Sports from the week of October 18, 2006

Clock runs out on rally

Unbeaten Adrian escapes with 23-20 win

By Dick Donaldson

The Panther football team lost a close game to Adrian at Tracy Thursday night 23-20. The loss dropped Tracy/Milroy/Balaton’s season record to 4-3 and Adrian maintained its conference lead at 7-0.

The Dragons looked impressive early by scoring on their first two possessions. The Dragons scored on drives of 59 yards in 11 plays and 53 yards in 7 plays to take a 15-0 lead. The Panthers made defensive adjustments and to keep Adrian out of the end zone in the second and third periods

“By the time we got focused we were behind 15-0,” said Panther Co-Coach Derek Flann. “It was a winnable game. We just ran out of time at the end of the game.”

On the second Panther possession of the second quarter, TMB had third and eight on their own 38. Quarterback Isaac Dolan hit Taylor Rignell on a fly pattern over the middle for an apparent touchdown. However an illegal player downfield penalty nullified what could have been the game breaker for TMB.

The Panthers finally got on the scoreboard in the third period when they returned the second half kickoff to their own 17-yard line and then marched 83 yards to a score. The march was highlighted by a 30yard run for a first down at the Panther 48 by running back Seth Swan and fourth down fake punt pass to David Schmidt for a first down at the Adrian 9 yard line Two carries by Swan then brought the touchdown. The conversion attempt failed and the Adrian lead was cut to 15-6 with 8:09 remaining in the third period.

The fourth quarter was filled with excitement as Adrian drove to what appeared to be the clinching score with 7:25 remaining in the game to make the score 23-6. Instead John Swenhaugen took the ensuing kickoff and raced 83 yards to a touchdown. The kick was good and the score became 23-13 with 6:04 remaining.

The Panthers’ on-side kick was successfully recovered by Schmidt and TMB had the ball on their own 38-yard.

The Panther drive was stopped by an intercepted pass but Adrian fumbled the ball right back to the Panthers on the following play. The Panthers then drove 38 yards in nine plays to score.

When the kick was good TMB had closed to 23-20 with 3:33 remaining. This time the on-side kick was covered by the Dragons and they held the ball for eight plays, with the assistance of an offside penalty, before giving the ball up on downs at the Panther 32-yard line with only 7 seconds showing on the clock.

Dolan’s “Hail Mary” pass was completed to Schmidt when he took the ball away from two defenders. Schmidt threw a lateral to Taylor Rignell who tossed it to Spencer Zwaschka who was then tackled at the Adrian 30 as the game ended.

Swan led the defense with 23 tackle points (2 points for an unassisted tackle and 1 point for a tackle assist), Chris Hansen had 21 points, John Gervais 18, Chris Swenson 13, Rignell 12, John Swenhaugen 11, Dan Deiter 10, Pheng Her 8, Spencer Zwaschka 6, Jordan Rolling and David Schmidt 5 each, Kyle McIntire, Tyler Bauer, Nick Soupir and Drew Nelson 4 each, Brady Jackson, Taylor Hagberg and Andrew Prairie had 2 each while Nathan Jacob and Brandon Kirk had 1 each.

The Dragons rushed 59 times for 304 yards and were 2 of 4 passing for 26 yards giving them 330 yards of total offense. The Panthers rushed 32 times for 109 yards and were 6 of 22 passing for 114 yards giving them a total offense of 223 yards.

Adrian 15 0 0 8 23

TMB 0 0 6 14 20

First quarter

Cody Kontz 1 run (kick good)

A-Tyler Vaske 10 run (run good)

Second quarter

No scoring

Third quarter

TMB-Swan 6 run (pass failed)

Fourth quarter

A-Vaske 6 run (run good)

TMB-Swenhaugen 83 kickoff return (kick good)

TMB Swan 6 run (kick good)

Individual stats

Rushing-Swan 17 for 87 yards

Passing- Dolan 6 for 22 for 114 yards

Receiving-David Schmidt 3 for 74 yards.

TMB trims Canby in four

The Panther volleyball team won over Canby 3-1 at Canby Tuesday night. The game scores were 25-20, 18-25, 25-22 and 25-23.

The win improved Tracy/Milroy/Balaton to 9-16 and 6-4 in the Camden South Conference. Canby dropped to 6-18 and 1-9 in the Camden South Conference.

Shelbie Jones led the Panthers with 24 digs and was 16 of 18 serving with 3 aces. Jackie Haecherl was 15 of 15 serving with 1 ace, had 5 blocks and 8 digs, Molly Miller was 12 of 12 serving and had 8 kills, Lindsey Daniels was 11 of 11 serving and had 28 set assists, Michele Lanoue was 10 of 12 serving with 1 ace , had 14 kills and 8 digs, Kayla Daniels was 17 of 17 serving and Mallory Fultz had 11 kills.

The Panthers will meet Canby again in the first round of the 3AA Section Tournament at Redwood Falls on Monday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. The winner of that match will meet the top seeded team, GFW in Olivia on Friday, October 27 at 6 p.m.

Penguins show improvement in loss

The Plum Creek Penguins were eliminated in post-season play in a 6-0 loss to Mankato Loyola Oct. 10.

In concluding their first season as a high school team, the Penguins took consolation in showing improvement from the beginning of the season. Earlier this fall, the Penguins fell to Loyola 9-0.

“This year was definitely a growing year for us,” reflected Coach Phil Goetstouwers. “As one of the captains said, at least we improved from last time we played them. In all levels, I agree. Next year we will be older, more mature, stronger, more confident, more skilled and more successful.”

Goetstouwers felt the outcome against No. 3 seeded Loyola could have been different, had the Penguins taken advantage of an early breakaway goal opportunity, and had a penalty kick been called against Loyola.

“Within the first few minutes of the game, Arturo Bautista had a breakaway opportunity that the goalkeeper barely saved,” said Goetstouwers. “Five to ten minutes later, there was an obvious handball in the opposing team’s penalty box, which would have been a penalty kick, but the referee changed his mind in making the call.”

Shortly after the non-call, Loyola scored the first goal of the game on a breakaway. Just before halftime, Loyola scored another goal past goalkeeper Kong Thao making it 2-0.

The 14th seeded Penguins continued to fight, but Loyola played a much tougher second half scoring four goals (one from a penalty kick) to make it a 6-0 finale.

I think it would have been a totally different game if we had scored either off of Arturo’s breakaway or if we would have had the penalty kick. After Loyola scored the first goal, their confidence went up. After they went up 3-0, our confidence went down. The mental aspect of the game plays a major part in a team’s success,” summed up Goestouwers.

Three brave cold, wind, earn all-conference honors

Alex Jones, Ryan Tholen and Karli Tholen earned all conference honors at the Camden Conference meet in Raymond Friday.

The meet was run in brisk conditions: winds gusting 30 to 40 MPH and temperatures in the 40s. The girls finished second behind Canby, who posted a perfect score of 15. The boys were last in a field of four teams topped by Renville County West.

The girls team scores were 1) CML, 15; 2) TMB, 66; 3) RCW, 79.

The varsity girls individual results were: Karli Tholen, 6th, 17:37; Ayla Snyder, 10th, 18:25; Jen Vroman, 13th, 18:41; Haley Hebig, 17th, 19:36; Rachel Stobb, 20th, 20:28; Jessica Mason, 21st, 20:35; Celia Brockway, 21:29.

“Karli Tholen ran another great race,” said Coach Marie Hanson. “When she had 1000 meters to go she just made her way into eighth place and the top eight got all -conference honors. Karli went on to finish strong and easily passed two more girls.”

Hanson credited Alya Snyder for letting others block the wind for her, and finishing strong. “She really is a talented runner.”

She also cited Rachel Stobb for “looking to be back in form” for the final meets of the season.”

Boys’ team scores were: 1)RCW, 41; 2) CML, 56; 3) MACCRAY, 57; 4) TMB, 63. Panther runners were Ryan Tholen, 4th, 18:19; Alex Jones, 5th, 18:49’ Derek Evans, 11th, 19:37; Sam VanNevel, 21st, 21:30; Joe Hook 22nd, 21:37; James Prairie, 26th, 24:37.

“Alex and Ryan again led the boys team through some tough competition,” said Hanson. “The top six broke away from the rest of the pack and kept up an amazing pace—especially considering the conditions.” She felt Derek Evans ran his best race of the season.

“His finish was especially exciting as he pushed past a runner from CML. Derek just missed an all-conference honor by three places. The Camden Conference boys side is very competitive, the Panthers put forth a great showing.”

In the girls’ junior varsity race, Tinke Albach ran a 9:58, Carly Miller was at 9:59 and Jessica Lamb ran a 11:13.

In the boys’ junior varsity, Dalton Kirk ran an 8:05, Josh Lubben a 9:21 and Mac Tiegs a 14:33.