Stewartville Football Defeats Faribault on Parents Night

Schaeffer Field Stewartville. Photo by Gordy Kosfeld

The Stewartville Tigers trailed the Faribault Falcons 26-21 at the half but unfortunately for the Falcons there are two halves in football.

The Tigers dominated the third quarter on their way to a 35-26 victory at Schaeffer Field on the campus of Stewartville High School.

Big plays were the order of the day for both teams. The offenses on display were fun to watch. Before the game I recall saying the Tom's Lock and Key of Faribault key for the Falcons would be, "To do what they do on offense and find a way to stop the Tigers on defense."

The difference in this game came down to one thing, protection for the quarterback. Stewartville senior Eli Klavetter ran Stewartville's spread offense well.

Faribault senior quarterback Hunter Nelson did likewise when given time.

It looked like Faribault was going to extend their 5 point halftime lead to open the second half. Isaac Matta made a terrific kickofff return to the 50 yard line. The Falcons got to the 14 yard line of Stewartville but could not convert on a fourth down coming up empty on the drive.

The Tigers proceeded to claw their way down the field primarily running the ball effectively. In the first half they had 46 total rushing yards and I had the sense they wanted to concentrate more on the run to open up the pass even more.

Give the Stewartville line credit they helped their backs move the chains down the field setting up the 32 yard scoring strike from Klavetter to Alex Larson that would put their team up for good.

Faribault was able to move the ball but the Tigers were able to bottle up Nelson more in the second half and not give up any big plays to the Falcons.

Stewartville received the opening kickoff and scored with 10:47 to go in the first quarter on a Kalvetter to Larson 10 yard pass. The extra point kick by Parker Wangen was good.

It didn't take the Falcons long to tie the game. With 9:24 to go in the first quarter Senior Matthias Lenway looked like he was shot out of a bazooka gun right up the middle for a 59 yard touchdown run. Senior Edwardo Solis made the extra point.

Stewartville tried to convert a fourth down and the Falcons stopped it.

Faribault took just one play to take the lead. A 68 yard touchdown pass from Nelson to Jordan Klecker. The pass was actually about 15 yards downfield on a crossing route and Klecker made a Tigers player miss and kept his balance tightroped the sideline and into the end zone. Solis kick was good again and the Falcons had scored 14 unanswered points. That came with 7:27 to go in the first quarter.

Stewartville tied the game with 3:28 to go in the first quarter on a 21 yard pass from Klavetter to Owen Sikkink. Wangen's extra point kick was good.

The Tigers stopped Faribault from converting on fourth down then proceeded to score with 11:04 to go in the first half on a 19 yard pass, Klavetter to Alex Wood. Wangen kick was good again.

With 7:16 to go in the first half Hunter Nelson capped a drive off with a 12 yard run but the extra point kick attempt was blocked by Stewartville to keep the TIgers in the lead 21-20.

An unsportsmanlike penalty against Stewartville stalled their next drive. With 5:22 to go in the half Nelson went under center and plunged into the end zone for a one yard touchdown. The two point pass attempt was no good.

The Tigers did the only scoring in the second half. A 32 yard pass to Larson from Klavetter with 5:58 to go in the third quarter and a 19 yard pass to Jacob Weightman with 10:48 to go in the game. Wangen missed the extra point on the second touchdown making the score 35-26.

Faribault did have their chances in the 4th quarter but a Nelson fumble recovered at the Stewartville 11 yard line and a interception when it appeared Nelson was trying to throw the ball out of bounds stopped their last attempt.

The lefthanded Nelson was rolling right under heavy pressure at the time.

The final statistics had Faribault with 426 total yards to Stewartville's 411.

The Tigers threw for 300 yards with Klavetter completing 22 of 30 passes for 5 touchdowns.

Nelson was 19 of 27 for 227 yards and one score.

Faribault ended the game with 199 yards rushing on 32 carries. Stewartvilled had 111 yards on 25 carries.

Stewartville had no turnovers. The Falcons two turnovers.

The Tigers had 24 first downs. Faribault finished with 19 first downs.

The statistic of the game outside of the turnovers may have been this one. The Falcons were 3 of 11 on third down conversions and 3 of 8 on fourth downs.

Stewartville was 2 of 6 on third down conversions and 1 of 3 on 4th downs.

Matthias Lenway finished the game with 128 yards on 13 carries. Hunter Nelson had two scores with 14 runs for 52 yards. Elijah Hammonds ran 5 times for 21 yards.

8 different Falcons caught footballs on the night. 9 different Tigers.

AJ Worrell led Faribault with 8.5 tackles and was wearing a boot when I followed him off the field. Johnny Frank had 5 tackles, Devin Lockerby 4.5.

Stewartville was ranked #9 by the Minnesota Associated Press this week and Faribault #10 in Class 4A.

The Falcons host Red Wing in their Homecoming game Friday night, September 24, 2021 with a 7:00 p.m. start.

Stewartville travels to Byron next Friday.

Stewartville Band in End Zone during Parents Night . Photo by Gordy Kosfeld

Other area scores Friday night: