UPDATED: Spartans hold off Warriors

September 22, 2009 at 11:13 PM

RICE LAKE -- The Superior High School football team defeated the Rice Lake Warriors 14-13 Friday night before a large crowd at the newly built Dairy State Bank Stadium.

After the Warriors made it a 14-13 game in favor of the Spartans with 1:18 remaining on a half-back touchdown pass from Dan Krebs to Nick Pederson, they elected to go a two-point conversion and the win.

Rice Lake fumbled the pitch behind the line of scrimmage, and after tackling the runner near the 2-yard line, Superior was able to run out the clock to improve to 2-2 overall and 2-0 and in the Big Rivers Conference.

"We had a play there, but their linebacker blew it up," Rice Lake Coach Dan Hill said. "All we had to do was pitch it and we didn't get it. There's no regrets on the play."

It was actually nose guard Nikko Bogojevich who force the fumble.

"I knew they were going to go for it, I would have done the same thing in that situation," SHS coach Bob DeMeyer said. "They were moving the ball a lot on us, they had the momentum and they went for the win. I commend them for it."

After a scoreless first half, Rice Lake took a 7-0 lead on Trevor Mickelson's 6-yard run and Kody Novinska's extra-point kick with 1:50 left in the third quarter.

Zach Colvin got Superior on the board with a 52-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter. The Spartans botched the extra-point kick to trail 7-6.

The Spartans got the ball right back as David Zastrow's kick-off was a line drive that hit the leg of a Rice Lake blocker, bounced right back at Zastrow, who recovered the fumble at midfield.

"It hit the guy right in the thigh and came right back to me," Zastrow said. "Then I thought what now and when I saw it sitting there I just covered it up.

"That was ridiculous, I had no idea that was going to happen. That was not planned at all. I wish it was, but the goal was to get it to the 20 really high so we could get down to the ball right away and eventually get the ball back."

Eight plays later the Spartans took a 14-7 lead when Chad Murray busted up the middle from seven yards out. The senior also scored on the conversion attempt with 8:01 left in the third quarter.

"That kick where they drilled the ball right off our kids leg, that was a big play," Hill said. "When they got the ball back and scored, that changed the momentum of the game."

The Warriors then marched the ball to Superior's 8-yard line with around five minutes remaining. But that would be as close as they would get as Mike LaValley picked off his second pass of the game in the end zone and returned it the 14.

The Spartans punted after three plays, leaving Rice Lake 44 yards away from the end zone with 2:48 on the clock.

Five plays into the drive Novinska pitched the ball to Krebs, who then tossed a 16-yard TD pass to Pederson to get within 14-13, which was the final score when Rice Lake failed on the two-point conversion play.

"Every game this year our kids played right to the end and didn't hang their heads when they were behind," DeMeyer said. "Mistakes were made, but we've beaten some good teams and when we stop making those mistakes, from the coaches on down to the last player on the team, we'll get better.

"Rice Lake is a darn good football team. They're disciplined, they're well coached and they do what they do very well. They're 0-2 in our conference, but both of those losses were by one point."

In a scoreless first half Superior turned the ball over on its first two possessions.

The Spartan defense picked up the slack with a Jake Turkowski interception on the first series of the game and LaValley's first of two picks on the final play of the second quarter.

Three of Rice Lake's five drives added up to just 1 yard. The Warriors' third drive went for 37 yards and its final drive for 38 yards.

Superior gained just 81 yards in the first half, but fared much better in the second half to end with 233 total yards. Rice Lake had 217 total yards.

Murray and Zach Erickson led the Spartans with 68 yards rushing apiece. Colvin added 50 yards on four carries and Kellen McCoshen had 32 yards on 11 carries.

Mickelson led the Warriors with 71 yards on 13 carries. Cole Westpahl added 31 yards on 16 carries and Novinski had 28 yards on 14 carries.

Ethan Taylor had a game-high 13 tackles. Colvin added 11 tackles and Jake Turkowski had five tackles, one quarterback sack and one interception.

The Spartans host Menomonie at 7 p.m. Friday.

Superior Spartans 0 0 0 14 -- 14

Rice Lake Warriors 0 0 7 6 -- 13

Scoring summary

Third Quarter

RL--Trevor Mickelson 6-yard run (Kody Novinska kick), 1:50.

Fourth Quarter

SHS--Zach Colvin 52-yard run (kick failed), 11:49.

SHS--Chad Murray 7-yard run (Murray run), 8:01.

RL--Dan Krebs 16-yard pass to Nick Pederson (run failed), 1:18.

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Team statistics

SHS RL

First downs 11 11

Rushes - yards 44-218 51-150

Passing yards 15 67

Comp-att-int 2-7-1 2-10-3

Total plays 51 61

Total offense 233 217

Return yards 15 42

Punts-avg 5-36.6 2-36

Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-2

Penalties-yards 4-40 5-25

Def. sacks - yards lost 1-6 0-0

Time of possession 25:55 22:05

3rd down efficiency 6-for-13 9-for-18

4th down efficiency 1-for-1 2-for-3

Punts-avg 5-36.6 2-36

Time of possession 25:55 22:05

Individual statistics

Rushing: SHS--Chad Murray, 14-68; Zach Erickson, 15-68; Zach Colvin, 4-50; Kellen McCoshen, 11-32. RL--Trevor Mickelson, 13-71; Cole Westphal, 16-31; Kody Novinska, 14-28; Nick Pederson, 5-15; Dan Krebs, 2-5.

Passing: SHS--McCoshen, 2-7-1-15. RL--Novinska, 1-8-2-51; Krebs, 1-2-1-16.

Receiving: SHS--Murray, 1-8; Colvin, 1-7. RL--Mickelson, 1-51; Pederson, 1-16.

Defensive Stats

Superior

Tkl Ast Sac TFL Int

Taylor, Ethan 13 1 0 1 0

Colvin, Zach 11 2 0 0 0

LaValley, Mike 6 0 0 2 2

Turkowski, Jake 5 2 1 1 1

Van Puymbrouck, Eric 5 0 0 0 0

Collins, Scott 4 0 0 0 0

Koskie, Spencer 4 1 0 0 0