TMB breaks out with 517 yards of offense to earn first conference win
Sleepy Eye United might have had twice as many players on the sidelines as the Panthers last Friday night, but between the lines, TMB looking nothing like an undermanned team.
The Panthers controlled the line of scrimmage all night, showed explosiveness on offense for the first time and racked up a season-high 517 yards en route to a 42-27 Mid-South Conference win at home.
“Besides two longer passes in the Springfield game, I don’t know if we’ve had a play over 20 yards,” TMB coach Ryan Kruse said. “We were ripping ‘em off in chunks. It was fun. We’ve got to be able to be consistent, but when you get a big play every once in a while, that just makes it so much easier.”
For the first time this year, the Panthers were the first ones of the scoreboard when Aiden Sanow floated a pass into the end zone that was hauled in by an out-stretched Jackson Kruse for an 18-yard score and a 6-0 lead. David Schuh got over for the two-point conversion and an early 8-0 advantage.
SEU came right back with a touchdown but failed on the conversion, but the Panther offense retaliated with a 13-play, 65-yard drive, fueled mostly by Schuh, who gained 31 yards on seven straight runs. Schuh’s eighth carry of the drive was a 9-yard touchdown run, and after the twopoint conversion failed, TMB was up 14-6.
Undaunted, SEU came back again to tie it at 14-14, and got the ball back after a TMB fumble at the SEU 5-yard-line, had a chance to take the lead. However, the Panthers got the ball right back when Griffin Zick snagged a tipped pass near the sideline and ran it all the way down to the SEU 14. Four plays later, Zick was rewarded
first quarter. Photos / Per Peterson
with a 15-yard pass from Sanow with just :45 left in the half. The two-point conversion failed, but TMB headed to the locker room with a sixpoint lead.
“I think the mindset was, ‘We’ve got to find our identity,’” Zick said. “We knew we had to come out with energy and keep that energy, keep ourselves rolling and start a new streak.”
The Panthers turned SEU over on downs on its first possession of the second half, and the Panthers quickly boosted their lead to 28-14. The scoring drive was highlighted by a 40-yard Schuh run that put TMB in business at the SEU 14.
Three plays later, Schuh, behind an inspired offensive line, ran it in again, and Sanow’s twopoint conversion run put TMB up 28-14 with just over 3 minutes left in the third quarter.
“The guys up front were really good today,” Kruse said. “We didn’t have a ton of mistakes, and I thought some of our bad plays were a yard or two gains, instead of 3-yard losses. We could do what we wanted and stay ahead of the sticks. They controlled things up front on offense and defense.”
“The offensive line was great — they got pushes all night,” Zick said. “That really opened things up for us.” Another Schuh touchdown and two-point conversion — set up by his own interception — put TMB up 36-14 with 5:02 to go in the game. Schuh put the icing on the cake with a 61yard touchdown run up the middle for a 42-20 TMB lead.
Schuh finished the game with 236 rush yards on 23 carries — a 9.8-yard average.
“He’s an experienced runner,” Kruse said. “I think you could see the difference in experience between a guy that has practiced for a week and a guy that has done it for a long time. You could just tell the difference. He can hit the small holes; sometimes it’s not there and he just puts his head down. Then when we do get a hole, he’s fast enough to break one and make a big play out of it.”
Friday’s game included a number of firsts for the Panthers this year. TMB’s opening touchdown was their first first-quarter score. It also gave TMB its first lead in the fist half. The Panthers’ 380 yards on the ground marked the first time they passed 200 rushing yards in a game.
Sanow was efficient through the air if not spectacular, as he finished the game 9-for-10 for a modest 96 yards and the touchdown. But he did his most damage with his feet, rushing for 103 yards.
TMB’s big plays included a 40-yard run and 34-yard pass by Sanow and Schuh’s 61-yard jaunt.
“We have it everyday in practice, I just think we needed to show it in a game,” said Zick, who had four catches for 60 yards. “It felt really good to see it all come together. When we started with the one on the second drive, that carried over for the rest of the game.”
TMB was coming off two losses in which it was outscored 102-18. But the mindset the players showed leading up to last week’s game wasn’t one of looking back.
“I felt really good about — their attitude during the week was so good,” said Kruse. “I heard some really good comments that (the Springfield game) ‘wasn’t our best, we’re going to get better.’ They did it, they got better. They were ready for a win no matter who our opponent was, it didn’t matter.”
