Stork had praise for BA senior running back VonRuden, who rushed for 292 yards and four touchdowns.
“He’s the real deal,” said Stork. “We thought we had him stopped a few times and somehow he would manage to get free.”
Overall, Stork felt the Panthers could have had the game in hand if some things had gone their way.
“Once again,” he said, “we had opportunities to take control of the game, but a turnover and a couple of costly penalties prevented us from doing so.”
In terms of entertainment value, the action in the final 8:17 was worth waiting for.
It started when VonRuden caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from Kollin Hansen, putting BA on top 14-0.
The Panthers answered less than two minutes later, scoring on a 6-yard run by Jason Jongbloedt. Trevor Tracy passed to Spencer Tollefson for the PAT and it was 14-8 with 6:43 remaining.
After a BA touchdown with 5 minutes left, Tracy connected with Palmer Peterson for 94 yards and a touchdown with 2:55 on the clock. A two-point conversion pass failed and the Panthers trailed 21-14.
BA answered quickly, VonRuden running for another score with 2:26 remaining.
Again the Panthers kept their hopes alive, scoring when Tracy and John Cole combined on a 62-yard touchdown pass with 1:49 left.
An onside kick was recovered by BA and VonRuden romped 49 yards for a score with 1:27 on the clock.
The Panthers won the statistics battle, outgaining BA 454-346 in total yards and holding an 18-11 edge on first downs.
Tracy had a big night passing, completing 15 of 33 for 336 yards and one interception. Cole had four catches for 138 yards. Tracy led the Panthers in rushing with 36 yards on 10 carries.
Zeke Erickson and Jack Schultz led the defense with 7.5 tackles each. Karter Sletten and Nick Bartness each had five tackles.
The Panthers face what Stork called a solid Maple River team in their home opener Friday, Sept. 19.
Bethlehem Academy 28, NRHEG 20
NRHEG 0 0 0 20 20
LCWM 7 0 0 28 28
Scoring
1st Quarter
BA — VonRuden 52 run (Temple kick)
2nd Quarter
No scoring
3rd Quarter
No scoring
4th Quarter
BA — VonRuden 27 pass from Hansen (Temple kick)
NRHEG — Jongbloedt 6 run (Tollefson pass from Tracy)
BA — Hansen 5 run (Temple kick)
NRHEG — P.Peterson 94 pass from Tracy (Run failed)
BA — VonRuden 3 run (Temple kick)
NRHEG — Cole 62 pass from Tracy (Pass failed)
BA — VonRuden 9 run (Temple kick)
Team Statistics
NRHEG BA
First downs 18 11
Yds. Rushing 118 307
Yds. Passing 336 39
Passes 15-34-1 2-7-1
Total yds. 454 346
Turnovers 1 1
Penalties 1-5 4-35
Individual Stats
NRHEG rushing: Tracy 10-36; Hoppe 7-33; Jongbloedt 11-24; Tollefson 1-16; Bartness 5-9
BA rushing: VonRuden 35-292; Hansen 5-6; VanThomme 2-5; Ell 1-4; Reuvers 2-0
NRHEG passing: Tracy 15-33-1, 336; Tollefson 0-1-0, 0
BA passing: Hansen 2-7-1, 39
NRHEG receiving: Cole 4-138, P.Peterson 1-94, Tollefson 4-50, Sletten 2-26, Jongbloedt 1-15, Hoppe 2-14, Bartness 1 —1
SE receiving: VonRuden 1-27, Ell 1-12
NRHEG defense: Erickson 7.5; Schultz 7.5; Sletten 5; Bartness 5; Hoppe 4; Fitterer 4; Jongbloedt 2, 1 int.; Jensen 1; C.Peterson 1; Tollefson 1
NEXT: Friday – Maple River at NRHEG, 7 p.m.
