals’ turnovers.

Delano turned the third and final fumble into its first scoring drive.
Eric Dahl set up the drive when he pounced on a fumble by Watertown-Mayer tight end Harry Owczarek in front of the Delano bench with 6:33 to play in the second quarter.

The Tigers ensuing possession, which started on their own 33-yard line, ended with a 13-yard touchdown run by fullback Will Finn. The John Max extra point gave Delano a 7-0 win.

Finn’s touchdown run came on a third down play, after Delano coach Merrill Pavlovich called a time-out. The Tigers came out of the time-out in a passing formation, with three receivers wide to the left, and caught the Royals’ defenders off guard when Finn took the dive play straight up the middle.

Watertown-Mayer’s first fumble put an end to the opening drive of the game.

Delano senior defensive end Tony Turnquist jumped on the ball, coughed up by Watertown-Mayer quarterback Josh Hoeft, at his own 41-yard line with 8:32 to play in the opening quarter.

“We were trying our hardest to stop them because our offense wasn’t getting things going, at first,” Delano sophomore linebacker Mac Alger said. “We were trying to keep the game close.”

Delano’s possession that came from Turnquist’s recovery was halted by a pair of sacks by Watertown-Mayer defensive end Jacob Wilson. The second sack ended the Tigers’ drive at the Royals’ 35-yard line.

The Tigers dug themselves a deep hole on the drive when a holding penalty forced the passing situations. The penalty pushed the ball back from the Royals’ 11-yard line to the 21.

That Watertown-Mayer drive ended in a punt, but the Royals got the ball right back when Jeremy Wilson intercepted a Matt Shaver pass at midfield, and returned it to the Delano 10-yard line.

Lined up with their best field position of the game, the Royals’ offense didn’t take advantage, and ended up giving the ball back to Delano on the first play of the drive.

Running back Jacob Wilson carried the ball to the 5-yard line where he was stripped of the ball. Delano defensive guard Justin Collins recovered the ball for the Tigers at his own 3-yard line.

The Tigers moved the ball far enough away from their own end zone to punt. Watertown-Mayer’s ensuing possession resulted in the Owczarek fumble.

Both teams were able to hold onto the ball in the second half, but Watertown-Mayer wasn’t able to hold back the Delano offense.

In the third quarter, Jacob Raskob put the Tigers ahead 13-0 when he turned a middle screen pass from Shaver into a 24-yard touchdown.

Max kicked the extra point through to give Delano a 14-0 lead, and the junior kicker added a 29-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to settle the score at 17-0.

Friday, Sept. 12
at Delano
1 2 3 4 Final
WM 0 0 0 0 - 0
Delano 0 7 7 3 - 17

Scoring
First quarter
No scoring
Second quarter
D — Finn one-yard run (Max kick), 7-0
Third quarter
D — Shaver 24-yard pass to Raskob (Max kick), 14-0.
Fourth quarter
D — Max 29-yard field goal, 17-0.