Semi-Pro Football: Defense, Screaming Eagles buzz Thunderhawks 26-9 (REPOSTED)

The Lakes Area Screaming Eagles won their third consecutive game, 26-9 behind a strong defensive effort that forced six turnovers and harassed the Menomonie quarterbacks into six sacks on Saturday.

“We’ve really come a long way since the start of the season,” Lakes Area player-coach Jason McCloskey explained. “It’s great to see all the extra practices come to fruition, especially now that we’ve won three in a row.

We’ve been working together as a team and backing each other up, so it’s great to see us step up and give our fans and sponsors some excitement.”

Menomonie, which was playing shorthanded, took the opening kickoff and proceed to chew up nearly 11 minutes off the clock in the pouring rain. Lakes Area apparently stopped the drive when they picked off Thunderhawk quarterback John Barney on the third play from scrimmage, but a fumble on the interception return was recovered by Menomonie at the 42 yard line.

The Thunderhawks capped the drive with a 28 yard field goal from Nick Nelson with 3:19 remaining in the first quarter.

Lakes Area picked up two first downs and went 44 yards on their first possession before stalling at the Thunderhawk 47-yard line. McCloskey punted the ball and it was downed at the Menomonie 10-yard line.

The Screaming Eagles defense rose up and sacked Barney for a loss of five yards and then picked him off at the 42 yard line on the next play.

Lakes Area capitalized on the turnover to punch in the end zone on a 21-yard run from Kyler Wegner with 9:38 remaining in the first half. McCloskey hit Tarrel Flanning with the conversion pass for the 8-3 lead.

Menomonie went three and out, but manage to pin the Screaming Eagles at their 3-yard line on a favorable punt.

Undeterred, McCloskey commandeered the Screaming Eagles 12-play, 97-yard drive that was capped by an eight-yard touchdown run from Wegner with 46 seconds left before halftime.

Thunderhawk James Wallberg ran the ensuing kickoff back to the Screaming Eagles 39-yard line. After an incompletion, Barney reeled off a pair of scrambles to reach the Screaming Eagle 19-yard line with 12 seconds left. The Thunderhawk quarterback then completed a 19-yard pass to Wallberg for the touchdown with five seconds left. The Menomonie extra point kick failed on a bad snap, cutting the Lakes Area lead to 14-9.

The Screaming Eagles took the opening kickoff of the second half and reeled off four plays to the Thunderhawk 43 before McCloskey, under pressure, threw an ill-advised pass downfield that was picked off at the 17.

“I think I pulled a Brett Favre on that one,” McCloskey quipped afterwards. “I thought to myself, ‘Why? Why did I do that?’”.

Menomonie couldn’t cash in on the turnover. Thunderhawk running back Brad Willetts rushed for a gain of seven on the first play, but the Screaming Eagles defense ended up pushing them backwards on back-to-back rushing plays that resulted in losses. They were forced to punt.

The Thunderhawks second touch of the second half resulted in another Screaming Eagle interception that was returned to the three-yard line. McCloskey hit wide receiver Bert Smith to push the Lakes Area lead to 20-9 with 40 seconds left in the third quarter.

Both teams traded turnovers in the next three possessions. Barney threw his fourth interception on the Thunderhawks ensuing drive, and that was followed by a Screaming Eagle fumble deep in Menomonie territory.

Kylee Zalewski replaced Barney under center, and was steadily driving the Thunderhawks downfield. The backup quarterback then completed a 36-yard pass to Wallberg along the left sideline but the receiver squandered the Thunderhawks offensive momentum when he fumbled the ball at the Screaming Eagles 30-yard line.

The Screaming Eagles capped the scoring with 1:45 left to play. The 29-yard touchdown pass from McCloskey to James Singer came courtesy of a Zalewski interception.

“Our defense played phenomenal today,” McCloskey exclaimed. “We kept one of the top offensive teams in check, and I think we showed them that we were a much different team than the one that lost to them in the season opener.”

The Screaming Eagles victory snapped the Thunderhawks five-game win streak and tightens the standings for the final spot in the Northern Power Football League playoffs.

The Screaming Eagles (3-2) host the Minnesota Sting at 5 p.m. Saturday.

Menomonie Thunderhawks at Lakes Area Screaming Eagles on June 5
Screaming Eagles 26, Thunderhawks 9
Menomonie 3 6 0 0—9
Lakes Area 0 14 6 6—26
First Quarter
MEN—Nick Nelson 28-yard field goal 3:19
Second Quarter
LA—Kyler Wegner 21 run (Tarrel Flanning pass from Jason McCloskey) 9:38
LA—Wegner 8 run (pass failed) 0:46
MEN—James Wallberg 19 pass from John Barney (kick failed) 0:05
Third Quarter
LA—Bert Smith 3 pass from McCloskey (pass failed) 0:40
Fourth Quarter
LA—James Singer 29 pass from McCloskey (pass failed) 1:45
Team Stats
Rushes-Yards: LA 31-120; MEN 31-116
Pass Comp-Att-Int-Yards: LA 15-28-1-200; MEN 9-22-5-125
Total Offense: LA 320; MEN 241
Individual Stats
Rushing: LA—Kyler Wegner 13-52, Shawn Peoples 11-42, James Olson 3-15, Josh Derby 2-5, Jacob Ledding 1-4; Jason McCloskey 1-2; MEN—John Barney 7-55; Brad Willetts 21-51; Jon Poppe 1-9; Kylee Zalewski 1-5; James Wallberg 1-(-4)
Passing: LA—McCloskey 15-28-1-200; MEN—Barney 4-12-4-48; Zalewski 5-10-1-77; Jon Poppe 0-2-0-0
Receiving: LA—James Singer 7-105; Bert Smith 6-61; Tarrel Flanning 2-34; MEN—Wallberg 3-58; Nathan Cook 3-44; Willetts 2-18; Dave Saul 1-5