Eagles fall in semis – end season 10-2

The BDS Eagles football team ended its season Monday night after falling to Exeter-Milligan in the D-1 state semifinal game played at Bruning.

The No. 3 Timberwolves used a fourth period rally to take down the No. 10 Eagles 24-20; the Eagles climbed to a 20-8 lead prior to the Timberwolf rally. Exeter-Milligan will face Elgin/Pope John at Memorial Stadium next Monday afternoon in the D-1 championship game. The Eagles have not made it this far in the state playoffs since Bruning-Davenport and Shickley merged sports programs; however, Bruning-Davenport coaches Mark Rotter and Chris Ardissono led the 2005 Storm to a state championship seven years ago.

Exeter-Milligan started the battle early in the first period when Jensen ran in a touchdown for three yards and Androyna made the conversion good to lift the Timberwolves to 8-0. That score wouldn’t change until the second period when BDS quarterback Ryan Tegtmeier connected with Grant Norder on a 17-yard pass for a touchdown. The ensuing PAT pass failed, but the Eagles were on the board and the half ended 8-6 with the Timberwolves leading.

BDS exploded in the third period collecting scores on both possessions of the quarter. In the first following a 40-yard drive, Tegtmeier sailed a 29-yard bullet to Wyatt Schoenholz waiting in the endzone. Luke Christensen ran in the PAT and the Eagles moved into the lead 14-8. In the second drive, and despite being riddled with penalties (a total of nine for the game), the BDS offense moved the ball 43 yards setting Tegtmeier up for a two-yard scamper over the goal line. Tegtmeier’s attempted conversion run failed, but the Eagles soared to a 20-8 lead; however, the Timberwolves used an Eagle fumble in the final minutes of the period to set up their first strike in the fourth quarter.

The Eagles went 142 yards on 35 rushes; Tegtmeier completed 164 passing yards on 15-of-24 passes. Exeter-Milligan was good for 277 total yards. BDS had 13 first downs while Exeter-Milligan had 12.

Individually, Luke Christensen led in rushes going 51 yards on seven runs; Tegtmeier went 45 yards on 18 rushes; Schoenholz went 21-on-3, Hendrickson went 14-on-4 and Norder went 11-on-3.

Schoenholz led in receiving catching three passes for 60 yards; Norder caught five passes for 57 yards; Seth Christensen caught two passes for 23 yards and Luke Christensen caught four passes for 22 yards.