Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Sleepy Eye United’s Cody Schultz runs the ball during SEU’s prep football game against Windham Area on Saturday afternoon at Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s High School.
Sleepy Eye — Sleepy Eye United led at halftime, scoring 20 unanswered points, despite a pair of first-half picks giving Windham Area an 18-12 lead. They achieved a 32-18 victory in the South Region Southwest Sub-District. at Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s High School.
SEU was playing without starting quarterback Kayden Evers, who was injured in the Oct. 6 game against Martin County West.
Wyatt Pollard replaced Evers behind center Saturday and completed 4 of 7 passes for 51 yards. Unfortunately, two of Pollard’s passes went to the Eagles and resulted in touchdowns.
After Windham Area took the lead on Tucker Rehnquist’s 32-yard TD reception to take a 6-0 lead with 6:18 left in the first quarter, Jackson Anderson picked off Pollard in SEU territory for a 20-yard gain. They defeated the Eagles 12-0. lead.
However, SEU’s ground game started to pick up and Cody Schultz led his team to victory with a 2-yard dive late in the first quarter. Schultz then scored on a 7-yard TD run with 9:24 left in the first half, contributing to SEU’s tying goal.
Schultz finished the game with 17 carries for 128 yards and three TDs.
“I was hoping to run the ball a little bit more today.” Schultz said. “And we did that, and our lines strengthened. This is a collective effort.”
Jon Peterman led SEU with 147 yards on 32 carries but was held out of the end zone, while Pollard had 11 carries for 24 yards and a score.
SEU finished with 299 rushing yards to Windham Area’s 35, but Windham Area won the battle through the air with junior QB Quintin Teets’ 179 passing yards and 34 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Gained 17 yards.
After SEU reset the game with its second TD of the day, Rehnquist spoiled SEU’s chance to take the lead with an interception near the goal line. He then had a pick-six for 99 yards and an 18-12 lead.
Taran Helget’s 30-yard grab on the sideline sent his team into the red zone, and SEU quickly recovered from there. A few plays later, Pollard scored on a 1-yard keeper, then Helget’s PAT gave SEU a 19-18 lead at the half.
The third quarter ended scoreless, but SEU took a 25-18 lead early in the fourth when Pollard hit Gaige Bauer in the middle of the end zone for a 15-yard TD.
As the Eagles drove, Austin Uecker picked off his second pass of the day, this time in the SEU end zone with 7:56 left.
“I was just hanging out with my boyfriend outside.” Coach Uecker said this about the second interception. “They scored the ball, I was just starting to go back, I saw them go out, I looked at the quarterback, he read the inside guy and he was out again. I saw his eyes go there, so I went over there and he made a bad throw and it went right to me.”
The interception gave SEU 14 runs on wet ground, the 14th being a 10-yard run to the left that gave Schultz his third TD of the day. Herget’s second PAT led to the winning point.
While Peterman had more carries and yards, Schultz’s average of 7.5 yards per carry was tops among all players. He also played a key role in SEU getting his 39 first downs to Windham’s 15.
“For them to hand me the ball in a situation like that means a lot to me.” Schultz said. “We did well, we all did well.”
Pollard had some passes to recover, but he made enough plays to keep SEU in the game, helped by a strong ground game and solid defense. Windham’s 18 points were the most points allowed by SEU this season, but the defense only allowed one TD in the first quarter.
Uecker’s heads-up defense, including an interception on Windham’s first drive of the day, helped SEU regain confidence after an upset loss to MCW.
“We knew what we did wrong in the last game.” Uecker said. “We went into the game thinking we could just go out there and play, but that’s not possible as a good team. After that loss, we kind of realized that and we’ve got to play sleepy eye football. I went into this situation knowing that I wouldn’t be able to do anything.”
Schultz and Uecker also led the SEU defense with four tackles each, while Brandon Brolick and Mark Anderson each had three tackles.
SEU (6-1) concludes the regular season Wednesday night in Adrian.
