Trying to stop both the running and passing game of Mankato West is a tall task for any team, but Albert Lea head coach Clay Anderson knew he had to pick one or the other to stop.

Anderson and the Tigers chose to try to stop the passing attack. It worked, but there was no stopping Scarlets running back Andy Pfeiffer Friday in Mankato.

Pfeiffer rushed for 213 yards and two touchdowns as the top team in Class 4A defeated the Tigers 25-6.

“He’s a special back,” Anderson said. “There’s no doubt he’s the best back we’ve seen.”

Pfeiffer scored the game’s opening touchdown in the first quarter on a 20-yard run and later added a 55-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Albert Lea (1-5, 1-4 Big Nine) was able to move the ball at times against the Scarlet defense, but two drives in the first half stalled inside the red zone.

Mankato West (6-0, 5-0 Big Nine) gave the Tigers a chance to take a lead early in the game when the Scarlets missed a field goal, but two plays later Albert Lea fumbled the ball and West eventually scored to take a 7-0 lead.

“We were really flat in the first half when we could have scored and made a game of it,” Anderson said.

The Tigers held Mankato West quarterback Philip Nelson in check through most of the first half, holding him to 29 yards passing, but Nelson did connect for a touchdown pass to Jonny Paulsen and finished with 88 yards passing and 86 yards rushing.

Albert Lea was able to get on the board when Aaron Klatt hauled in a 37-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Kriewall in the fourth quarter that made it a 19-6 game.

Nelson scored on a 10-yard run later in the quarter for the 25-6 final.

The Tiger running attack that was so potent last week against Century was held to under 100 yards. Luke Grossman was limited to 37 yards on 10 carries.

“We wanted to grind it out and move the ball on the ground consistently,” Anderson said. “Overall we struggled to do what we wanted to do. We knew it was going to be tough to do what we wanted to do.”

Kriewall completed nine of his 17 passes for 170 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Albert Lea will prepare for Rochester Mayo for its final regular season home game Thursday.

Mankato West 25, Albert Lea 6

Albert Lea 0 0 0 6 —  6

Mankato West 7 6 0 12 — 25

First Quarter

MW—Pfeiffer 20 run (Ouren kick).

Second Quarter

MW—Paulsen 6 pass from Nelson (kick failed).

Fourth Quarter

MW—Pfeiffer 55 run (conversion failed).

AL—Klatt 37 pass from Kriewall (conversion failed).

MW—Nelson 10 run (conversion failed).

AL MW

First Downs 11 12

Total Net Yards 279 413

Rushes-Yards 31-86 33-325

Passing 193 88

Punt Returns 2-0 2-58

Punts 5-33.8 2-29

Kickoff Returns 5-65 2-31

Interceptions-Ret. 0-0 1-NA

Comp-Att-Int 10-18-1 7-10-0

Sacked-Yard lost 0-0 0-0

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 4-1

Penalties-Yards 4-20 7-70

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Albert Lea, Grossman 10-37, Stolt 9-8, Kriewall 8-29, Cooper 3-10, Jensen 1-2. Mankato West, Pfeiffer 16-213, Nelson 12-86, Resner 2-21, Larson 2-5, Hockert 1-0.

PASSING—Albert Lea, Kriewall 9-17-1-170, Grossman 1-1-0-23.

RECEIVING—Albert Lea, Klatt 4-75, Grossman 3-91, Rasmussen 2-24, Cooper 1-3.

MISSED FIELD GOALS—Ouren 48.