Minneapolis’ offense sputtered for most of the game Friday, while its defense had no answer for the high-flying Falcons, as Riley County shut Minneapolis out, 47-0 at Hal Prichard Stadium in Riley.
The game started out about as bad as possible for Minneapolis, as Riley County’s Nic Allen took the opening kickoff back 80 yards to the house to put the Falcons ahead, 7-0 right off of the bat.
After a Minneapolis 3-and-out, Riley County would only need one play to score again. This time, it was a 70 yard pass from Conner Holle to his twin brother, Avery Holle. Before Minneapolis knew it, they were behind 13-0.
Minneapolis’ defense had a chance to turn the tide, however. After a long Falcon drive, the Lions finally got RC to a 4th down-and-5 situation. However, the Falcons landed another haymaker with Conner Holle connecting with Trey Harmison for a 29 yard touchdown that put Riley County up 21-0, still midway through the first.
The Falcons then tacked on Allen touchdown runs of 37, 35 and 10 yards, each. Finally, Conner Holle connected with Avery Holle a second time to put the Lions away in the fourth quarter.
The Minneapolis offense moved the ball in-between the 20s for much of the game, but the Lions were never able to punch it in for a score. Their best opportunity came late in the second quarter when they got inside of the Riley County 10. However, a Trent Moeckel interception on 4th down ended any hopes MHS had of scoring.
Riley County (2-0, 1-0 MEL) has put up 47 points in each of its first two games. Allen led RC with 4 total touchdowns and well over 200 all-purpose yards. Conner Holle tossed 3 touchdowns on Friday as well. Riley County will host Silver Lake next Friday.
Minneapolis (0-2, 0-1 NCAA) was missing several key players, including its top rusher from last year–and the first game–due to injury.
The Lions will travel to Concordia next to play in a rare neutral cite game at Harold M. Clark Stadium against Republic County. Live game coverage can be heard on Salina radio station, 92.7 The New Zoo with kickoff at 7 p.m.
