Highland Park's Leon Adams (2) cut through the Blue Earth defense for first half yards. /Marlin Levison, Star Tribune
When you have a pair of Division-I caliber offensive linemen taking up space and opening holes almost at will, the playbook is endless.
“It gives you confidence because you know you have good pass protection and have guys that can move bodies when you want to run the ball,” Blue Earth coach Randy Kuechenmeister said of Gophers recruit Jonah Pirsig (6-9, 300 pounds) and Sam Lee (6-5, 300), who has caught the attention of Iowa, Iowa State and Minnesota. “But they’re not perfect. Nobody is.”
The Buccaneers were far from pristine Friday at Wilson Field in the team’s home opener. But three touchdowns in 4 minutes, 7 seconds to open the second half highlighted a 57-40 victory over St. Paul Highland Park.
Blue Earth, a Class 2A school with an enrollment of a little more than 300 students, took it to the Class 3A Scots with touchdowns on its first three drives of the game. It then shook off three false-start penalties, two fumbles and a pass interference call on third-and-7 that extended a Scots drive and eventually led to a touchdown. What looked to be a blowout early was instead a five-point game at halftime.
Then the Bucs came alive — and held on again.
Brady Anderson, Jacob Olson and David Franta all scored rushing touchdowns before 5 minutes remained in the third quarter, and Carter Hanson picked off two Scots passes in the big second half.
St. Paul Highland Park, though, clawed back by recovering two onside kicks en route to three fourth-quarter touchdowns. Christopher Mitchell and Tycell Page hooked up on two of those, and four times in the game.
Olson, though, put it away on a 60-yard scamper with 1:21 to play thanks to, you guessed it, a big block on the line. It wasn’t the only one.
Anderson, the QB, scored on a 56-yard run on the Buccaneers’ first drive of the game, and Olson added a 53-yarder four minutes later.
NAME | HIGH SCHOOL | YEAR | POS. | COLLEGE | VERBAL |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Duke Anyanwu | Blaine | Senior | QB | Minnesota | Yes |
Matt Arends | Prior Lake | Senior | WR | Princeton | Yes |
Tavaughn Blair | Hopkins | Senior | SS | Northern Iowa | Yes |
Cal Bloom | Osseo | Senior | TE | Central Florida | Yes |
Nick Carr | Totino-Grace | Senior | OL | South Dakota State | Yes |
Kevin Carroll | Edina | Senior | OL | Northern Iowa | Yes |
Paddy Clancy | St. Thomas Academy | Senior | DB | Dartmouth | Yes |
Breion Creer | Benilde-St. Margaret's | Senior | DT | Northern Iowa | Yes |
Nick Davidson | Eden Prairie | Senior | OT | Stanford | Yes |
Rob Diane | Robbinsdale Cooper | *RCC Junior | DE | South Dakota State | Yes |
Cedric Dicke | Cannon Falls | Senior | LB | Minnesota | Yes |
Karmichael Dunbar | Prior Lake | Senior | DL | Louisianna | Yes |
Isaac Fruechte | Caledonia | *RCTC Sophomore | WR | Minnesota | Yes |
Joel Fuxa | Minnetonka | Senior | TE | Drake | Yes |
Jonathan Harden | Cretin-Derham Hall | Senior | DT | Western Michigan | Yes |
Tyler Hartmann | Andover | Senior | DE | Minnesota | Yes |
Isaac Hayes | St. Thomas Academy | Senior | OL/DL | Minnesota | Yes |
Cody Hazelette | Simley | Senior | LB/TE | Northern Illinois | Yes |
Kyle Hughes | Minneapolis Washburn | Senior | WR/DB | Eastern Michigan | Yes |
D.J. Hebert | Osseo | Senior | QB | Northern Iowa | Yes |
Cavonte Johnson | Edina | Senior | DB | Minnesota | Yes |
Will Johnson | Osseo | Senior | TE | West Virginia | Yes |
Zack Johnson | Eastview | Senior | OL | North Dakota State | Yes |
Paul Kaczor | St. Cloud Tech | Senior | OL | Harvard | Yes |
Brian Labat | Detroit Lakes | Senior | RB | North Dakota | Yes |
Andrew Larson | Eden Prairie | Senior | RB | Harvard | Yes |
Brandon Larson | Bemidji | Senior | LB | North Dakota | Yes |
Ben Lauer | Wayzata | Senior | OL | Minnesota | Yes |
Mitch Leidner | Lakeville South | Senior | QB | Minnesota | Yes |
Andre McDonald | Hopkins | Senior | WR | Minnesota | Yes |
Nate Meixell | Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial | Senior | LB | South Dakota State | Yes |
Nate Meyer | Rocori | Senior | QB | South Dakota State | Yes |
Drake Michaelson | Eden Prairie | Senior | LB | Wofford | Yes |
Rossevelt Morisset | Thief River Falls | Senior | WR | Southeastern Louisiana | Yes |
Andy Moritko | Totino-Grace | Senior | DB | South Dakota State | Yes |
Philip Nelson | Mankato West | Senior | QB | Minnesota | Yes |
Brett Pierce | Holy Angels | Senior | DL | North Dakota State | Yes |
Jonah Pirsig | Blue Earth | Senior | OL | Minnesota | Yes |
Nick Rallis | Edina | Senior | S | Minnesota | Yes |
Taj Rich | Robbinsdale Cooper | Senior | LB | North Dakota | Yes |
Zach Riopelle | Warren-Alvarado-Oslo | Senior | LB | North Dakota State | Yes |
Kasey Robinson | Breck | Senior | WR | Drake | Yes |
Chase Roullier | Burnsville | Senior | OL | Wyoming | Yes |
E.J. Welch | Mesabi East | *MRCC Freshman | DL | North Dakota | Yes |
Lucas Wiborg | DeLaSalle | Senior | OG | Cornell | Yes |
Evan Williams | DeLaSalle | *IWCC Freshman | RB | Northern Iowa | Yes |
Maxx Williams | Waconia | Senior | TE | Minnesota | Yes |
Carey Woods | Bemidji | Senior | WR | North Dakota State | Yes |