MANKATO — Senior running back Rafe Bowman rushed for 141 yards in 17 carries and scored three touchdowns Friday night as Mankato East overcame more than 150 yards of penalties to upend St. Louis Park 20-7 in the season-opener at Wolverton Field.
“The penalties are definitely an area we need to clean up,” East coach Eric Davis said. “There are some you can attribute to a first game, but there were too many just not being football smart. You have to understand situations and pull back. There were some late hits which are certainly within our control. You’re going to have aggressive ones during a season.
“I was proud of our effort and our ability to overcome a significant amount of penalties. We were real close on a few things in our passing game, which could have made this outcome much more comfortable. We played a pretty vanilla look most of the night defensively. They moved the ball a little bit, but other than the one big play, our guys played real well.”
Davis was referring to the Orioles use of trickery — a double pass midway through the first quarter — to tie things at 7-7. Wide receiver Javaris Ellis found a wide open Bjorn Anderson for a 45-yard scoring strike after Bowman sliced off left tackle for a 28-yard scoring scamper moments earlier.
Junior Zachary Bosse’s 54-yard kickoff return set up a 40-yard, eight-play drive which gave the Cougars a 13-7 advantage on Bowman’s 4-yard burst over the left side. East, which totaled 272 total yards compared to the Orioles’ 108, expanded its lead to 20-7 at halftime when Bowman took a direct snap and powered in from 3 yards out.
“I think this will give us a lot of confidence,” Bowman said. “We kind of lacked experience last year so getting some reps helped our confidence and it showed tonight. Everything starts with the O line and the way they fired off the ball. They really made it easy for me and all I had to do was run the ball.
“They gave me a lot of open holes and I really appreciate those guys. I am a hard-nosed runner that likes to put my head down to get extra yards. I like that we came together during the summer and it’s great to play with these guys.”
Junior quarterback Ganden Gosch ended up completing 12 of 20 passes for 141 yards with junior wide receiver Brogan Madson catching six passes for 54 yards.
East’s defense was led by junior lineman Beck Severson with 4.5 stops while three other players— junior outside linebacker Bennett Stevermer, senior linebacker Levi Keim-Wolfe and junior linebacker Nathan Bridger — were in on four tackles each.
“Our defensive line was phenomenal,” Severson said. “They had a lot of pushes on the run and could move the ball, but our depth was amazing and that really helped. It was just everybody doing their job and flushing people so we can do our job. It was fantastic to see everyone making tackles and getting to the ball. … They weren’t moving the ball other than that trick play.”
East plays on the road Friday at Apple Valley.