Mankato West, scoring in bursts, powers past Northfield in high school football

Northfield chose “Pound the Stone” for a motto four seasons ago when Brent Yule took the head coaching job. Trouble emerged Friday when the stone, also known as Class 5A Prep Bowl runner-up Mankato West, hit back.

With five state championships in six Prep Bowl appearances since 1999, Mankato West is a program that simply reloads. Overcoming the loss of a terrific leader in graduated quarterback Bart McAninch wasn’t easy. And transitional pains showed in early offensive misfires.

But the Scarlets regrouped for several long touchdowns in a 31-6 romp.

”Early on, they were blitzing and blowing up our line,” junior running back Trevor Sheldrup said. “At halftime, the coaches worked with the line. So you saw in the second half, I had huge holes to run through.”

Sheldrup scored touchdowns covering 40 and 60 yards. The first came in the second quarter on a screen pass from Charles Bobholz. The next became the Scarlets’ longest play from scrimmage as Sheldrup got loose for a 60-yard scoring rush.

”They were a little smaller and they could run,” said Scarlets coach JJ Helget. “Their game plan was to slant hard and blitz. We used their aggression against them with trap blocking and running screens.”

The host Raiders received a 75-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter from quarterback JT Graupmann to Julian Vazquez, cutting their deficit to 17-6.

”We were a little bit sloppy,” Yule said. “But I was proud of how our defense played for sure. They played hard, they hustled and they didn’t quit. That’s what ‘Pound the Stone’ means to us.”

Sheldrup later scored from 20 yards in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.

”We have a lot of new starters,” Helget said. “It was quiet the whole way here. Our quarterback was making his first varsity start and though we’ve had a lot of good quarterbacks, their first start left a lot to be desired.”