Taylor Smith, Sports Editor
The Eagle Grove football team competed in their final game of the season last Friday night in Belmond. Their Wright County opponents came into the contest 2-6, and the Eagles were on the hunt for their first win of the year.
Belmond-Klemme received the ball first, but the purple and gold forced them to punt and took over with optimal field position. Eagle Grove got their ground game rolling and promptly picked up a pair of 1st downs. Soon after, Trenton Robinson rambled 26-yards for the first touchdown of the evening.
B-K responded with a rushing TD late in the 1st quarter, but the Eagles still led 8-7.
In the 2nd quarter, Eagle Grove ran several quarterback keepers for Brett Ascherl and moved the ball downfield. On 3rd and goal, Ascherl pitched to Leelan Spencer, who trotted 3-yards for another touchdown.
On the next possession, the home team looked primed to score after rattling off three big yardage plays. The Eagle defense held strong, though, and Hayden Schafer picked off Bronco quarterback Brody Heifner and silenced the Belmond crowd.
In the 3rd quarter, Robinson and Ascherl continued to punish the Bronco defense. Robinson scored from a few yards out, and Ascherl punched the ball in on the goal line to give EG a 30-7 advantage.
Coach Willard tipped his hat to the offensive line for their crucial role in the run game.
“They [Belmond-Klemme] didn’t have any answers for our offense,” he remarked. “All of the credit goes to the five guys upfront: Jesus Baez, James Harle, Reece Demuth, Christian Martinez, and Josue Maldanado. They cleared the way.”
B-K snuck into the end zone with a minute left in the 3rd, but another Ascherl rushing TD to start the 4th made it 38-15 Eagle Grove.
With time ticking off the clock, Belmond-Klemme bounced back and scored 15 unanswered points off of a kick return for a touchdown and an onside kick recovery that led to another score.
The lead was cut to 8 with enough time remaining for a Bronco comeback, but Coach Willard and his squad weren’t rattled.
“To be completely honest, nothing changed for us at that moment,” he commented after the game. “Our guys just had a different look in their eyes. A look like it didn’t matter what happened, it was going to be us winning at the end of the night.”
The Eagles took possession, and Robinson carried the ball (and a herd of Broncos) to three more 1st downs. With the ball on Belmond’s 17-yard line, Ascherl faked a handoff to Robinson and raced to the end zone for his third score of the evening.
Coach Willard praised the performance by Ascherl, who was just moved to the quarterback position this summer.
“Friday night was a perfect end to his career. It finally all came together,” said Willard. “It seemed like the game slowed down for him and he executed at an extremely high level.”
B-K struck again with a desperation heave to the end zone with 2:41 left, but they failed to convert the 2-point conversion. With the score at 46-36, Eagle Grove drained the clock and celebrated their first win of the season in front of their supporters in attendance.
Robinson finished the night with 205 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on 24 carries. He also returned 3 kicks for 61 total yards.
Ascherl had 3 TD’s after running for 168 yards on 24 carries, and Spencer ran for 38 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, Schafer came through with 4.5 tackles and an interception. Connor Willard and Christian Martinez shared a sack, and Arturo Reyna Salazar and Ascherl contributed 5.5 and 5 tackles, respectively.
