Semi-Pro Football: Lakes Area Screaming Eagles terrorizes Northern Terror 38-8

The Lakes Area Screaming Eagles broke out of their shell to post a convincing 38-8 victory over the Northern Terror in the home opener Saturday.

After a scoreless first quarter, Lakes Area found the end zone twice in the second quarter and then took flight with an eight-play, 59-yard scoring drive on their opening possession of the second half.

“It was nice to get our first win in front of our home crowd,” Screaming Eagle player-coach Jason McCloskey said. “We were missing some of our key players today on defense but everybody stepped up to contribute on both sides of the ball. We had been struggling to find the end zone and get points on the board, so it was nice to see us make the plays and play a good, solid overall football game today.”

McCloskey had a rough start, throwing an interception on the Screaming Eagles first possession of the game, but the 13-year veteran settled down to finish with eight completions for 142 yards and two touchdown passes in the victory.

His longest pass of the afternoon went for a 59-yard scoring strike to James Singer, who broke free behind the Northern Terror defense along the right sideline. The 5-foot-9 speedy wide receiver out of Chicago snagged the pass and strutted in for the touchdown to put Lakes Area up 30-2.

Northern Terror gave the Screaming Eagles defense fits on their first two possessions at the start of the game with the mixture of power running and the combination of quick slant and screen passes. Both drives, however, stalled when the Terror couldn’t convert on fourth-and-short.

The Terror also suffered a key blow late in the first quarter when their workhorse running back Mike Green left the game due to injury, throwing a wrench in their game plan.

Defensively, the Screaming Eagles terrorized the visitors into three interceptions, one fumble and blocked a 40-yard field goal attempt. The Terror didn’t score until 6:06 left in the third quarter when they were awarded a safety after Lakes Area was penalized for offensive holding in the end zone.

Lakes Area outgained Northern Terror 369-301 with the majority coming through their power running game. Kyler Wegner rushed for 67 yards on nine carries and scored two touchdowns from 20 and 13 to spot Lakes Area the 14-0 lead at halftime.

The Screaming Eagles capped the scoring on a seven-play, 59-yard drive that ended on a two yard scoring pass from McCloskey to Tarrell Flanning.

“We used a mixture of play calling to keep [Northern Terror] off balanced,” McCloskey said. “With some of our big guys playing both ways—which is normal with some amateur football teams due to numbers and injuries—they did a great job opening the holes on the line and our running backs did a good job picking up some yardage.”

The Screaming Eagles racked up 227 yards on the ground on 31 carries. Newcomer Shawn Peoples energized the crowd late in the game with a pair of explosive runs to finish with 66 yards on four carries.

With their running game crippled, Northern Terror was forced to take the air and did manage to put together a successful drive early in the fourth quarter.

Terror quarterback Nate Middleton hit running back Jeremy Lacina with a 10-yard touchdown pass to cap a five-play, 67-yard drive with 10:26 left to play.

Middleton completed 21 passes for 235 yards but was picked off three times and fumbled a potential touchdown at the Screaming Eagles two-yard line midway in the third quarter. Chad Stetson nabbed six catches for 91 yards while Charlie Manthei caught four passes for 72 yards and rushed for 30 yards on seven carries for the Terror.

“Our defense played spectacular today. They gave us some good field position with the turnovers,” McCloskey explained. “Our offensive line did a great job up front opening the holes, our running backs and receivers got the yards we needed to give our home crowd the win. We just need to carry this momentum over into next week.”

Lakes Area (1-2) travel to Brainerd to take on the Lumberjacks at 5 p.m. Saturday.

Northern Terror at Lakes Area Screaming Eagles on May 22
Screaming Eagles 38, Terror 8
Northern Terror 0 0 2 6—8
Screaming Eagles 0 14 16 8—38
First Quarter
No Scoring
Second Quarter
LA—Kyler Wegner 20 run (pass failed) 11:57
LA—Jason McCloskey 6 run (Tarrel Flanning pass from MCloskey) 3:47
Third Quarter
LA—Wegner 13 run (Flanning pass from McCloskey) 10:35
NT—Safety (Offensive holding penalty) 6:06
LA—James Singer 59 pass from McCloskey (Bert Smith run) 3:15
Fourth Quarter
NT—Jeremy Lacina 10 pass from Nate Middleton (run failed) 10:26
LA—Flanning 2 pass from McCloskey (Flanning pass from McCloskey) 4:57

Team Stats
Rushes-Yards: LA 31-227; NT 18-66
Pass Comp-Att-Int-Yards: LA 9-14-1-155; NT 21-38-3-235
Total Offense: LA 369; NT 301

Individual Stats
Rushing: LA—Kyler Wegner 9-67, Shawn Peoples 4-66, James Olson 4-42, Dave Moll 4-26, Josh Derby 6-21, Jason McCloskey 3-5; NT—Joemel Robinson 4-33; Charlie Manthei 7-30; Mike Green 2-8
Passing: LA—McCloskey 8-13-1-142, Ed Perrault 1-1-0-13; NT—Nate Middleton 21-38-3-235
Receiving: LA—Bert Smith 5-75, James Singer 2-65, John Lubitz 1-13, Tarrel Flanning 1-2; NT—Chad Stetson 6-91, Manthei 4-72, Green 2-20, Jeremy Lacina 1-10, Jim Launderville 2-10