Eagan Football Blanks Apple Valley For First Win

The smiles and sighs of relief from the Eagan football team were hard to miss Friday night.

Drew Bauer threw for two scores and ran for third and the Wildcats beat Apple Valley 41-0 for its first win of the season. Michael Busch had two rushing scores.

“It’s great, awesome,” Buaer said. “It’s about time we got a win.”

Eagan (1-3, 1-2 South Suburban Conference) got off to a quick start and never looked back.

On the Eagles first series, quarterback Tommy Singer was sacked by Eric Woodcock for a 12-yard loss on third down and punter Dom McDew-Stauffer put his knee on the ground to handle a low snap ending a play and giving Eagan the ball at the Apple Valley 24.

Busch took a handoff on Eagan’s first play, started up the middle, cut left and dashed to the end zone for six points.

The next Eagles possession ended in three plays when Eagan safety Grant Matthews grabbed a pass from Singer and went 16 yards for a score.

“That start set up the confidence huge for both our offense and defense,” Bauer said.

That would be plenty against a stout Eagan defense that allowed just 93 yards.

Of the next four Eagle possessions, three were three-and-outs and another ended with Matthews getting his second interception.

“We talked about having to make plays and we haven’t been stepping up and making those plays,” said coach Rick Sutton.

The Eagles defense offered little resistance as Bauer scored on a 1-yard run and threw a 21-yard score to Mack Nelson over the middle and a 23-yard pass to Aaron Roundtree in the back of the end zone for a 34-0 halftime lead.

It was the third straight game the Eagles (0-4, 0-3) allowed at least 31 first half points.

“Defensively, we didn’t tackle well, we just didn’t wrap up,” said Apple Valley coach Mike Fritze, whose team has been outscored 178-34 in its four games.

Bauer finished 8 of 10 for 127 yards. He also ran for 71 yards. Busch, who also scored from two yards out in the fourth quarter, led the rushing attack with 82 yards.

In the past two games, Busch has emerged as a go-to back for the Wildcats. He had a career-high 95 yards in last week’s overtime loss to Eastview.

“A lot of it is we’re doing a much better job up front,” Sutton said. “When we do better up front the running backs do better. We have a lot of confidence in Michael.”

Apple Valley had its best chance to get points late in the first half when Singer and Mitch Hechsel connected for a 43-yard gain to the Eagan 35 after a Wildcat defensive back slipped in coverage, but three straight incompletions were followed by another Woodcock sack.

Eagan looks to make it two in a row when it brings out the green uniforms for a Homecoming game against Bloomington Jefferson at 7 p.m. Sept. 30. The Jaguars (1-3, 1-2) were beaten 42-7 by Lakeville South Friday, and have been outscored 128-14 in losing three straight.

“We’ve got to keep getting better,” Bauer said. “We could have played better.”