Garrett Anderson

Blue Earth Area High School head football coach Randy Kuechenmeister had an open date on his 2009 schedule, and advertised that fact on the Minnesota State High School League Web site.

St. Paul Humboldt High School saw it and responded that they, too, had the date open.

The result was a trip to St. Paul for the Buccaneers last Saturday, Sept. 19. They came home from the capitol city with a 44-22 victory over the Hawks.

Leading the way for BEA was quarterback Garrett Anderson. He threw for four touchdowns and ran in one more.

The Bucs at one point in the first half had a 35-0 lead.

Nate Carr

Their first score came on a 13-yard scamper by Anderson in the first quarter. He kicked the extra point as well.

Just three minutes later, Anderson hit Nick Lee for a 60-yard touchdown pass completion. Anderson again hit the extra point.

The Bucs also got a safety in the first quarter, and led 16-0 after the first period.

Anderson hit Nathan Carr in the second quarter for a 20-yard touchdown pass, and again kicked the point after.

With 6:26 left in the half, the Bucs’ Zach Tvedten ran in one yard for a touchdown. Anderson connected on another point after touchdown and the score was 28-0.

Zach Tvedten

There was 2:21 left in the half when Anderson connected on a 20 yard pass to Nathan Carr. With Anderson’s fifth kick, the score was 35-0.

The Hawks finally got on the scoreboard with 1:51 in the second quarter when they scored on a nine yard pass. They ran for the 2-point conversion, and made it.

Score at the half was 35-8, in favor of BEA.

The Bucs got their only score of the second half with 9:48 left in the third quarter. Anderson connected with Carr for 29 yards and a touchdown. Anderson made his sixth kick for an extra point in the game.

The Hawks got two more scores in the fourth quarter. One came on a 24-yard pass, the other a 42-yard pass completion. They passed for a 2-point conversion on the first, and failed to get it on the second.

That made the final score 44-22.

The Bucs had 326 yards of total offense, to the Hawks’ 123. BEA had 173 yards in the air, and 153 on the ground. St. Paul Humboldt had 155 in the air and a minus 32 on the ground.

“It was a good game for us, overall,” Kuechenmeister says. “It was a fun game to play on Astro-Turf and against a team we had never played before.”

Anderson was 7 of 15 passing for the 173 yards, with four TDs and no interceptions.

Tvedten led the rushing attack, carrying the ball 14 times for 104 yards and one TD. Anderson carried it 10 times for 58 yards and a TD. Santos Flores had five carries for eight yards.

Carr led the receivers with four for 92 yards. Three of his four snags were for TDs. Joe Franta had two catches for 21 yards. Lee had only one catch, the 60 yard touchdown pass.

Kuechenmeister was especially happy with his defense, saying they did a really good job.

Leading on defense was Daniel Eckhardt with 10 tackles, while Franta added seven. Connor Hanson recovered one fumble for the Bucs.