Conroy, Moor each rush for career nights to hand Red Wing a homecoming loss

If less is more than Maverick Moor was more and Mason Conroy was plenty.

Using a completely new offense, La Crescent-Hokah (2-2) had their best offensive output of the season by far to upend Red Wing (1-3) on the Wingers’ homecoming evening Friday at Russ “Cougar” Marshall Field.

Head coach Terry Donovan decided earlier in the week to change the Lancer offensive scheme. They would run a veer and shoot offense. The primary plays in such an offense involve the quarterback having to make an immediate read on rushes; hand it off or keep it.

The change in offense was a nod to Donovan’s son, Matt, who is in recovery from emergency surgery in Fargo. Mayville State, the team Matt plays QB for, runs a similar style. The Lancers learned a brand-new playbook in time for the game against the Wingers.

Lancer QB Moor and top running back Conroy each benefitted greatly. It caught the Winger coaches off guard.

Moor surpassed his rushing total from the previous three weeks in one game, ending with 185 yards. Conroy had a stellar game from start to finish, rushing for 246 yards and five touchdowns.

The leading rusher for the Lancers, Moor, came into the game with 80 yards and one touchdown. Conroy wasn’t even among the district’s rushing leaders.

“Eighty percent of the time, we are where we're supposed to be. When we're in the backfield and get a hand on them and it's just one hand. It's a matter of finishing that tackle and having another guy with you,” head coach Pat Kelly said. “Tonight, it just seemed like a lot of arm tackling. They were just running through. We're there, we just have to finish it.”

Sheldon Johnson and Jose Figueroa Vargas received double teams, even triple teams from the Lancer O-line. Adjusting on the fly, the Wingers did have a few defensive stops, one of which came when the Lancers got the ball to the 2-yard line but didn’t gain a positive yard after first-and-goal.

Red Wing needed to keep pace offensively with the La Crescent-Hokah and were through most of the first half. The Wingers trailed 14-13 following a touchdown with 5 minutes, 55 seconds remaining in the half. They had gone 95 yards after forcing an incompletion on fourth-and-goal from their own 5-yard line.

Moor nearly returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown. The big return set the Lancers up for a short drive and eventual touchdown. First play for the Winger offense now down a score was an interception. The Lancers converted the turnover into points not long after.

Conroy finished off a drive that began at the Lancer 20 following an interception in the end zone.

In a 6-minute stretch, the Lancers turned a one-point game into a 36-13 lead going into the half.

“In past years it's been like that in the first quarter. At halftime, we were like we can reload here,” Kelly said. “Trying to figure out coaching how to stop the veer. ... the middle run. We couldn't get it done tonight and something we'll learn on.”

Much more balanced scoring-wise between the two teams in the second half, the Wingers had too much to overcome as the Lancers made 7-9-yard gains on first down seem routine.

Notes

Red Wing was three points shy of scoring at least 30 points in back-to-back weeks, something that hasn’t happened since the final two games of the 2015 season.

The Wingers surpassed 20 points for the second time this season. The last time they scored at least 20 points in two games in a season was 2022.

Quotes

“We have something we use, I call it a weasel, but it's a hedgehog. We tackle that thing a lot. When we're not tackling well the joke is always, we're going to go tackle the hedgehog.” – Pat Kelly on what the Wingers use and will use again this coming week to improve tackling.

“When Kemper (Thorson) starts to scramble or doing any type of scramble whatsoever, Liam (O’Connell) is a big, tall kid and he does that (open space in the field). He kind of glides with (Kemper) and throws his arms up. Usually, we get a few yards out of him.” – Kelly said on Liam O’Connell’s ability to get open. O’Connell stepped up as the No. 1 target in the passing game with Cody Roschen sidelined with an injury all second half.