The Panthers drew the No. 4 seed in Section 2AA and hosted No. 5 Blue Earth Area in the opening round Wednesday, Oct. 21. The winner will likely play at top-seeded WEM Tuesday, Oct. 20. The section title game is Oct. 24.
The Panthers fell behind early against Maple River, trailing 10-0 at halftime, but they rallied to take a 14-10 lead after three quarters before falling short in the fourth.
Both teams had trouble running the ball, though the Panthers possessed the ball for 37:42 compare to 14:09 for the Eagles.
Palmer Peterson was 15-for-32 passing for 180 yards and two interceptions, with touchdown passes to Jason Jongbloedt and John Cole. Zeke Erickson led the defense with 6.5 tackles and two sacks.
Maple River 24, NRHEG 23
MR 7 3 0 14 — 24
NRHEG 0 0 14 9 — 23
First Quarter
MR — Greenfield 66 pass from Lewis (Moore kick)
Second Quarter
MR — Moore 36 field goal
Third Quarter
NRHEG — Jongbloedt 15 pass from Pa.Peterson (Prigge kick)
NRHEG — Cole 12 pass from Pa.Peterson (Prigge kick)
Fourth Quarter
MR — Moore 4 run (Moore kick)
MR — Lewis 14 run (Moore kick)
NRHEG — Cole 3 pass from Pa.Peterson (Prigge kick)
NRHEG — Safety, Lewis tackled in end zone
MR NRHEG
First Downs 6 12
Rushing attempts 29 32
Yds. Rushing 12 41
Passing 7-22-3 15-32-2
Yds. Passing 151 180
Total plays 51 64
Total Yds. 163 221
Penalties 12-110 7-45
Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0
Third down 3-16 4-18
Punts-Avg. 6-28.0 9-12.0
Time of Poss. 14:09 37:42
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — NRHEG: Jongbloedt 9-17; Pe.Peterson 6-14; Hoppe 5-10; Pa.Peterson 12-0; MR: Greenfield 10-12; Arndt 7-6; Moore 1-4; Lewis 11 —10
Passing — NRHEG: Pa.Peterson 15-32-2, 180; MR: Lewis 5-20-3, 142; Sohre 2-2-0, 9
Receiving — NRHEG: Jongbloedt 4-90; Cole 6-53; Wicks 4-30; Staloch 1-7; MR: Greenfield 1-66; Arndt 1-59; Sohre 3-17; See 1-12; Schmidt 1 —3
NRHEG DEFENSE (tackles)
Erickson 6.5 (2 sacks), Schultz 5.5, Hoppe 3.5, K.Sletten 3.5, Agrimson 3, Pe.Peterson 3, Jongbloedt 3, Fitterer 2.3 (1 sack), Fischer 1.5, Cole 1, Pa.Peterson 1, Bailey .5, Herrmann .5
Football
South Central Blue District
2015 Final Standings
Ov. Dist.
WEM 8-0 7-0
Maple River 7-1 6-1
NRHEG 6-2 6-2
Mayer Lutheran 5-3 5-3
Lester Pr.-Holy Trinity 4-4 4-3
Sibley East 3-5 3-4
Norwood-YA 2-6 2-5
LeSueur-Henderson 2-6 2-5
LCWM 1-7 1-6
GFW 0-8 0-7
Friday, Oct. 2 results
NRHEG 24, LCWM 6
WEM 52, GFW 15
Sibley East 21, LeSueur-Henderson 14
Maple River 23, Mayer Lutheran 21
Lester Prairie-HT 22, Norwood-YA 21
Wednesday, Oct. 7 results
Lester Prairie-HT 25, GFW 22
Thursday, Oct. 8 results
Maple River 24, NRHEG 23
WEM 33, Mayer Lutheran 14
LCWM 27, LeSueur-Henderson 7
Friday, Oct. 9 results
Sibley East 32, Norwood-YA 7
Section 2AA Quarterfinals
Wednesday, Oct. 14
Medford (8) at WEM (1)
BE Area (5) at NRHEG (4)
LCWM (6) at Kenyon-Wanamingo (3)
LeSueur-Henderson (7) at Maple River (2)
— — —
Volleyball
Gopher Conference standings
Bethlehem Academy 4-0
Medford 4-0
WEM 4-1
NRHEG 3-2
Blooming Prairie 3-4
Maple River 0-4
United South Central 0-4
— — —
Panther Schedule
Wednesday, Oct. 14
• Football section vs. Blue Earth Area, 7 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 19
• 7/8 volleyball at Alden-Conger, 4:30/5:30
Thursday, Oct. 22
• Cross country, conference at Oak View Golf Course (Freeborn), 4 p.m.
• C volleyball vs. Blooming Prairie, 4:30
• JV volleyball vs. Blooming Prairie, 5:45
• Volleyball vs. Blooming Prairie, 7:15
Saturday, Oct. 24
• Football section at high seed
Thursday, Oct. 29
• Volleyball sub-section tournament at high seed
Monday, Nov. 2
• Volleyball sub-section tournament at Mankato East
