No cakewalk

For the first time in four years the St. Cloud Apollo Eagles are flying sky high.

Last week's startling 6-0 victory at St. Cloud Tech snapped Apollo's 31-game losing streak. The last time the Eagles won before Friday was Oct. 15, 1999, against Little Falls.

The Eagles (1-2), who play the Brainerd Warriors 7 p.m. Friday at Adamson Field, made a goal-line stand at the end of the game. Tech had the ball at the Apollo 10 with two minutes left but the Eagles came up with an interception on fourth down.

Apollo ran more than twice as many plays from scrimmage than Tech and limited the Tigers to three first downs.

"They had to turn out the lights at Clark Field for our kids and fans to get off field," Eagles coach Tim Knudsen said.

Lineups

ST. CLOUD APOLLO EAGLES (1-2)

Offense

SE-Blake Weirens; TE-Nathan Coil; T-Chris Jenderseck; Jeff McNelly; G-Josh DeWenter, Jeb Willis; C-Cody Linquist; HB-Blaise Lodermeier, Lincoln Haugen; QB-John Sullivan; FB-Chad Heiser, Joey Theisen

Defense

E-Chad Heiser, Eric Sunderman; T-Daniel Poster, Kyle Schmitt; NG-Chad Johnson; LB-Joey Theisen, Ken Blakeley; CB-Jeremy Lommel, Jason Voigt; SS-James Yarbrough; FS-Sakda Oudom

Brainerd Warriors (2-1)

Offense

WR-Justin Mueller, Nate Maaske, Blake Eller, Ryan Forcier; T-Jake Thesing, John Stumpf, Kyle Wilshusen, Jason Larson; G-Derek Franz, Derek Olson; C-Nate Weber; TE-Garrett Warren, Justin Huether; QB-Morgan Shepherd; RB-Gregg Day, Cliff Edberg, Brady Prince, Geoff Roberts; PK-Sam Gervais

Defense

DL-Brandon Freihammer, Clinton Strother, Nate Lucas, Kevin O'Grady; LB-Kiel Browne, Greg Strand, Will Kassulker, Paul Erickson, Kory Horn, Justin Ward; DB-Gervais, Tom Zelinske, Joe Holden, Anthony Hennen; P-Gervais

Warriors schedule

AUGUST

29-SARTELL, W 14-7

SEPTEMBER

5-at Alexandria, W, 17-6

12-at Moorhead, L, 40-14

19-ST. CLOUD APOLLO, 7 p.m.

26-at St. Cloud Tech, 7 p.m.

OCTOBER

3-SAUK RAPIDS, 7 p.m.

10-at Willmar, 7 p.m.

15-BEMIDJI, 7 p.m.

Central Lakes Conference

Conf All

Brainerd 2-0 2-1

Willmar 1-0 1-2

Sauk Rapids 2-1 2-1

Sartell 2-1 2-1

Rocori 1-1 2-1

Little Falls 1-1 1-2

St. Cloud Apollo 1-1 1-2

St. Cloud Tech 0-2 1-2

Alexandria 0-3 0-3

Friday's Games, 7 p.m.

Apollo at Brainerd

Willmar at Alexandria

Rocori at Little Falls

Detroit Lakes at Sartell

Section 8, Class 5A

All Pts

Moorhead Spuds 3-0 9

Cambridge-Isanti Bluejackets 2-1 5

Brainerd Warriors 2-1 4

St. Cloud Tech Tigers 1-2 3

St. Cloud Apollo Eagles 1-2 3

Bemidji Lumberjacks 0-3 0

Note: Three points for victory against 5A school, 2 points for wins against classes

Friday's Games, 7 p.m.

Cambridge at Centennial

Tech at Moorhead

Sauk Rapids at Bemidji

Warriors statistics

THREE GAMES

RUSHING Att Yds Avg TD

Gregg Day 43 147 3.4 0

Brady Prince 29 142 4.9 0

Cliff Edberg 19 61 3.2 2

Geoff Roberts 7 21 3.0 0

Morgan Shepherd 11 -25 -2.3 1

PASSING Com Att Yds TD

Morgan Shepherd 40 80 492 3

Sam Gervais 0 1 0 0

RECEIVING No Yds Avg TD

Blake Eller 11 226 20.5 1

Nate Maaske 8 113 14.1 1

Justin Huether 4 47 11.8 0

Cliff Edberg 6 40 6.7 0

Justin Mueller 4 34 8.5 1

Brady Prince 2 16 8.0 0

Gregg Day 3 13 4.3 0

Geoff Roberts 1 2 2.0 0

Ryan Forcier 1 1 1.0 0

SCORING TD 2PT EPK TP

Cliff Edberg 2 0 0 12

Sam Gervais 0 0 4 7

Morgan Shepherd 1 0 0 6

Justin Mueller 1 0 0 6

Nate Maaske 1 0 0 6

Blake Eller 1 0 0 6

Justin Huether 0 1 0 2

Note: Gervais' scoring totals include one field goal

Fumble recoveries (3): Will Kassulker, Brett Abrahamson, Justin Ward

Interceptions (2): Sam Gervais, Anthony Hennen

Yards per game average: Brainerd 277.7, opposition 286.3

Scoring per game average: Brainerd 15.0, opposition 17.7

The series

This will be the 32nd game between the schools. Brainerd leads the series 25-6. Last season, Brainerd won 35-0 in the regular season and 28-6 in the Section 8, Class 5A quarterfinals.

Warriors vs. St. Cloud Apollo

7 p.m. Friday at Adamson Field

"All the weight is off our shoulders or the monkey's off our backs," Knudsen added. "We've been competitive the last three years. We finally got something done but we have to learn how to finish a game. I just hope we move on."

The Eagles have had several close calls during the streak. In the season opener, they lost 22-19 to Fergus Falls, running more plays from scrimmage than the Otters and limiting them to six first downs.

In the second game of the 2002 season, the Eagles thought they had beaten Sartell 21-20 when the Sabres missed a field goal on the game's final play. But a penalty against Apollo enabled the Sabres to line up, kick a field goal and win 23-21.

"Sure, they're excited," Warriors coach Ron Stolski said, "and rightly so. It's been a long haul and they've never given in down there. They've had an awful lot of near misses.

"Apollo, frankly, has always given us a tough time, but we've been able to win. It's rarely what one would classify a cakewalk. There are no cakewalks in high school football, at least not at the level we play at."

The Warriors aren't expecting a cakewalk Friday from a team that has is now running as often as it passes and has switched from a 4-3 defense to a 5-2.

Blaise Lodermeir leads the Eagles' ground game with 28 carries for 302 yards and a TD. Quarterback John Sullivan has completed 23 of 43 attempts for 356 yards and four scores. Wide receiver Blake Weirens has caught 11 passes for 170 yards and four TDs.

Brainerd (2-1) must get its ground game going. It has rushed for a modest 113.7 yards per game while quarterback Morgan Shepherd has averaged 164 passing. Brainerd has scored just six touchdowns in its first three games.

Defense carried the Warriors until last week when it lost at Moorhead 40-14. Brainerd yielded 548 total yards against the Spuds.

"We need to worry about ourselves," Stolski said. "We need to get our rushing game going. I think our kids are disappointed in not being better with our running game. I think our main focus is simply getting our game going."

Tackle leaders against Moorhead were Will Kassulker (20), Paul Erickson (19) and Kory Horn (16). For the season, Kassulker has 55, Horn 52 and Erickson 42.

Injury update

* Stolski is hopeful wide receiver Justin Mueller will play after sitting out the Moorhead game with a back injury. He also hopes offensive tackle Pete Hiltner and tight end Garrett Warren, both of whom also missed last week with injuries, will return.