RTR offense stalls out in loss to A/E
TYLER — On a beautiful fall night, the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton football team celebrated the Homecoming week by hosting the Adrian-Ellsworth Dragons. The teams were headed in opposite directions going into the match, with RTR looking to improve on their 1-4 record after suffering a last-second loss at Windom last Friday night. Adrian-Ellsworth, however, has won four games in a row after losing their opening game to the reigning state runners-up, the Springfield Tigers. So it looked, on paper, to be somewhat of a mismatch. RTR played a solid game to slow down the Dragons, but Adrian-Ellworth’s punishing ground game and stellar defense gave the Dragons a 20-0 win.
RTR kicked off to A-E, and the ball was mishandled, and the Dragons recovered the ball back on their own two-yard line. From there, the hard running of senior running backs Kyler Kunkel and Mechack Ndikubuntu, and senior quarterback Aiden Tweet moved the ball steadily down the field.
A-E was able to rack up six first downs on its opening drive, eating up yardage at five and six yards a crack. Ndikubuntu had a 22-yard scamper for one of the longest gains of the game. Another series of medium gains put the ball at the RTR five-yard line, and that is where the first quarter ended with no score.
Adrian-Ellsworth started the second quarter facing fourth and goal at the RTR five-yard line, but the RTR defense was up to the task and stopped A-E short of the endzone, stopping Tweet for no gain and taking over on downs.
The Knights started their first drive in the shadow of their own goal line, and after two short runs, were facing a third and long. An attempted long pass from Tyler Wichmann to Sean Griesse was intercepted by Ndikubuntu at the 40-yard line, and he returned it all the way for a touchdown to give the Dragons a 7-0 lead after a successful extra point.
RTR returned to kickoff 35 yards to the 45-yard line, but after a sack and a nine-yard loss, Tweet intercepted a Wichmann pass, returning the ball ten yards.
After a couple of short gains, Kunkel broke through the line and it looked like he was headed for the end zone for a 36-yard touchdown. But RTR stripped the ball at about the five-yard line and recovered for a touchback, keeping the score at 7-0.
The Dragons kicked off to start the second half, and Sean Griesse returned the ball to the 20-yard line. Two short gains and an incomplete pass forced the Knights to punt.
Wichmann’s punt was fielded by Aiden Tweet at the 35-yard line, but after a ten-yard run, was stripped of the ball, and the Knights recovered on the 45-yard line.
But the Dragon’s defense was solid again, and forced another three-and-out. On the ensuing punt, fair catch interference was called on the Knights, which resulted in a 15-yard penalty, putting the ball on the 35-yard line. Hard running by Kunkel, Ndikubuntu and Tweet put the ball on the RTR 26-yard line, and Tweet connected with a wide-open Charger Erlandson for a 26-yard touchdown pass to make the score 14-0 after the extra point was good.
Sean Griesse returned the kickoff 20 yard to the 40-yard line, and RTR attempted a long pass to Eli Determan. But the jump ball between Determan and Ndikubuntu went the Dragons way, with the Dragons coming up with the ball. Good runs by Kunkel and Tweet resulted in three first downs, and put the ball on the 25-yard line. The third quarter ended with A-E ahead 14-0.
Starting on the RTR 25-yard line runs by Tweet and Kunkel put the ball on the one-yard line. With 10:02 left in the game, Kunkel bulled his way into the end zone to give the Dragons a 20-0 lead. RTR returned the kickoff to the 27-yard line, but a three-and-out forced another punt.
From there, A-E kept the ball on the ground, and after two 15 yard penalties on the Knights, the Dragons continued their effective ground game. RTR was able to stop A-E on downs, but the Knights ran out of time and the Dragons had secured a 20-0 win, spoiling the Homecoming for RTR.
After the game, Aiden Tweet was happy with his team’s success, saying, “It was a good win for us, and our offense had a great first quarter, controlling the ball the whole quarter. Our defense was strong, but we had a few turnovers that we will have to correct. Our line was very physical, and it was nice to be able to run behind them tonight. Hopefully, we can keep the momentum going.”
Adrian-Ellsworth Head Coach Randy Schettler said, “We ran the ball well, but we had some mistakes with turnovers that we need to work on. That is kind of a key for us, and we need to fix that issue. We don’t pass the ball much, but we rely on our guys up front to block well. Those guys have worked hard to get where they are at, and they put in a lot of time to get better. But mistakes kept us out of the end zone at least twice tonight, and a fumbled punt is something we need to address. RTR is a very physical team, and they put some pretty good licks on us tonight. But our defense played well, and they were in the right spots the whole game. We knew that the line of scrimmage was going to be a key to the game, and whoever won the physical battle had a good chance to win the game.”
RTR falls to 1-5 on the season, and they will travel to MCC next week. Adrian-Ellsworth is now on a five-game winning streak, running their record to 5-1.