Rocori Recap: Spartans Clip Cardinals

The Rocori Spartans held off a comeback attempt by the Alexandria Cardinals to win 26-21 Saturday afternoon in Cold Spring. The win is the first of the year for the Spartans and brings their record to 1-3. The loss drops Alexandria to 0-4. Tim Hansen of Rocori threw three touchdown passes in the victory.

The Spartans took advantage of some early miscues by the Cardinals. The first snap for Alexandria went over quarterback John Vogeler's head and was recovered by the Spartans. Mason Ruegemer then caught a touchdown pass from Tim Hansen to give the Spartans a 6-0 lead after an unsuccessful two point conversion. The Spartans took advantage of another bad snap by the Cardinals moments later for a safety to take an 8-0 lead. After the punt, the Spartans gave the ball right back thanks to an interception by Joe Gorghuber, who took the ball 46 yards for a defensive touchdown to pull the Cardinals to within one point at 8-7. With 3:31 left in the first quarter the Spartans increase their lead to 14-7 with a 36 yard touchdown pass from Hansen to Brad Fabel that was nearly intercepted.

In the second quarter the Spartans increased their lead to 20-7 with a 58 yard touchdown pass from Hansen to Alex Budde. The first half ended with Rocori up 20-7. The Spartans further increased their lead to 26-7 in the third quarter thanks to a four yard touchdown run by Victor Schleppenbach. Alexandria's Parker Bowden took the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown to make the score 26-14 after the extra point. In the fourth quarter the Cardinals get the first score with a five yard touchdown pass from John Vogeler to Joe Gorghuber to pull the Cardinals to within 5 at 26-21. The Cardinals had one last drive to try to win but were unable to get the winning score as a last pass by John Vogeler was batted down as time ran out.

Up next for the Spartans is a game Friday at Bemidji. You can hear the game on AM 1390 the FAN at 7 pm, with the pregame starting at 6:30.