Minneapolis came in to Friday night’s game with a lot of excitement.

Not only were the Lions coming off of a dominating performance over Norton for the first week of district action, but Minneapolis was hosting Class 2A No. 3 ranked team, Hoisington, on a new artificial turf surface at Minneapolis High School.

Unfortunately, Hoisington was too much as the Cardinals topped Minneapolis 27-6.

The Minneapolis defense played pretty well for most of the night as the Lions shut out the high-powered Hoisington offense for the first quarter-in-a-half. However, the Cardinals started a drive on its own three yard line and marched down the field where they ended the drive with a one yard touchdown run Holt Hanzlick to put them ahead 7-0.

Minneapolis had the ball last to end the first half though. The Lions got the ball to the Hoisington 36 yard line when Trent Moeckel found Spencer Davidson for a long jump-ball pass in to the end zone. This gave MHS some much needed momentum headed in to the locker room, behind 7-6.

The third quarter was much like the first two. Both teams not being able to figure out the other’s defense. But, Hoisington finally got another drive going which was ultimately finished off by a Josh Ball six yard touchdown run. Hoisington led 14-6 at the end of the third quarter.

Minneapolis’ offense was shut down by the Hoisington defense all night, as the Lions only mustered 88 yard unofficially in the game. Meanwhile, Hoisington was tack on two more scores in the fourth to take the district victory.

Hoisington (5-0, 2-0 Class 2A, District 8) was held to its lowest point output on the year and below its normal offensive yardage totals, but still came away with the win. The Cardinals are now in sole possession of first place in the district with +42 points. Next, Hoisington hosts Ellsworth.

Minneapolis (2-3, 1-1 Class 2A, District 8) saw its two game winning streak snapped. Minneapolis falls back to a three-way tie for second place in the district with both Phillipsburg and Beloit. All schools have zero points in district play after Phillipsburg pummeled Beloit on Friday and Ellsworth toppled Norton.

The Nex-Tech Wireless “Player of the Game” for Minneapolis is Keyon Baccus who was in on several tackles in the game. Meanwhile, Dylan Cossaart is responsible for the H&R Block of the Game.

For next Friday, Minneapolis takes another long road trip for its third district game at Phillipsburg–with second place in the district on the line. Coverage is on 92.7 The New Zoo at 7 p.m.

(Photo by: Kandy Constable)