SPRINGFIELD — The one thing Sleepy Eye United and Springfield have in common, other than talent, at the halfway point of their prep football season is that both teams are starting to feel really comfortable.
In what may be bad news for this year’s Section 3A opponents, they head to Springfield this Friday for a 7 p.m. That’s good news for soccer fans who watch the game. South district match.
The two programs officially started their rivalry last year by splitting two games, with SEU winning 16-14 in the regular season on Sept. 29 and the Tigers winning 36-18 in the sectional final on Nov. 3. He won and got his revenge. Reached state for the second year in a row.
Although some of the faces on the field have changed since then, both teams have largely maintained the same style of play that brought them success last year, and it’s paid off this season as well.
Tigers head coach Adam Meyer said the team had to figure things out a little early on offensively this year, but he believes the Tigers are on a roll now.
“Overall I’m happy with how we played in all phases.” Meyer said. “I think we battled a little bit of inconsistency early on offensively, but we had some new faces so that was a little bit to be expected, and things seem to be settling down for us.
“That doesn’t mean it’s okay to stay like this. Obviously, now that we’re in the second half of the season, it’s time to come into our own here heading into the postseason. And we know we’re in a really tough situation. “It’s a tough district, a tough section, so we know we’re going to have to play good soccer here at the end of the year. ”
SEU head coach Brent Kucera also believes his team is starting to come together in more ways than one.
“We’re starting to play with passion, energy and excitement.” Kucera said. “Last week was the first time we really got to see that, so I think we’re starting to come into our own here and finally starting to move in the right direction.”
SEU defeated St. James Area 26-12 last Friday in St. James with Cody Schultz’s nine carries for 74 yards and two touchdowns. In the win, SEU had Gavin Fisher gain 65 yards on 18 carries, quarterback Carson Uecker threw for 95 yards and a TD to Talan Helget, and also ran for 63 yards and a score.
Uecker is one of the rookies SEU is counting on this season, taking over the starting quarterback role from Kayden Evers, who graduated this spring.
SEU likes to run the ball, but Kucera said he has been pleased with Uecker’s play so far.
“I’m really, really happy with Uecker’s progress.” Kucera said. “From Game 1 to now, he’s progressed really well. He’s on the right path, more confident, reading better, demanding certain plays, so I is very pleased with his progress.”
Springfield also had the difficult position of filling in under center early in the season, replacing 2023 All-Journal Offensive Football Player of the Year Jakob Nachreiner, who also graduated this spring. Sophomore Parker Kuehn has stepped up to this point as the Tigers’ starting quarterback, even though he replaced Nahaleiner in a big way.
Despite some early growing pains, Kuehn is starting to generate plenty of offense, as his five-touchdown passing performance last Friday at Wabasso led to a 48-7 win.
“You can see him getting more comfortable coming back here every week.” Meyer said of Kuhn: “He does a great job at the line of scrimmage, communicating plays with our offensive line and running backs, understanding spacing and different coverages. We’ve seen some different looks in the first four weeks. But that can be a challenge, especially for a young quarterback who hasn’t seen a lot of different looks, but he handled those things very well and he coached very well. He is a well-receptive kid and that is invaluable at this stage of his playing career.
“He’s done a great job of distributing the ball to different guys. We have a lot of different kids that catch every week and he’s a little bit of a threat in the run game, but not like he’s been the last few years.” He’s also great to take advantage of because it adds a little bit of dimension because you haven’t necessarily been able to play against talented pitchers.”
The Tigers seem to graduate a lot of talent at wide receiver every year, but it always seems like someone steps up and makes a name for themselves, preventing the defense from acquiring one player.
“They bring a balanced attack.” Kucera said of Springfield. “They’re good at throwing the ball, they’re good at running the ball. If you spread them out at receiver, you’ve got (Aiden) Moriarty and (Gavin) Vanderwerf, they’ve got weapons everywhere. So you can’t take away just one thing. It’s a balanced attack.”
Meyer said that although SEU has mixed things up a bit with passing this year, he still expects the team to remain focused on the ground.
“I think they are an inherently executing team offensively.” Meyer said. “I think getting the ball on the ground and gaining some yards is kind of starting the engine. And obviously they have the ability to make big plays, both running backs and getting the ball down the field.” So we have to stay vigilant at the back end of the defense, but their running game is strong, especially in a game as big as this one. You have to be very aware that you are relying on them.
basics
and fun
For Coach Meyer, the emphasis throughout the season is to do the small things to continue improving to avoid becoming stagnant or getting overly comfortable. He’s looking forward to testing how good the players are at this point on Friday.
“We’re basically just trying to play sound, make sure we do our homework and play at a step-up level from where we were a week ago.” Meyer said. “They’re fundamentally a very healthy team with solid players at every level, so we know we have to play well and this will be a great test.”
As for Kucera, he said winning the turnover battle Friday against Springfield will be key. Apart from that, he also thinks the team’s new representative players can surprise the Tigers.
“We’re going to give them a little bit of an element of surprise.” Kucera said. “I think we can surprise them with some things. We have a lot of new faces and I think we can use that to our advantage.”
numbers game
VanderWerff led the Tigers on the ground this year with 36 carries for 372 yards and four touchdowns, while Kuehn completed 61 percent of his passes for 637 yards, eight touchdowns and two interceptions.
Springfield has 1,435 yards of total offense and has allowed 766 yards to their opponents. The Tigers also have a 46% third down conversion rate.
SEU is led by Cody Schultz with 33 carries for 205 yards and three touchdowns. Uecker completed 59 percent of his passes this year for 641 yards, six touchdowns, and two interceptions.
SEU had 1,286 yards of total offense, 1,169 yards of total loss, and a 41% third-down conversion rate.
Featured players
If you were to ask who to watch in the Springfield offense on Friday, it would be easy to say everyone, and for good reason. Meyer, Kuehn and the Tigers’ offense have kept everyone involved this year, but one receiver Kuehn has especially been connecting with lately is junior Isaac Kuehn, who caught four touchdown passes last week at Wabasso. It’s Fredin.
Fredin is a 5-10 wide receiver with 20 catches for 201 yards and five touchdowns this year.
“I was impressed with how he took over the slot role. He played really well this year.” Meyer said of Fredin: “Carter Olson’s replacement is someone he’s spent a lot of time with over the last few years and I’ve really learned a lot from him. He’s stepped into the role and run with it. Parker and he have had a great relationship here over the last few weeks.”
As for SEU, Kucera said he has been impressed with SEU’s two defensive juniors recently.
“As far as the last game goes, the two kids that stand out to me are Nick Tauer and Keyan Netzke.” Kucera said. “They brought fresh energy to our team. We just brought in some new players and gave them a chance and I’m really happy with what they’ve done. ”
Netzke, a freshman linebacker, recorded one sack and three tackles for loss in SEU’s season debut last week at St. He played in the game and recorded 13 tackles, including two tackles for loss. It’s a loss.
Offensively, Helget’s sure hands and size (6-foot-4, 200 pounds) make him a consistent target for Uecker when SEU doesn’t give the ball to Fischer or Schultz. Helget leads the team in catches (14), receiving yards (379) and receiving touchdowns (4).
By Jim Bastian Journal Sports Writer NEW ULM — Week 5 of the high school football season features two local games.