Last week, after a road loss at Owatonna, Mankato West coach J.J. Helget said that his fall team had hit a low point in its season, and he was hoping things would improve.
Turns out, things got better in a hurry.
“That first half against Owatonna was really disappointing,” Helget said. “It wasn’t West football. We started playing better in the second half, but in the first seven games, we haven’t put together four good quarters in a game. We did that tonight.”
West pounded the football behind a big offensive line for 266 yards rushing and defeated Mankato East 28-7 in the annual Jug football game at Blakeslee Stadium. The Scarlets extended their winning streak to 19 straight against East, with the overall series 30-22 in West’s favor.
“This means a lot,” West senior center Axel Lorenz said. “Ever since we were little kids, we’ve wanted to play on this field. It feels great to keep our winning tradition going.”
After each team had a possession, the Scarlets put together a no-nonsense, 14-play drive that took more than eight minutes. The drive included 12 rushes, with Trevor Sheldrup running eight times. HIs final carry was a 1-yard score, and Jakobe Tosch added the PAT for a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter.
Later in the quarter, El Staley made an interception at the Cougars’ 44. After a 32-yard run by Sheldrup, Frank McAninch bulled to the goal line, where he fumbled and teammate Grady Hatlestad recovered in the end zone. Tosch’s PAT made it 14-0.
East, which had only seven plays in the first 15 minutes, drove to the West 19, aided by a 54-yard run from Zach Bosse, but the Scarlets came up with a sack on fourth down to keep East off the scoreboard.
“It was a tough start for us,” East coach Eric Davis said. “They ground it out on us early and kept us off the field. They played well, and we didn’t.”
West ran 27 plays for 152 yards in the first half, while East, playing without injured top receiver Brogan Madson, had 20 plays for 87 yards, with most of that on Bosse’s 54-yard run.
The second half went just as well for West, who controlled the clock with the ground game. Sheldrup scored again on a 15-yard run, and Hudson Clarksean added a 28-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter.
East finally got on the board with a 72-yard pass from Ganden Gosch to Ben Rosevold with 8 minutes to play.
West finished with 309 yards of offense, with Sheldrup gaining 165 yards on 30 carries.
“We felt we had some advantages up front,” Helget said. “The execution of our offensive line was phenomenal. Some of the holes they opened were amazing. That’s a good win and a good football team we played. I have a lot of respect for coach Davis.”
Gosch led East with 131 yards passing.
West (4-3) ends the regular season at Rogers on Wednesday, while East (5-2) plays at home against Austin.
Follow Chad Courrier on X @ChadCourrier.